Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2024, to Question 9286, on Civil Servants, how many civil servants are assigned to work in her Department's headquarters in London; and how many individual desks are available in the headquarters office.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 31st October 2024, there are 2,357 paid members of staff with Caxton House – London recorded as their place of work.
There are 1,050 desks allocated to DWP in Caxton House.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many civil servants are assigned to work in each of her Department's offices; and how many desks are available in each office.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP has over 800 sites where staff are assigned. Gathering and collating data on staffing numbers and desks from each site would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of desks were occupied in each of her Department’s offices in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff attended each office in person in the same period.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data regarding the number of staff attending each site is not held on our central system. Details are held at individual team level by line managers and as such we would have to contact all line managers for input. As the Department does not keep this information centrally, to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department since the dissolution of the last Parliament; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I can confirm that there has been nil investment on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial Offices for the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since the dissolution of the last Parliament.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who will be affected by the change is eligibility criteria for the winter fuel payment in the Bridgwater constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is estimated that around 19,200 pensioners in Bridgwater Constituency (2024 boundaries) will be impacted by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment. This is based on February 2024 Pension Credit statistics which are available via DWP Stat-Xplore and the Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which are available via GOV.UK.
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of people claiming Pension Credit in Bridgwater Constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients in Bridgwater Constituency. It is possible to use the Pension Credit statistics, to give a minimum estimate of the number who may be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments. Therefore, the above estimation is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients who are not claiming Pension Credit pre-policy change, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive the Winter Fuel Payment.
Please note that the above estimation would not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up that we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or Local Authorities.
The published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals in respect of whom Pension Credit is paid will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where a claimant has a partner and / or dependents.)
In addition, while Pension Credit claimants constitute the majority of those that will be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment, pensioners who claim other qualifying means-tested benefits will also be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment. It is not, however, possible to include those on other qualifying means-tested benefits in these figures.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's campaign to promote Pension Credit on the number of successful applications.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The latest available data published on the 27 September [Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)] shows that the Department received around 74,400 Pension Credit claims in the 8 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement on 29 July. This is compared to around 29,500 Pension Credit claims in the 8 weeks preceding the announcement. This represents a 152% increase in Pension Credit claims.
Data on the number of successful applications is not currently available.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, following her Department’s meeting with representatives of the WASPI Campaign on 5 September, whether there is an expected timeline for responding to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report into changes to women’s State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We need time to review and consider the Ombudsman’s report along with the evidence provided during the investigation.
We need to consider the views that have been expressed on all sides including the points raised by representatives from the WASPI Campaign who I met on the 5th September.
Once this work has been undertaken, the Government will be in a position to outline its approach.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost of her Department's campaign to encourage people to apply for Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department’s paid marketing activity to promote Pension Credit, which includes radio, national and regional press, paid social media and GP and Post Office screens has been live since 16 September and is ongoing.
It is not possible to provide an accurate assessment of the cost of this paid activity until it is concluded.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her plan to reform or replace the Work Capability Assessment will recognise the increased cost of living for those with physical disabilities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to reforming or replacing the Work Capability Assessment, alongside putting in place a proper plan to support disabled people into work. We will say more about this in due course.
We want people to avoid poverty, and for this to happen we must ensure that disabled people with health conditions have the opportunity to work and save for as long as they wish and are able to. We will continue to engage with stakeholders to keep the views of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of what we do, as we consider our next steps.