Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether clause 128 and schedule 11 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would apply (a) only to recipients of Pension Credit and (b) to all recipients of the State Pension.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Fraud is a growing problem across the economy, accounting for over 40% of all crime and the welfare system is not immune to this. Although down by 10% in 2022-23, £8.3bn was overpaid in fraud and error last year in the benefit system and it is vital that the Government takes measures to see that fall further so the right support is provided to the right people.
The DWP third-party data gathering measure, contained in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, will give the department better access to relevant data which will help us identify fraud and error in the system. We expect this to save up to £600m in the next five years.
The proposed powers cover all DWP benefits, grants and other DWP payments as set out in paragraph 16 of the schedule. This is to ensure that, where fraud and error arises, the Department has the power to address it. The power does not, however, give DWP access to millions of pensioners’ bank accounts, either those claiming the State Pension or Pension Credit. What this power does is require third parties to look within their own data and provide relevant information to DWP that may signal where some DWP claimants may not meet the eligibility criteria for the benefit they are receiving. This data may signal fraud or error and require a further review by DWP – through business-as-usual processes - to determine whether wrongful payments are being made. No personal information will be shared by DWP with third parties and only the minimum amount of information on those in receipt of DWP payments will be provided by banks to the Department to enable us to make further enquiries.
In 2022/33, £100m was overpaid in the State Pension and £330m was overpaid in the Pension Credit. This compares to over £5,540m that was overpaid in Universal Credit. Only those people flagged as potentially being ineligible for the support they are receiving would be flagged through this measure and we are clear we will focus the powers in areas where there is a significant and pressing fraud and error challenge. In the first instance, we will be focusing the use of this power within Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Pension Credit
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus constituency did not receive the second Cost of Living Payment due to receiving a nil award during the relevant Universal Credit assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In line with the code of practice, the number of Cost of Living Payments made to recipients of a specific benefit is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus constituency did not receive the first Cost of Living Payment due to receiving a nil award during the relevant Universal Credit assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In line with the code of practice, the number of Cost of Living Payments made to recipients of a specific benefit is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants in Angus constituency are paid by their employers on a non-monthly cycle.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus constituency did not receive the second Cost of Living Payment due to receiving a nil award during the relevant Universal Credit assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department will publish a full analysis once all payment information for the first and second Cost of Living payments, during the financial year, is available.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus constituency did not receive the first Cost of Living Payment due to receiving a nil award during the relevant Universal Credit assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department will publish a full analysis once all payment information for the first and second Cost of Living payments, during the financial year, is available.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to increase capital limits for means-tested benefits for working-age people in line with inflation.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have no plans to change the capital limits for means-tested benefits.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to allow people diagnosed with a terminal illness to access their state pension prior to their pension age if they have accrued sufficient contributions.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We have no plans to allow early access to State Pension.
For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.
Scotland has the powers under the Scotland Act 2016 to make additional discretionary payments should it wish to do so. Whilst pensions remain a reserved matter, the Scotland Act 2016 has given the Scottish Government the ability to use a wide range of new welfare provisions.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
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 merits of a modifying the Child Maintenance Service variation process in relation to mileage to ensure that the paying parent is able to claim mileage and travel costs without specifying distance to avoid the risk of the receiving parent becoming aware, through disputed mileage claim distances, of the area the paying parent resides in.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In order for a Paying Parent to claim mileage and travel costs through a variation, they must provide the Child Maintenance Service with the total distance in order for the Service to calculate the costs correctly. This ensures the calculation is a fair reflection of the additional costs incurred by the Paying Parent and meets the requirements set out in legislation. This also ensures transparency in decision making so that both parents are able challenge any decision that affects the child maintenance liability.
The safety of all customers is a priority for the Service and it will never share sensitive personal details that could reveal the location of either parent.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will work with (a) Australian, (b) Canadian and (c) other relevant overseas governments to establish a reciprocal social security agreement in order to end frozen pension policy.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK has no plans to change its longstanding policy position.