Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his oral contribution of 27 March 2017, Official Report, column 9, what the financial budget allocated to support claimants who would otherwise have received work-related activity payment is.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The “Improving Lives: The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper” was published on 31 October 2016 and announces the Department’s new Personal Support Package.
In his 2015 Summer Budget, the Chancellor announced the removal of the Work Related Activity Component (WRAC) and the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) element from April 2017.
Announced alongside this was a support package of £330m over four years to support this group from April 17. In addition, an extra £15m will be made available through the Flexible Support Fund in both 2017/18 and 2018/19 to offer more targeted support at a local level.
‘Improving Lives, The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’ provides further details of the overarching Personal Support Package for people with health conditions and disabilities, with a range of new interventions and initiatives designed to provide support that is tailored to the individual needs of claimants.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to promote Marriage Week in February 2017.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
This government believes we cannot afford to overlook the importance of the family as the basic building block upon which we build a successful economy and a stable society. While my department has no plans to promote Marriage Week we continue to support policies like the Marriage Tax Allowance which recognise the position and significance of marriage within society.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the review, entitled What works to enhance inter-parental relationships and improve outcomes for children, published in March 2016, what steps his Department is taking to support the training of the future workforce to deliver the expert couple interventions.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Early Intervention Foundation review showed that children exposed to frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict between their parents are at risk of poorer long term outcomes. Our new approach to relationship support responds to this evidence.
Since April 2016 we have doubled the funding available for relationship support for the remainder of this Parliament. From 2017/18 we will be contracting for relationship support services which will include help targeted at the most disadvantaged families experiencing relationship distress. As part of this approach we will be working to build the capability of key professionals on the frontline to identify conflict within the family and to provide first line help as well as effective referral. We will also continue to build on our work with local authorities to embed proven interventions into local service design. This means more families will have access to programmes with stronger evidence of impact.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons refugees with disabilities who have been deemed entitled to disability living allowance have different backdating entitlements depending on whether their claim happened to be stockpiled before or after the Upper Tribunal ruling of 17 March 2016 on the past presence test.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
No claims were stockpiled before the Upper Tribunal ruling of 17 March 2016, 40 Disability Living Allowance claims were stockpiled after the ruling.
Section 27 of the Social Security Act 1998 provides that, where the Upper Tribunal decides on a social security appeal that the Secretary of State has made an error of law in his original decision and other claims subsequently fall to be decided by the Secretary of State, the judgment generally is not to be applied in relation to any period that predates the Upper Tribunal’s decision (s.27(3)). This statutory rule does not apply to the person who brought the original appeal, to people who have already lodged an appeal against a decision or who are still in time to do so, or to people whose case the Secretary of State has stockpiled (or whose appeal he has stayed) pending the judgment under section 25 of the Act.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims were stockpiled (a) before and (b) after the Upper Tribunal ruling of 17 March 2016 on the unlawful and discriminatory use of the past presence test.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
No claims were stockpiled before the Upper Tribunal ruling of 17 March 2016, 40 Disability Living Allowance claims were stockpiled after the ruling.
Section 27 of the Social Security Act 1998 provides that, where the Upper Tribunal decides on a social security appeal that the Secretary of State has made an error of law in his original decision and other claims subsequently fall to be decided by the Secretary of State, the judgment generally is not to be applied in relation to any period that predates the Upper Tribunal’s decision (s.27(3)). This statutory rule does not apply to the person who brought the original appeal, to people who have already lodged an appeal against a decision or who are still in time to do so, or to people whose case the Secretary of State has stockpiled (or whose appeal he has stayed) pending the judgment under section 25 of the Act.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Government will remove the local housing allowance cap for people living in supported housing; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Secretary of State has confirmed that the Government expects to make an announcement on the way forward for supported housing in early autumn.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has for the allocation of the £70 million funding for relationship support announced by the Prime Minister on 11 January 2016; and what the timetable will be for the distribution of that funding over the Parliament.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Department is developing the detail of how the funding will be allocated. For 2016/17 we are extending our programme of relationship support provision which will include supporting local authorities to improve the quality of couple or co-parenting relationships and extending the evidence base in this policy area.
We are also exploring which interventions can maximise the important links between parenting and relationship support.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Government plans to spend on relationship support in 2016-17; and on what programmes that funding will be spent.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Department is developing the detail of how the funding will be allocated. For 2016/17 we are extending our programme of relationship support provision which will include supporting local authorities to improve the quality of couple or co-parenting relationships and extending the evidence base in this policy area.
We are also exploring which interventions can maximise the important links between parenting and relationship support.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was spent by the Government on relationship support in 2015-16; and to what programmes that funding was allocated.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
A total of £11.2m is forecast to be spent in the full year 2015/16 on relationship support as follows:
Legacy Relationship Support Contracts £7.0m
Evaluation of Legacy Relationship Support Contracts £0.3m
Innovation Fund £2.5m
Evaluation of Innovation Fund £0.5m
Local Family Offer £0.7m
Perinatal Pilot £0.2m
Total £11.2m
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will ensure that the Government publishes a family impact test in respect of all future primary and secondary legislation.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
While we encourage departments to publish Family Test assessments, there is no requirement to do so, as this may not always be appropriate. Assessments against the Family Test are completed by policy officials in the course of developing advice on new policy; this may include some ideas that do not progress beyond the design stage.