Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what procedure is in place for the Benefits Director in his Department to send written replies to letters from hon. Members writing on behalf of constituents.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Letters from MPs, raising concerns on behalf of their constituents, are allocated to the DWP Complaints and Correspondence Team to investigate and draft a response on behalf of DWP. DWP has procedures in place for handling correspondence from Ministers and MPs.
DWP has answered 4264 pieces of correspondence in relation to Benefits from MPs so far this calendar year, so the Benefits Director has authority to delegate cases to other DWP Directors to reply to hon. Members.
However, the Benefits Director will be aware of all types of enquiries coming into DWP.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to attend interviews with claimants conducted by his Department; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Secretary of State has attended several Jobcentreplus sites, where he has had the opportunity to observe and discuss a range of operational issues. He has not sat in on interviews with work coaches whilst they have conducted interviews with claimants, as standard practice is to seek agreement first with claimants for any third party to be in attendance. Future visits to Jobcentreplus are planned for the Secretary of State.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) how many and (b) which food banks he has visited since taking office.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 20 September 2016 on behalf of a constituent relating to nuisance telephone calls.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is responsible for the Government’s policy on nuisance telephone calls. The hon. Member’s letter of 20 September 2016 has been passed to DCMS and that Department will reply directly to the hon Member.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, (a) how many and (b) which food banks she has visited since becoming Prime Minister.
Answered by Baroness May of Maidenhead
Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the hon. Member for Walsall North did not receive a written response to his letter of 25 May 2016 on a constituent's concern about personal independence payments, ref NM580509C/PIP 10531938/101; when a reply will be received to that letter and the follow-up letter of 3 October 2016; and for what reasons those delays occurred.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Department for Work and Pensions apologises for any delay in responding. We have been investigating the issues raised in your Parliamentary Question but unfortunately there is no trace of your stated correspondence within the department. Therefore we are unable to respond at this time. The department requests that the honourable gentleman for Walsall North sends in duplicate copies, to enable the department to understand the content, investigate further and provide an appropriate response.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 8 August 2016 on homes and the adoption of private roads.
Answered by Andrew Jones
I sent a response to the hon. Member for Walsall North on this issue on 13th September 2016.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications were made for funding for substantial building repair work at (a) secondary and (b) primary schools in 2015-16; and how many such applications for such funding there were in 2016-17.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) provides a Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for eligible academies to access. The table below sets out the number of CIF applications made by primary and secondary schools for projects to address their building condition needs over the years specified:
CIF 2015-16 round | Phase of Education | Total of applications |
| Primary | 1,244 |
| Secondary | 1,383 |
| All-through | 119 |
| Total | 2,881 |
CIF 2016-17 round | Phase of Education | Total of applications |
| Primary | 1,512 |
| Secondary | 1,426 |
| All-through | 155 |
| Total | 3,212 |
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff at the Education Funding Agency assist with assessing applications to the Condition Improvement Fund; and how many staff assisted with such applications in each of the last three years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Each CIF application was assessed twice independently. 9 EFA technical assessors worked on the assessment of CIF bids between January and February 2016 (alongside other duties). The EFA also contracted 2 external technical assessor suppliers to assess CIF applications. These suppliers assessed CIF bids between January and February 2016. Each supplier utilised some 25-30 assessors in total through the period, reducing or increasing levels according to the progress they were making against the deadline for assessing bids. In addition 9 other EFA staff worked on the Condition Improvement Fund throughout the 2016-17 programme on matters like processing applications and managing assessors.
The resource approach to previous bidding rounds has been similarly based on the volume of applications received.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the procedures are for people involved in assessing applications for the Condition Improvement Fund to contact applicants seeking further information when required.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) provides detailed guidance for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) applicants when the application round is launched. The EFA’s enquiry service is on hand to answer applicants’ queries throughout the process.
CIF assessors do not make contact with applicants during the assessment window. This is to ensure that all bids are assessed consistently on the basis of the evidence which applicants have submitted. Unsuccessful CIF applicants can request a review of their outcome through the CIF appeals round.
Local authorities, voluntary-aided partnerships and larger Multi Academy Trusts receive a direct School Condition Allocation to address condition needs for their schools.