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Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Appeals
Tuesday 30th May 2023

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of Personal Independence Payment reassessment applications (a) were assessed by a Decision Maker from his Department without being referred to a Health Care Professional and (b) were referred to a Health Care Professional.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The information requested is available - however, anomalies have been found which means that the data is not considered reliable in its current form. Therefore, I will write once this data is available and place a copy in the House Library.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Tuesday 25th April 2023

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will amend the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 to ensure that Article 69a will only apply as a last resort when the non-resident parent is not making maintenance payments through PAYE and other unearned income (such as rental income) and it can be shown that the resident parent cannot meet the needs for the child.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The purpose of the asset variation, covered by regulation 69A of The Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012, is to ensure that where paying parents are receiving income from assets, that this is taken into account in the child maintenance calculation.

Either parent may apply for a variation at any time during the life of their case. If a variation is implemented, the maintenance calculation will be adjusted accordingly to accurately reflect their circumstances. CMS would take income received from assets into account even if the paying parent is paying maintenance according to their PAYE income.

Child maintenance liabilities are calculated based on the taxable income and assets of the paying parent and represent an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them. The income of the receiving parent is not used in the calculation, and the paying parent has a responsibility to support their child regardless of the receiving parent’s financial circumstances.

There are no plans to change the circumstances in which the asset variation could be used.


Written Question
Steve Moir
Monday 15th November 2021

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Health and Safety Executive investigation into the death of Steve Moir on the Guided Busway in Cambridgeshire will conclude.

Answered by Chloe Smith

I have made enquiries with the Health and Safety Executive, who have confirmed that the investigation into the death of Mr Moir is ongoing. I was informed that a detailed and thorough investigation is being carried out and it is anticipated the remaining lines of enquiry will continue into 2022.


Written Question
National Insurance
Friday 26th February 2021

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2020 to Question 86679, on National Insurance, what progress her Department has made on implementing a digital solution to speed up the National Insurance Number (NINo) process; and when that digital service will be available.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The department has continued to progress the development of its digital solution, ‘Apply for a National Insurance Number (NINo)’ and will soon be available to applicants who require a NINo for employment purposes.

The department started testing a partial digital solution, on a small scale, in mid-October, to support the allocation of National Insurance Numbers. This solution enables the collection of an applicant’s data, but not the online verification of their identity. Alternative identity verification solutions to reduce the need for a face to face identity check for some customer groups, including EU nationals with Settled or Pre-Settled status, was part of that test.

In January, we gained Government Digital Service approval as a result we were no longer required to limit the number of applicants we can serve, although we do not have an identity solution for all potential applicants yet. Our current plan is that by the end of March 2021 we will be able to offer a service to all applicants who do not require their identity to be verified face to face.

This means that we have moved from a position in March 2020 of only offering a NINo service to the most vulnerable, to a place where we are able to provide a service to the majority.


Written Question
Covid Winter Grant Scheme
Wednesday 20th January 2021

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the £170 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme available to local authorities in England has been allocated to (a) people in need directly in cash grants and vouchers and (b) emergency food aid charities.

Answered by Will Quince

The Covid Winter Grant Scheme gives local authorities the flexibility to decide how best to identify and support those most in need in their local area, as set out in the guidance available which was published on gov.uk on 24 November.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-winter-grant-scheme


Written Question
National Insurance
Wednesday 16th September 2020

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

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 trends in the time taken to issue national insurance numbers to applicants.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has continued to monitor all aspects of the National Insurance Number (NINo) process throughout recent months, as we continue to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our services.

When applying for a NINo, all applicants are required to have their identity verified. For those applicants whose identity has already been verified by another UK Government Department, primarily the Home Office, their applications are dealt with by post. For those who have not had their identity verified, primarily EU/EEA nationals, the current process requires them to attend a face to face interview with DWP to verify their identity.

Due to COVID-19 and in line with government guidelines, the face to face interview process was suspended from 17th March 2020. The resource normally deployed in this area were redeployed to process the substantial number of benefit claims received during this period.

DWP re-instated a limited service for customers, who do not require a face to face interview, in June. Since then the average time taken to clear an application for a NINo from the point of application is received, to decision, has been:

June - 11.4 days

July - 5.4 days

August - 4.5 days

It is not possible, due to the requirement to examine customers’ ID documents, to offer a virtual service. However, we are working on a digital solution that should enable us to restart the process incrementally from the end of September 2020.


Written Question
Disability: Social Distancing
Tuesday 9th June 2020

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take to raise public awareness about the problems faced by people with sight loss and other hidden disabilities, who may find it hard to follow social distancing rules.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

We recognise that some people with disabilities face particular difficulty in social distancing, or are impacted by the reaction of others to their inability to socially distance. We are considering how we ensure that disabled people are able to socially distance in order to protect themselves from Coronavirus and from adverse attention from people who perceive that they are not adhering to guidelines on social distancing. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the Corona Virus pandemic.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Coronavirus
Friday 5th June 2020

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department made prior to implementing the £20 a week uplift to universal credit due to the covid-19 outbreak of the effect of that policy on (a) economically vulnerable people, (b) household food security and (c) the duties of public bodies under the Equalities Act 2010.

Answered by Will Quince

We have announced measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised. This allowed, for example, for the swift introduction of the £20 a week uplift to the Universal Credit standard allowance to respond to the effects of the current pandemic for those experiencing the most financial disruption. The changes we have made to the benefit system in response to the pandemic provide a balanced package of support.

Ministers have fully complied with their statutory duties when making decisions on the existing package of support. There is insufficient data to estimate the precise economic impact on different groups. We continue to monitor data sources including tax and benefit data to understand the effect of COVID-19 on household incomes and debt.


Written Question
Employment: Coronavirus
Tuesday 12th May 2020

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether workplaces will be required to carry out a specific covid-19 risk assessment before re-opening after the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As part of managing health and safety, businesses must control the risks in their workplace. To do this, they need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide what reasonable steps to take to prevent that harm, via the process of conducting a risk assessment. This requirement has not changed and should address risks from the work environment as well as processes.


Written Question
Disability: Pay
Friday 4th October 2019

Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trades Union Congress's report entitled TUC calls on Government to make employers report their disability pay gap, what steps her Department has taken to address the disability pay gap.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The government published the voluntary reporting framework on disability, mental ill health and wellbeing in November 2018.This is aimed at large employers (over 250 employees) and it is recommended that they publically report on the pay and progression of disabled people at regular intervals. It can also be used to support smaller employers who are keen to drive greater transparency in their organisation or industry.