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Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Wales
Tuesday 9th February 2016

Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of personal independence payment appeals were successful in (a) Ogmore and (b) Wales in the latest period for which figures are available.

Answered by Shailesh Vara

The First-tier Tribunal – Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ decisions on a range of benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The majority of appellants living in the Ogmore area have their SSCS appeals heard in the Cardiff venues though some may be heard in Port Talbot.

The following table provides information on the proportion of PIP appeals which were decided in favour of the appellant in Cardiff and Port Talbot venues and in Wales between July and September 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available).

Percentage of PIP appeals found in favour of the appellant

Cardiff

Port Talbot

Wales

July – September 2015

75%

75%

73%

Note: SSCS data are recorded by the office that dealt with the case, and if the case went to oral hearing, the location of the Tribunal hearing is normally the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. Data cannot be retrieved based on the appellant’s actual address but can be produced detailing the numbers of cases that were dealt with at one of our Regional centres or heard at a specific venue.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.


Written Question

Question Link

Thursday 10th April 2014

Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the rules governing the provision of books to prisoners have recently been changed.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

Up to 12 books may be held by prisoners in their cell at any one time. Prisoners may have additional books stored locally at the prison. Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access.

Ministers have not made any policy changes specifically about the availability of books in prisons. The changes to the Incentives and Earned Privileges national policy framework we introduced last year in relation to parcels were introduced to ensure consistency across the estate and to make sure that security can be maintained. There have always been controls on the sending of parcels into prisons, and allowing parcels to be sent in unrestricted would be operationally unmanageable and would lead to a significant risk of drugs and other illicit items being smuggled into prisons.

The National Offender Management Service works closely with the Shannon Trust to support schemes such as 'Toe by Toe', which includes peer mentoring to improve reading levels.