Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people over the age of 70 have applied to renew their driving licence (1) online, and (2) by post, in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by age of applicant.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The table below shows the number of applications received from those renewing their driving licence at the age of 70 and over either online or by post in the last five financial years. It has not been possible in the time available to break this down by age of applicant.
| Online applications age 70 and over | Postal applications age 70 and over |
2015-2016 | 720,152 | 1,068,060 |
2016-2017 | 843,947 | 1,079,017 |
2017-2018 | 897,577 | 990,243 |
2018-2019 | 907,005 | 1,117,544 |
2019-2020 | 1,128,344 | 1,012,176 |
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what role the NHS COVID-19 App is expected to play in the test and trace system.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Health Service COVID-19 app is new technology to assist with the well-established technique of contact tracing, including online and local public experts, supplemented by 25,000 dedicated contact tracing staff.
The test and trace system aims to reduce transmission of the virus by alerting people who may have been exposed to the virus so they can take action to protect themselves, the people they care about and the NHS.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) adults with a learning disability living in a care setting, (2) people over the age of 70 living in a care setting, and (3) people over the age of 70 not in a care setting, were issued a shielding letter in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Those identified as extremely clinically vulnerable are put on the Shielded Patient List (SPL), based on a set of specific conditions set out by the Chief Medical Officer. The SPL has been developed based on national data and local clinical judgement.
We only hold sufficient information on the SPL to allow us to identify those people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, to ensure that they have the right guidance and support to help them shield. We do not have additional data on whether that are currently in care settings or not. This means we are unable to identify adults with a learning disability in a care setting from the SPL, nor split the over 70s on the SPL between those in care settings and those not.
The SPL does include date of birth, so as of 7 May we know that 944,134 people aged 70 and over were on the SPL, and therefore should have received a shielding letter.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people over the age of 70 live in a care setting.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, formerly the Personal Social Services Research Unit, provide long term demand projections for adult social care, based on current service use and trends in disability rates. They estimate that in 2020 there are 330,000 care home residents aged 65 and over in care homes in England. These estimates are not broken down any further by age.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when specific personal protective equipment guidance for learning disability services will be published.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom Government and devolved administrations have published clear guidance on appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and social care workers as well as specific patient use of PPE. This has been written and reviewed by all four UK public health bodies and informed by National Health Service infection prevention control experts and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG).
Our guidance is consistent with World Health Organization guidance for protecting health and social care workers from COVID-19. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Midwives have played a lead role in developing the guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many adults with a learning disability live in a care setting.
Answered by Lord Bethell
2018-19 is the latest year for which data on the number of clients with a Primary Support Reason of Learning Disability Support receiving long term support by care setting is available. According to the 2018-19 dataset 2,065 adults with a learning disability lived in a nursing care setting whilst 30,410 adults with a learning disability lived in a residential care setting. Therefore, a total of 32,4765 adults with a learning disability lived in a care setting between 2018-19.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are putting in place to ensure that policies applied to people with learning disabilities recognise their individual needs.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are supporting people of all ages with a learning disability or autism to live well in the community, rather than in inappropriate hospital care. Building the Right Support is our national plan to develop community services and reduce reliance on mental health inpatient services for people with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour that challenges, including those with a mental health condition.
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to an extra £4.5 billion a year for primary care and community health services by 2023/24. Health and social care staff must have the skills and knowledge to make a positive difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. This is a priority for the Government and we are developing plans to introduce the Oliver McGowan mandatory training in learning disability and autism.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average clearance time for Attendance Allowance claims, based on the most recent data available, in each of the last five years for (1) all claims, and (2) special rules claims made for terminal illnesses with a DS1500 form.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The average clearance times for Attendance Allowance can be found in the following table:
| All Claims |
| Special Rules |
2014/15 | 16.9 days |
| 8.0 days |
2015/16 | 9.7 days |
| 5.4 days |
2016/17 | 17.6 days |
| 6.8 days |
2017/18 | 19.4 days |
| 5.3 days |
2018/19 | 20.5 days |
| 6.0 days |
2019/20 YTD | 29.6 days |
| 8.9 days |
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of Attendance Allowance claims were successful, based on the most recent data available, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
DWP can confirm that the proportion of Attendance Allowance successful claims for the last five years is: -
2019/2020 – 86% award rate
2018/2019 – 85% award rate
2017/2018 – 85% award rate
2016/2017 – 87% award rate
2015/2016 – 89% award rate
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many people aged (a) 75–84, (b) 85–94, and (c) 95 and over, will be affected by the removal of the Adult Dependency Increase on 6 April; (2) how much money will those affected lose; and (3) what provisions are being put in place to help those affected.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
As at May 2019, the latest data available, the numbers of people in receipt of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases, and the average weekly amount of Adult Dependency Increase they were in receipt of, is shown in the table below.
| Caseload | Average Weekly Amount |
Under 75 years | 1,180 | £61.60 |
75 to 84 years | 8,330 | £57.34 |
85 to 94 years | 1,260 | £53.83 |
95 years and above | 40 | £46.69 |
Total | 10,810 | £57.36 |
By April 2020 this number will already have decreased further as, for example, some adult dependents will reach their State Pension age before then.
As at autumn 2019, 6,440 people were in receipt of, or had an underlying entitlement to, an Adult Dependency Increases for Carer’s Allowance.
Those who lose their Adult Dependency Increase, either in April 2020 or before then, may be able to access income-related benefits to top up their household income, depending on their circumstances. For those already in receipt of income-related benefits, their awards will be adjusted to take account of the removal of the Adult Dependency Increase. Claimants who receive income-related benefits may also be entitled to 'passported' benefits to help with, for example, housing costs or heating costs. Income-related benefits are an important protection for the incomes of some of our most vulnerable people.
We are encouraging people who live overseas to consider if they may be entitled to any additional benefits or support from the country where they reside.
State Pension Adult Dependency Increases were abolished by the Pensions Act 2007 from April 2010. Carer’s Allowance Adult Dependency Increases were abolished by the Welfare Reform Act 2009 from April 2010. However, transitional provisions were included for both benefits which allow existing claimants from April 2010 to continue receiving Adult Dependency Increases until April 2020.
Information about the ending of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases has been available on the Government website at www.gov.uk. Furthermore, State Pension recipients in the UK have also been informed about the changes to State Pension Adult Dependency Increases within the annual uprating notifications, which have been sent to them since 2010. We have also included this information in annual uprating notifications sent to overseas State Pension recipients since 2018.
We sent specific letters to those affected by the State Pension and Carer Allowance changes during May/June 2019, and a further letter was sent out in October 2019.
The ending of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases was part of a package of reforms contained in the Pensions Act 2007 that improved the State Pension position for both women and carers.
The savings from ending the provision of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases are estimated to be £125m between 2020/21 and 2024/25, based on analysis from 2018. This only reflects savings on ADI expenditure and does not take into account any offsetting impacts on other benefits.
We have not done a detailed costing of the costs of tapering provision for Adult Dependency Increases. However, we estimate that the cost of continuing to pay State Pension Adult Dependency Increases until all dependents reach their State Pension age would be in the region of £200m to £250m