Asked by: Ann Clwyd (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of social security claimants who were sanctioned for late arrival to advisory meetings in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
No estimate has been made as this information is not available.
Information on Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance sanction decisions, by referral reason, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions
Asked by: Ann Clwyd (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential causal link between social security sanctions and the deaths of vulnerable claimants.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Department has not made an assessment into any potential causal link between social security sanctions and the deaths of vulnerable claimants.
The Department does not collect information on the cause of death of an individual.
If information is received that a DWP claimant has died and it is alleged that DWP activity may have contributed to this, we would carry out an internal review to establish whether anything should have been done differently.
A decision to impose a sanction is not taken lightly, and claimants are given the opportunity to provide a ‘good reason’ for not complying before the decision is made.
Safeguarding measures are in place to protect vulnerable ESA recipients if there is a failure to meet a requirement. Either a DWP visiting officer undertakes a Home Visit or a Work Programme provider must make face to face contact to ensure individuals fully understand what they have been requested to do and the consequences of failing to do what is required of them.
Asked by: Ann Clwyd (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2016 to Question 32065, if his Department will collect data on the number of former workers of Remploy factories in the Cynon Valley constituency are (a) looking for work, (b) in work, (c) retired, (d) in receipt of employment and support allowance, (e) in receipt of jobseeker's allowance and (f) in receipt of universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department collected management information on former Remploy disabled employees that gave consent to be tracked during the 18 month People Help and Support Package (PHSP). Although this package ended in August 2015, former Remploy disabled employees that continue to need support can continue to access the specialist employment support that is available for all disabled people including Work Choice and Specialist Employability Support.
Asked by: Ann Clwyd (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many former workers of Remploy factories in each Parliamentary constituency are (a) looking for work, (b) in work, (c) retired, (d) in receipt of employment and support allowance and (e) in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The table below is taken from the August 2015 Labour Market Statistics and shows the last data on number of former Remploy employees in work; claiming JSA or claiming ESA in England, Scotland and Wales.
Currently in work (LMS) | Claiming JSA (LMS) | Claiming ESA (LMS) |
867 | 234 | 422 |
These statistics were gathered as part of the 18 month People Help and Support Package (PHSP) made available to ex-Remploy employees. We do not have the required data broken down by constituency and we did not collect data for those looking for work but not claiming ESA or JSA.
When the PHSP ended in August 2015, 1,523 former disabled employees had received support from a Personal Case Worker and 867 were in work. A total of 1,182 jobs had been found, 422 were on ESA and 234 on JSA.
DWP asked all disabled former employees made redundant from Remploy to give permission to be tracked. The data we have are necessarily incomplete because they only record the progress and outcomes of those individuals who gave this permission.
Asked by: Ann Clwyd (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many former workers of the Remploy factory in Aberdare are (a) looking for work, (b) currently in work, (c) retired, (d) in receipt of employment and support allowance and (e) in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
For all disabled former Remploy workers made redundant as a result of factory closures, the Government put in place the £8 million guaranteed People Help and Support Package (PHSP). The support package provides help to each affected disabled former employee for up to 18 months from the date they left Remploy.
As part of this support package the Department also asked all disabled former employees made redundant from Remploy to give permission to be tracked, and can only monitor the progress and outcomes of those individuals that have given permission.
Latest figures show that (a) 17 disabled former Remploy Aberdare workers are choosing to work with our Personal Case Workers to find another job and (b) 13 are currently in work, (c) 8 confirmed their intention to retire at the time they left Remploy, (d) 1 is in receipt of Employment Support Allowance, (e) and 3 are in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance.