Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners have been waiting more than three months for an outcome of their pension credit application.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As of 23 May 2023, the number of customers waiting more than 61 days for the outcome of their Pension Credit application was 7,213. This is due to the complexities of each case which can range from awaiting National Insurance Number allocation, requesting information from third parties such as Local Authorities, Solicitors and where we are awaiting documents from the customer which are needed to finalise their claim.
The Management Information used has been taken from the same operational source data systems as our published administrative data. However, as this Management Information is not a recognised National or Official Statistic, it has not been subjected to the same level of Quality Assurance. As a result, these figures should be treat with caution.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken is for pensioners to receive an outcome of their pension credit application.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Average Actual Clearance Time as at April 2023 for a new claim to Pension Credit is 34.1 days.
Source: Output from Customer Account Management System (CAM)
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
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 extending the Household Support Fund to enable local authorities to support people who are struggling with living costs.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Household Support Fund covers the period 06 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 inclusive. Other support for those on low incomes will still be available after this point. For example, we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers to £4.25, helping eligible low-income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins. In Scotland, similar support is provided through Best Start Foods.
We are investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English Local Authorities.
We recognise people are facing pressures with the cost of living which is why we are providing support with the cost of living worth over £20 billion across this financial year and next.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make it her policy to implement section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the socio-economic duty.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Successive British Governments have not implemented the socio-economic duty for English and cross-border bodies, and the current Government has no plans to do so. Such a general duty has the potential to become a tick-box exercise complied with to minimise the risk of legal challenge rather than to promote real change in social mobility.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment claimants with mental health conditions have had their application granted in (a) Camberwell and Peckham constituency, (b) Southwark, and (c) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by geographical area (local authority and parliamentary constituency), by calendar month, by main disabling condition and by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) for both new claims and DLA reassessment claims, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Note that the Department only holds data on the main disabling condition of a claimant. It is possible for a claimant with mental health condition as a main disabling condition to have a physical health condition as a secondary or tertiary condition and vice versa.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment claimants with physical health conditions have their application granted in (a) Camberwell and Peckham constituency, (b) Southwark, and (c) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by geographical area (local authority and parliamentary constituency), by calendar month, by main disabling condition and by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) for both new claims and DLA reassessment claims, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Note that the Department only holds data on the main disabling condition of a claimant. It is possible for a claimant with mental health condition as a main disabling condition to have a physical health condition as a secondary or tertiary condition and vice versa.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment assessment meetings are carried out (a) at the claimant’s home and (b) in assessment centres.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In 2018 the proportion of Personal Independence Payment face-to-face assessment meetings carried out at the claimant’s home was 29% and in assessment centres was 71%.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many deaf people were in receipt of Access to Work payments in (a) Camberwell and Peckham constituency and (b) the London Borough of Southwark in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information is not readily available and has not previously been published as official statistics. The Department’s analysts are currently exploring the feasibility of including payments data in the next publication of Access to Work Statistics.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will keep short-term supported housing within the welfare system to allow women to pay for placements in domestic violence refuges using housing benefit.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The new short-term supported housing funding model, which is currently out for consultation, removes rental liability from Housing Benefit and Universal Credit claimants living in short term accommodation from 2020. Instead rent and eligible service charges will be directly funded by local authorities, through a ring-fenced grant. The current mechanism for funding support costs via local authorities will continue as now.
This will help vulnerable people at a difficult point in their lives, including those living in domestic violence refuges, by removing rental liability.
The consultation document was published on 31st October alongside the policy statement and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-for-supported-housing.
The consultation is open until the 23 January 2018.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Camberwell and Peckham constituency have experienced a delay in receiving their universal credit payment in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There is no data broken down by area or region.
However, data published on 2 October 2017 shows that, nationally, 81% of new full service claims received their first payment in full and on time. Across the whole of Universal Credit 92% of all households received full payment on time, and 96% of Universal Credit claims received some payment on time. The published data can be found here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-payment-timeliness-january-to-june-2017