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1109209

registered interest
date	02/04/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Support for Mortgage Interest
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of replacing the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme with a loans-based system from April 2018.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	240106
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2019 answer text <p>Support for Mortgage Interest is designed to provide protection against the threat of repossession. The new loans system provides exactly the same level of support and provides exactly the same level of protection from repossession as the previous system. We continue to work closely with the lending industry to ensure the scheme delivers its intended aim. The conversion of SMI from a benefit to a loan is estimated to save around £140m in welfare spending.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is using evidence from a number of sources to assess the impact of the conversion to a loan on an on-going basis, including management information on claimant take up and feedback from stakeholder groups, including via our regular liaison with UK Finance, to assess whether there are unintended consequences for particular groups.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/04/2019 12:59:13 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1109219

registered interest
date	02/04/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department ensuring that (a) work capability and (b) personal independence payment assessments are undertaken by suitably qualified staff.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	240107
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2019 answer text <p>Health Professionals that carry out Work Capability and Personal Independence Payment assessments on behalf of the department must have the following qualifications and experience:</p><p> </p><p>• are an occupational therapist, nurse (level 1), physiotherapist, doctor or (paramedic - PIP only)</p><p>• fully registered with the relevant licensing body (doctors must have a licence to practise)</p><p>• the licensing body has not placed restrictions on the health professional's registration</p><p>• at least 2 years post full registration experience.</p><p> </p><p>Health Professionals are subject to a rigorous recruitment process followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment for both physical and mental health conditions and have to be approved by the department. Health Professionals are then required to complete a programme of continuing professional development.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 08/04/2019 11:05:11 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1108738

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential (a) cost to the public purse and (b) benefits of universal credit claimants receiving an up-front payment after making a valid claim for universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	239300
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to ensuring that Universal Credit works for all claimants. We listen to the concerns and views of organisations and individuals and have delivered improvements to better support claimants, and will continue to do so.</p><p> </p><p>New claimants can apply for a Universal Credit new claim advance, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, and are available up front, if there is a need. Advances are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, up to 16 months.</p><p>This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/04/2019 16:57:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990312

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment (PIP) claimants who have been sent an AR1 form before the end of their entitlement period to PIP go on to lose their entitlement to that benefit before the originally agreed time period.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181299
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p>Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment, which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will be reviewed. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. A review date is set before the end of the award date to ensure enough time for a full review of the case to be carried out without the claimant being left without money because their award has come to an end.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 181300 question first answered 23/10/2018 16:45:09 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990313

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many tribunal decisions to award personal independence payment for a defined period subsequently have had that entitlement ended as a result of the AR1 review process in each year for which information is available.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181300
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p>Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment, which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will be reviewed. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. A review date is set before the end of the award date to ensure enough time for a full review of the case to be carried out without the claimant being left without money because their award has come to an end.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 181299 question first answered 23/10/2018 16:45:09 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990322

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Department for Work and Pensions: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to offer more hours to employees of her Department who are in receipt of universal credit; and how many employees of her Department in receipt of universal credit have secured such extra hours in order to comply with conditionality requirements.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181309
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>DWP employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are on any benefit and DWP policy is clear that employees claiming benefits will not be treated more or less favourably than other staff.</p><p> </p><p>All requests for an increase in working hours are considered and agreed at a local level. Such requests will be handled in the same way regardless of the fact the employee is a Universal Credit claimant. Similarly, we keep no separate data as to whether requests for increase in hours are from employees on benefits or not. The fact that employees claim benefits has no bearing on the business decisions of DWP at organisational or individual level.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants who are in work with earnings above the Administrative Earnings Threshold are not currently expected to undertake any mandatory activity. Therefore there is currently no conditionality requirement.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 12:08:32 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 80410 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

984765

registered interest
date	10/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Support for Mortgage Interest
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of occasions the time taken to authorise payment following an application for a Support for Mortgage Interest loan has exceeded her Departmental expectation of two weeks.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	177818
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2018 answer text <p>Where a claimant expresses an interest in taking up the offer of an SMI loan they will be sent a loan agreement and charge form to complete and return. They also receive detailed guidance on how to complete these documents.</p><p> </p><p>The Department determines that 6 weeks is a sufficient time period for claimants to make a decision whether to take up the offer of an SMI loan. The Department ask that the loan agreement and charge form are returned as soon reasonably possible to enable them to be processed efficiently. A reminder is sent out after six weeks if the documents have not been received. Claimants may change their mind whether to take or decline a loan at any time.</p><p> </p><p>Returned forms are checked for accuracy, and if correctly completed we would expect that, in the majority of cases, SMI Loan payments would be authorised within two weeks but this is dependent upon claimants benefit pay cycle.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not hold the data requested regarding how often payments are authorised within two weeks.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/10/2018 13:52:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

904842

registered interest
date	15/05/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Self-employed
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of self-employed claimants on universal credit full service who have remained self-employed once the Minimum Income Floor is applied at the end of their first 12 months of trading.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	144410
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/05/2018 13:50:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

843683

registered interest
date	19/02/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Support for Mortgage Interest
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people and organisations which offer advice on changes to the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme are appropriately qualified and regulated.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	128024
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2018 answer text <p>All current recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest will be contacted and given information about the changes. They will not be given financial advice but will be informed that such advice is available should they require it. Organisations offering financial advice are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 22/02/2018 12:24:52 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

838569

registered interest
date	07/02/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of communications sent out by Jobcentre Plus that include reference to the premium rate universal credit helpline number since 18 October 2017.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	127389
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>The Universal Credit telephone numbers previously used by the Department were not premium rate numbers and it is misleading to refer to them in this way. The 0345 numbers that were in use were charged at local rate and are included in the call packages of most mobile and landline phone deals.</p><p> </p><p>Any customer who raised a concern about the costs of calling the Department was offered a call back. We have no evidence that people did not call because they believed the service was a premium rate number.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that customers dial the correct numbers, the Department has embarked on an exercise to update all its products. The Department’s electronic media, such as SMS text messages and Gov.uk website, were updated as the new freephone numbers were introduced. System generated notifications for Universal Credit Full Service were updated on 28 November. System notifications for Universal Credit Live Service were updated between 28 November and 31 January 2018.</p><p> </p><p>During the period that our products were being updated, any calls to a 0345 number were played a message that told them that that number had been replaced with a Freephone number, whilst giving them the new Freephone number to use.</p><p> </p><p>The current monthly cost to the Department for playing the recorded messages to provide the new freephone numbers is approximately £300.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 127438 127440 127442 question first answered 20/02/2018 11:45:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury