In order to respond to a general increase in appeal receipts, HM Courts & Tribunals Service has been working with the tribunal\u2019s judiciary both to appoint additional judges and panel members, and take forward initiatives with the potential to increase the capacity and performance of the tribunal. We have recruited extra fee-paid judicial office holders: 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability-qualified members, and up to 230 medical members. We are also developing a new digital system which enables speedier processing of appeals and a better service for all parties to the proceedings. In addition, we are reviewing current listing practices to increase the number of cases listed on a tribunal session, and introducing case-management \u201ctriage\u201d sessions, with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. All these measures will increase the capacity of the tribunal, with the aim of reducing waiting times for appellants.<\/p>
<\/p>
I have met with my counterpart at the Department of Work and Pensions to discuss how our two departments can work together to improve initial decision making and the time it takes for cases to go through the tribunal. Officials from both departments are looking at feedback from the tribunal and at ways in which digitisation might make the system easier to use.<\/p>
<\/p>
Latest figures indicate that since Personal Independent Payment was introduced, more than 3.1 million decisions have been made, and of these under 9% have been appealed, and 4% have been overturned. For Employment Support Allowance, 8% of all decisions made were appealed, and 4% overturned at tribunals.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4517", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lucy Frazer"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South East Cambridgeshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lucy Frazer"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-07-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "157674"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-07-04T10:07:14.31Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-06-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to prevent delays to employment and support allowance hearings.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1397", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Hywel Williams"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Arfon"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Hywel Williams"} ], "uin" : "157675"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/874750", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/874750/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
(i) The table below contains the information requested up to December 2017, the latest period for which figures are available.<\/p>
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)<\/p>
<\/p><\/td> | Number of ESA Adjourned 1<\/sup><\/p><\/td> Adjournments as a proportion of disposals2<\/sup><\/p><\/td><\/tr> 1 April 2015 \u2013 31 March 2016<\/p><\/td> 9,553<\/p><\/td> 17%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 1 April 2016 \u2013 31 March 2017<\/p><\/td> 11,591<\/p><\/td> 16%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 1 April 2017 \u2013 31 December 2017 P<\/sup><\/p><\/td> 10,001<\/p><\/td> 16%<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/p> 1 <\/sup>The number of ESA appeals adjourned at a hearing.<\/p> 2 <\/sup>Total number of hearing clearances. Cases cleared at tribunal hearing both oral and paper<\/p> P <\/sup>Provisional data, as they will be reconciled when the annual statistics are published and therefore subject to change. Latest data available in line with published data.<\/p> <\/p> Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.<\/p> <\/p> (ii) The decision to adjourn a hearing is a judicial function. There is no prescribed set of criteria in determining whether to adjourn hearings for ESA (or other types of) appeals. Hearings can be adjourned for a variety of reasons including to obtain further medical evidence.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4517", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lucy Frazer"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South East Cambridgeshire"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lucy Frazer"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-04-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "135053"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-04-19T14:53:08Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2018-03-29", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment support allowance appeal hearings have been adjourned in each of the last three years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1397", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Hywel Williams"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Arfon"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Hywel Williams"}
], "uin" : "135051"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/874752", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/874752/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " (i) The table below contains the information requested up to December 2017, the latest period for which figures are available.<\/p> Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)<\/p> <\/p><\/td> Number of ESA Adjourned 1<\/sup><\/p><\/td> Adjournments as a proportion of disposals2<\/sup><\/p><\/td><\/tr> 1 April 2015 \u2013 31 March 2016<\/p><\/td> 9,553<\/p><\/td> 17%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 1 April 2016 \u2013 31 March 2017<\/p><\/td> 11,591<\/p><\/td> 16%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 1 April 2017 \u2013 31 December 2017 P<\/sup><\/p><\/td> 10,001<\/p><\/td> 16%<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/p> 1 <\/sup>The number of ESA appeals adjourned at a hearing.<\/p> 2 <\/sup>Total number of hearing clearances. Cases cleared at tribunal hearing both oral and paper<\/p> P <\/sup>Provisional data, as they will be reconciled when the annual statistics are published and therefore subject to change. Latest data available in line with published data.<\/p> <\/p> Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.<\/p> <\/p> (ii) The decision to adjourn a hearing is a judicial function. There is no prescribed set of criteria in determining whether to adjourn hearings for ESA (or other types of) appeals. Hearings can be adjourned for a variety of reasons including to obtain further medical evidence.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4517", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lucy Frazer"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South East Cambridgeshire"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lucy Frazer"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-04-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "135051"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-04-19T14:53:08.077Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2018-03-29", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the criteria are for adjourning employment support allowance hearings.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1397", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Hywel Williams"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Arfon"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Hywel Williams"}
], "uin" : "135053"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/713053", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/713053/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " We have engaged with the sector across the breadth of the UK, including through ADS (the national trade association for the sector), representatives of each of the Devolved Administrations, and directly with companies including in Wales. We are aware of the key areas of importance to the aerospace sector ahead of our negotiations to exit the European Union. Our aim is to retain the UK aerospace sector\u2019s leading position in the global market.<\/p> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3991", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jesse Norman"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hereford and South Herefordshire"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Jesse Norman"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-03-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-03-28T13:09:02.69Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2017-03-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Aerospace Industry: Wales"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on the Welsh aerospace sector of the UK leaving the EU.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1397", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Hywel Williams"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Arfon"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Hywel Williams"}
], "uin" : "68676"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/668979", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/668979/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The health and care system in Wales is devolved. The majority of health services information for Wales is published on the Welsh National Health Service website:<\/p> www.wales.nhs.uk<\/a><\/p> <\/p> or the Welsh Government\u2019s website:<\/p> http://gov.wales/topics/health/<\/a><\/p> <\/p> If the Department is responsible for producing any policy content or guidance that directly affects Wales we would commission translation services and provide the content in both Welsh and English on:<\/p> |