Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of (a) forced labour and (b) trafficking for labour exploitation were identified by the Health and Safety Executive in (i) 2011, (ii) 2012 and (iii) 2013; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The information asked for is not held by the Health and Safety Executive.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the level of income disregard threshold for employment and support allowance will be reviewed prior to the Autumn Statement 2014.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The Government considers a disregard of occupational/personal pension income of £85.00 a week before contributory Employment and Support Allowance is reduced to be reasonable. This is being currently reviewed as part of the annual benefits uprating exercise.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014 to question 201294, for what reason it was decided not to change the income disregard threshold for employment and support allowance; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The Government considers a disregard of occupational/personal pension income of £85.00 a week before contributory Employment and Support Allowance is reduced to be reasonable. This is being currently reviewed as part of the annual benefits uprating exercise.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2014 to Question 207337, when his Department's statisticians last assessed whether statistics on mandatory reconsideration meet the standards set out in the UK Statistics Authority's code of practice.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
DWP statisticians are currently working to collate and quality assure data on Mandatory Reconsideration. The Department has committed to publishing statistics as soon as Departmental statisticians judge that the data meets the standards set out in the UK Statistics Authority’s Codes of Practice. The aim is to release an initial set of official statistics on Mandatory Reconsideration by the end of 2014.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2014 to Question 207159, whether his Department has any recourse to sanction (a) Atos and (b) Capita in the event that individuals have to wait longer than 16 weeks by the autumn.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
There is a commitment in place that by the end of the year we expect no one to be waiting for a Personal Independence Payment assessment for longer than 16 weeks.
Appropriate contractual provisions are in place support the achievement of this commitment.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the comparative performance of Capita and Atos in conducting personal independence payment assessments.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The Department's contracts with Atos Healthcare and Capita for the delivery of assessments for Personal Independence Payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department's expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department. We are closely monitoring their progress and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards.
We are aware that, in many cases, it is taking longer than we would like for claimants to have their assessments with Capita and Atos Healthcare. To ensure they deliver we are working closely with our suppliers to speed up the process for claimants.
By the autumn, we expect no one to be waiting for an assessment for longer than 26 weeks and by the end of the year, we expect no one will be waiting longer than 16 weeks.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment (a) registrations and (b) decisions were made in the (i) KA and (ii) PA postcode areas between April 2013 and March 2014.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Published statistics show that in the KA postcode area there were (a) 2,840 registrations and (b) 1,070 decisions made for the personal independence payment. In the PA postcode area, there were (a) 2,430 registrations, and (b) 680 decisions made for the personal independence payment.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 180W, on social security benefits, if he will conduct an estimate of the saving to the public purse generated by the reduction of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) incapacity benefit for individuals in receipt of a pension income of more than £85 per week in 2013-14.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
We have no plans to undertake such an estimate.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received a reduced rate of employment and support allowance as a result of receiving a pension income of more than £85 in 2013-14.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The information requested to answer the above two questions is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received a reduced rate of incapacity benefit as a result of receiving a pension income of more than £85 in 2013-14.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The information requested to answer the above two questions is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.