Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment on people living with (a) cancer and (b) the long-term side effects of cancer treatment.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)

Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper looks at different options to reshape the current welfare system so that we can provide better targeted support to those who need it most. We are considering these options through our 12-week consultation which was published on Monday 29 April and will close on Monday 22 July at 11:59pm. Any possible impacts on people living with cancer and people living with the long-term side effects of cancer treatment will be considered as necessary.

There will be no immediate changes to PIP, or to health assessments. All scheduled PIP assessments and payments will proceed as normal, and claimants should continue to engage as usual and provide any necessary information or updates regarding their circumstances.

We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation which can be found here, so that we are able to hear from as many disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives, and local stakeholders as possible on these important issues.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is to commence payment of compensation for firefighter pension arrears in accordance with the firefighter pension scheme immediate detriment framework of March 2023.

Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary

The relevant legislation provides that all eligible members of the firefighters’ pension scheme will be given a choice to remedy the discrimination set out in the McCloud/Sargeant judgment and that information should be provided to eligible members by 1 April 2025.

Adjustments to individual members’ benefits are an administrative matter and the Firefighters’ pension scheme is locally administered by each of the separate Fire and Rescue Authorities in England. The Home Office does not have a role in the administrative processes and does not hold information on administrative processes in Fire and Rescue Authorities.

Found:  In 2019, the then Minister for the Constitution, Chloe Smith, set out in her preface to the Cabinet

Found: (Clerk), Karen Kidby (Committee Operations Manager), Claire Milliken (Committee Specialist), Chloe Smith

Found: post-legislative scrutiny of the Lobbying Act in 2021, then Minister for Devolution and the Constitution Chloe Smith

Found: Former Disability Minister Chloe Smith MP described the Charter as a welcome initiative in a speech

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Adam Afriyie Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Dame Andrea Jenkyns Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Damian Green Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Rees-Mogg Sir Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Rees-Mogg Sir Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Rees-Mogg Sir Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Rees-Mogg Sir Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Rees-Mogg Sir Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Danny Kruger Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: Hart Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg Sir Desmond Swayne Gordon Henderson Wera Hobhouse Henry Smith Chloe Smith

Found: return Nil return Theodore Agnew Nil Return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Chloe Smith

Found: return Nil return Nil return Nil return Theodore Agnew Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Chloe Smith

Found: return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Chloe Smith

Found: Education To discuss education and training Theodore Agnew 30/06/2020 Exta To discuss automation Chloe Smith

Found: Ministers during the year Rt Hon Michelle Donelan M  P Secretary of State From 7 Feb 2023 Rt Hon Chloe Smith

Found: from 30 July 2019 Resigned 31 December 2022– – – – –80,501 107,335 17,74248–98,000 Rt Hon Chloe Smith

Found: from 30 July 2019 Resigned 31 December 2022– – – – –80,501 107,335 17,742 48–98,000 Rt Hon Chloe Smith

Found: Chloe Smith Minister for the Constitution BEST RESULT SO FAR National Fraud Initiative Report 1 April

Found: Quarterly Meeting on Elections Policy with the Minister of State for the Constitution and Devolution, Chloe Smith

Found: In a letter to the interim Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Chloe Smith MP,

Found: The meeting was held virtually and chaired by Chloe Smith MP, the UK Government’s Minister for the Constitution

Found: Chloe Smith MP, Minister of State for the Constitution and DevolutionGraeme Dey MSP Minister for Parliamentary

Found: I have written to Chloe Smith, Minister of State for Constitution and Devolution, expressing my disappointment

Found: State for Exiting the EU Robin Walker and Parliamentary Secretary and Minister for the Constitution Chloe Smith

Question

What discussions has the Minister had with the UK Government to ensure that personal independence payment assessments are carried out in a fair, consistent and accurate manner?

Answered by Minister for Social Justice

At the start of this government term I wrote to wrote to the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) highlighting the concerns Welsh Government has over the assessments undertaken by healthcare professionals for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims.  I know that many disabled people in Wales find the process to be complicated, time-consuming and anxiety inducing; often leading to unfair decisions based on the opinion of a sole assessor. I urged the Secretary of State to look at the lessons that can be learnt from the approach being taken by the Scottish Government who are collecting more information from claimants, their medical professionals and carers in order to reduce the need for face-to-face assessments in their decision-making on entitlement to the Scottish disability benefits.

In October 2021, the Minister for Health and Social Services and I sent a cross government response to Chloe Smith MP, Minister for Disabled People on the DWP’s Health and Disability Green Paper. In the response we noted the current PIP assessment process places the focus on the disability rather than the person and re-iterated the importance of DWP processes adhering to the social model of disability. We recommended changes are made to the PIP assessment to enable a person-centred integrated health assessment to be carried out.  We believe this will result in a fair outcome with fewer decisions having to be challenged through the Mandatory Reconsideration process or before a Social Security Tribunal.

We requested that Welsh Government officials are included in any DWP discussions relating to developing and implementing changes to the PIP assessment process.

DWP are due to publish their Health and Disability White Paper later this year, and I look forward to reading the positive action that will be taken to ensure that disabled people across Wales are treated with fairness, dignity and compassion when seeking financial support from the United Kingdom welfare benefit system.

Found: Frameworks Scrutiny Committee on 23 December, the UK Minister for the Constitution and Devolution Chloe Smith

Found: Committee Stage debate on Part 6 of the Bill, Minister of State for Constitution and Devolution, Chloe Smith

Found: Minister for the Constitution Chloe Smith said that the UK 39 UK Internal Market Bill: Research and Legal

Found: Chloe Smith MP, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, said: The Government have repeatedly

Found: Chloe Smith MP, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, said: The Government have repeatedly