Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were in receipt of the Higher Rate Mobility Component of the Disability Living Allowance in each of the four countries of the UK in the last year; and how many of those recipients in each country used it to cover the cost of a Motability Scheme lease agreement.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The latest available information showing the number of individuals who received the Higher Rate mobility award of Disability Living Allowance, is given in the table below.
Number of individuals in receipt of Higher Rate Mobility Award of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) by country, at the end of each quarter, February 2021 to November 2021: Great Britain.
Quarter | England | Wales | Scotland | Total (GB) |
Feb 21 | 464,946 | 46,003 | 68,817 | 579,767 |
May 21 | 456,141 | 45,065 | 67,551 | 568,752 |
Aug 21 | 448,341 | 44,246 | 66,397 | 558,979 |
Nov 21 | 440,127 | 43,259 | 64,974 | 548,362 |
Source: DLA Cases in Payment, Stat-Xplore, Department for Work and Pensions
We do not hold information on the number of higher rate mobility recipients that use it to cover the cost of a Motability Scheme lease agreement. However, the latest Motability annual report does show that over 640,000 people use the scheme.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the removal of the triple lock on pensions this year on pensioner poverty.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people who qualify for Pension Credit but do not claim it each year.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
According to the latest data, 770,000 people are eligible non-recipients of Pension Credit for the financial year ending 2020. The published data tables can be accessed here: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they had with the devolved administrations before their announcement of the one-year suspension of the "triple lock" on state pension payment increases.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
One of the benefits covered by the Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Bill - survivors’ benefits in Industrial Death Benefit - is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The Department is temporarily delivering them on behalf of the Scottish Ministers under an Agency Agreement which provides that legislative parity must be maintained, of which there are around 300 recipients of these benefits in Scotland. The Secretary of State therefore wrote to the relevant Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government ahead of its introduction seeking a decision on whether they would be taking primary legislation in the Scottish Parliament or through a Legislative Consent Motion to allow this Bill to provide the appropriate powers to enable Scottish Ministers to deliver uprating legislation in tandem. The other benefits in the Bill are reserved matters in Scotland.
Social security is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Executive has the power in section 132A of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 to mirror the Up-rating Order in Great Britain made under section 150A (in this case, as temporarily amended). Therefore, the draft Bill does not need to extend to Northern Ireland and no primary legislation is required in Northern Ireland. However, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 sets out that the Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland Minister will seek to maintain a single system of social security, to the extent agreed between them. Officials in the Department for Work and Pensions in Great Britain and the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland have therefore been in discussion on the issue.
Social security is a reserved matter in Wales.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in England they estimate to be entitled to pension credit who are not claiming it, as a percentage of those eligible.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The information requested is not available.
Data related to Pension Credit is published at Great Britain level. The latest estimates were published in October 2020 and relate to the financial year 2018/19 and can be found in the “Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up” publication in the statistics section of gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was paid in social benefits in England and Wales in the last five years for which records are available.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
In the last 5 years the overall benefit expenditure in England and Wales can be found on the table below.
Great Britain welfare spending, | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
| Outturn | Outturn | Outturn | Outturn | Outturn | Forecast |
People of working age and children | 94.4 | 93.7 | 94.6 | 95.2 | 97.1 | 113.4 |
Pensioners | 116.4 | 118.0 | 119.9 | 122.0 | 124.0 | 125.5 |
Total | 210.7 | 211.7 | 214.4 | 217.2 | 221.1 | 238.9 |
of which DWP | 171.8 | 173.9 | 178.1 | 183.8 | 192.4 | 213.1 |
of which Non-DWP | 38.9 | 37.9 | 36.4 | 33.4 | 28.7 | 25.7 |
Further detailed information relating to benefit expenditure can be found in our published expenditure tables.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of (1) fraud, and (2) errors, in the social security system in England and Wales in each of the last five years for which records are available.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Whilst the publication includes numbers for previous years, changes in recording methodology mean that comparisons cannot be made with years prior to 2018/19.
The Department’s estimates of fraud and error are published annually and are available on line via gov.uk. Fraud and error in the benefits system remains very low, with 96.5% of benefits paid correctly.
The vast majority of benefit expenditure is paid correctly, with front line staff working hard to prevent incorrect and fraudulent payments. We are constantly improving our processes and continue to invest in the use of data and analytics to identify fraud and to better target our investigations.
Once rolled out, DWP expects the high-level design of Universal Credit to lead to around £1bn in benefit savings each year from reduced fraud and error.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with officials in Northern Ireland on ensuring that older people in difficult financial circumstances are able to access the benefits to which they are entitled.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are regular discussions between officials in the Department for Work and Pensions and their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department for Communities.
The responsibility for ensuring that older people in Northern Ireland access the benefits to which they are entitled is a matter for the Northern Ireland Department for Communities, so DWP officials have not had specific discussions on this particular subject.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which initiatives and programmes have been implemented to assist people experiencing personal debt and household poverty since the introduction of the provisions of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Work is the most effective route out of poverty and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for claimants to move into and progress in work. And it is working, Universal Credit claimants move into work faster and spend more time looking for work than legacy benefit claimants.
Universal Support also provides Universal Credit claimants with additional help to manage their monthly Universal Credit payment and possible advice on their finances through Personal Budgeting Support. In addition, we refer claimants to Citizens Advice and the Money Advice Service for more specialist debt advice and have also worked with the Money Advice Service to develop a Money Manager Tool.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Civil Service on the operation of Special Rules for Terminal Illness in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Sarah Newton
In line with the principle of parity between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, there are regular discussions between officials in the Department for Work and Pensions and their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department for Communities (DfC).
The Government is committed to supporting the needs of terminally ill claimants and ensuring that benefit rules are applied sensitively.
I recognise that this is an issue which claimants, stakeholders and others take a great deal of interest in and I am always keen to hear the views of others and review available evidence.
We continue to keep the rules on entitlements to benefits under review to ensure they are working effectively and meeting the needs of claimants both now and in the future.