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 receiving employment and support allowance in the support group are aged (a) 50 and over and (b) 55 and over.
Answered by Steve Webb
Statistics on the age of claimant by Phase of the Employment and Support Allowance claim are published and available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool.
Guidance for users is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance.
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 were affected by the changes to the Home Responsibilities Protection scheme which allow for time bringing up children to be included as a full qualifying year for the State Pension.
Answered by Steve Webb
The state pension reforms under the Pensions Act 2007, affecting those reaching state pension age from 6 April 2010, included the introduction of a single contribution condition of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits for a full basic state pension and the replacement of the Home Responsibilities Protection scheme with a new system of National Insurance credits for parents and carers and earlier years of Home Responsibilities Protection were converted into qualifying years.
These measures were primarily designed to improve the basic pension entitlements of women. The effects of the relaxation of the contribution conditions and the changes to Home Responsibilities Protection are complex. It has not been practicable to disaggregate the combined effects.
However, information on the numbers of women resident in Great Britain receiving the full basic State Pension for the years 2009/10 to 2013/14 can be found in Table 1 of the Ad Hoc statistical release published to support the review of the Pensions Act 2007 which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398701/statistical-analysis-review-pensions-act-2007.pdf
Equivalent information in relation to men is not readily available.
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 requests for mandatory reconsideration on claims for Personal Independence Payments were made in the 12 months to October 2014.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The information requested is not available at this time.
The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP mandatory reconsiderations in the future in line with our publication strategy https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-release-strategy and will pre-announce our intention to do so in line with UK Statistics Authority protocols.
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, in which areas of the UK personal independence payments natural reassessment has not yet been rolled-out.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The postcode areas where Personal Independence Payment (PIP) natural reassessment has started, or is shortly planned to start, can be found on the Gov.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pip-postcode-map-uk.
The Northern Ireland Assembly are in the process of passing the necessary legislation to introduce PIP in due course. It is a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly how and when natural reassessment will start.
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 his Department has conducted an impact assessment of proposed changes to the widowed parent's allowance; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Webb
Bereavement benefits including Widowed Parent’s Allowance will be replaced by Bereavement Support Payment from April 2017. Those already in receipt of the existing benefit will not be affected by the change.
An impact assessment was published in April 2014: “Replacement of existing Bereavement Benefits for New Claims from April 2017 – Bereavement Benefits for the 21st Century (in Great Britain)”
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 the average weekly amount received by claimants of the widowed parent's allowance was in each year from 2001 to 2014.
Answered by Steve Webb
Widowed Parents’ Allowance (WPA) is one of DWP bereavement benefits and provides financial support to bereaved parents eligible to Child Benefit on behalf of their child. Questions can be answered from analysing data the Department publishes every quarter via the Tabulation Tool – see link: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/bb/tabtool_bb.html
For example, in February 2014, about 15% of WPA claimants have been claiming for less than a year and half of them between two and five years; claimants receive on average about £108 per week.
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 proportion of claimants of the widowed parent's allowance claimed that allowance for less than one year in each year from 2001 to 2014.
Answered by Steve Webb
Widowed Parents’ Allowance (WPA) is one of DWP bereavement benefits and provides financial support to bereaved parents eligible to Child Benefit on behalf of their child. Questions can be answered from analysing data the Department publishes every quarter via the Tabulation Tool – see link: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/bb/tabtool_bb.html
For example, in February 2014, about 15% of WPA claimants have been claiming for less than a year and half of them between two and five years; claimants receive on average about £108 per week.
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 the average number of years is which claimants of the widowed parent's allowance have received payments for.
Answered by Steve Webb
Widowed Parents’ Allowance (WPA) is one of DWP bereavement benefits and provides financial support to bereaved parents eligible to Child Benefit on behalf of their child. Questions can be answered from analysing data the Department publishes every quarter via the Tabulation Tool – see link: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/bb/tabtool_bb.html
For example, in February 2014, about 15% of WPA claimants have been claiming for less than a year and half of them between two and five years; claimants receive on average about £108 per week.
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 8 July 2014 to Question 203682, whether the Government has met its expectation that no-one is waiting longer than 26 weeks for a personal independence payment assessment.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
We are absolutely committed to improving performance and will continue to work to further reduce processing times and levels of work outstanding. Both providers have more than doubled the number of assessment reports they are returning to the Department since January, as shown in the official statistics published in September, and the number of decisions made has further increased over recent months.
Departmental statisticians are continuing to develop measures around clearance times and waiting times to ensure they provide a rounded and representative picture of personal independence payment performance, improvement activity and the claimants’ experience. These statistics will be published when they are ready, with the release pre-announced in line with United Kingdom Statistics Authority release protocols.
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.