Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will provide details of the civil servants affected by the closure of the Department's processing site at Clarendon House in Exeter by (a) age, (b) ethnicity, (c) gender and (d) disability.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish her Department’s (a) equality and (b) socio-economic impact assessment in respect of the closure of the Department for Work and Pension's processing site at Clarendon House, Exeter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether compulsory redundancies will result from the closure of the Department for Work and Pension's processing site at Clarendon House, Exeter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date the Department's processing site at Clarendon House, Exeter will close.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
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 jobs that will be affected by the closure of the Department for Work and Pensions' processing site at Clarendon House, Exeter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
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 to her Department of mandatory reconsiderations for employment and support allowance and personal independence payment benefits claims in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information for the financial years covered by the request are detailed in the tables below:
| 2019-20 | 2020-21 (£m) |
PIP | £23.7 | £24.8 |
ESA | £6.6 | £1.6 |
Cost figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1m
Data Source: ABM
The cost figures quoted are estimated DWP level 1 operating costs, including both direct delivery staff and non-staff costs. Non-staff costs are only those costs incurred in local cost centres, relating to direct delivery staff.
Please note that the data supplied is from the Departmental Activity Based Models. This data is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standards. It should therefore be treated with caution. The Departmental Activity Based staffing models are a snapshot of how many people were identified as undertaking specified activities as assigned by line managers.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
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 to her Department of tribunals for employment and support allowance and personal independence payment benefits claims in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made for the implications of her policies of the level of confidence disabled people have in the equity of the disability benefits assessment process.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Department operates a robust quality assurance and independent audit process to ensure assessment decisions are consistent. We recognise that improvements could be made to the assessment process and we plan to publish a Health and Disability White Paper later this year following the views shared in response to the Green Paper published last year.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department has considered the potential merits of (a) introducing a right to request an assessor with appropriate knowledge of a claimant’s condition, and (b) the potential impact such an assessor would have on the number of claimants requiring mandatory reconsideration and tribunal.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Health and Disability Green Paper published last year explores how the benefits system can better meet the needs of disabled people and people with health conditions, including how we could improve assessments to better understand the impact of a person’s condition on their ability to work or live independently. We will follow up on the responses to the Green Paper through a White Paper that we will publish later this year.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are taken to ensure that claimants receive the correct benefit award after their assessment, rather than requiring a mandatory reconsideration or tribunal.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Department’s aim is to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. We have made improvements to our decision making processes to ensure that people get the support they are entitled to as quickly as possible, because decision makers can better gather relevant additional evidence earlier in the process.