Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have died within a week of being notified of a benefit sanction in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The information requested is not collected.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will conduct a peer review into the death of Alan McCardle in Slough.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The department is unable to comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
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 effect of the imposition of a three-year benefit sanction on the health of people subject to such sanctions.
Answered by Esther McVey
The sanctions system is designed to encourage claimants to comply with the reasonable requirements placed upon the receipt of their benefit. A very small minority of JSA claimants have ever received a three year sanction and the vast majority engage positively with the support designed to help them get back into work.
Three year sanctions only apply where claimants have consistently and deliberately breached their most important requirements at least three times within a year. This includes failing to take up a job when it is on offer or being dismissed for misconduct from a previous job.
If a sanction is applied, claimants are able to apply for hardship payments.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants who have received a sanction have been on jobseeker's allowance for 26 weeks or more.
Answered by Esther McVey
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants have received a three-year sanction in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Esther McVey
The information requested, in respect of all three questions above, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants who have received a three-year sanction have had that sanction removed after actively seeking work in each of the last three years.
Answered by Esther McVey
The information requested, in respect of all three questions above, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants who have received a three-year sanction have had that sanction removed following mandatory reconsideration since the introduction of that policy.
Answered by Esther McVey
The information requested, in respect of all three questions above, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.