Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of changes to Civil Procedure Rules on alternative dispute resolution; and if she will have discussions with CEDAWinLAW on mediation.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Civil Procedure rules are a matter for the Ministry of Justice. MOJ is working to increase the number of legal disputes resolved without the need for a judicial decision. They will monitor the impact of the changes and will continue engaging with stakeholders as they keep all methods of alternative dispute resolution under review to explore opportunities to increase take up both before and after legal proceedings have started. The Secretary of State has not made an assessment of them.
With reference to CEDAWinLaw, in the Judicial Review on changes to State Pension age, both the High Court and Court of Appeal found there was no discrimination on any grounds.
There is no subsisting legal dispute, so it would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to enter into mediation with this group.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish an (a) impact statement and (b) equalities impact assessment of means-testing the winter fuel payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Regulations entered into force on 16 September, the first day of the Winter Fuel Payment qualifying week.
A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this legislation because the effect is on individuals and private households rather than businesses or voluntary sector organisations.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the Government had regard to an equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements. The equality analysis was published on Friday 13th September, and can be found here: FOI2024_65546_13_09_24.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential health impacts of means-testing the winter fuel payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to pensioners – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.
Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.
Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80.
We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply. This will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Allowance alongside other benefits – hundreds of pounds that could really help them. We will ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need.
Our continued commitment to the triple lock means the full new state pension is forecast to increase by a further £1,700 over the course of the parliament.
We are also providing support through our Warm Homes Plan which pensioners will benefit from. This will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. Our long-term plan will protect billpayers permanently, reduce fuel poverty, and get the UK back on track to meet our climate goals.
The Government is committed to a preventative approach to public health. Keeping people warm and well at home and improving the quality of new and existing homes will play an essential part in enabling people to live longer, healthier lives and reducing pressures on the NHS.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the government had regard to the equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, If she will collect information on potential links between the fitness for work test and (a) suicides, (b) other deaths and (c) harm.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not collect or record the cause of a customer’s death and will not usually be made aware of how a customer died. Cause of death is determined by a doctor or a coroner. There is no requirement for a Coroner to inform the department of the outcome of an inquest unless they are named as an Interested Person at that inquest - or the coroner decides to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the department. This means the department is not able to collect the information suggested.
Attempted suicides and suicides are tragic and complex issues. The department takes very seriously any suggestion that its actions, including any related to the fitness for work test, may have contributed to one. Where appropriate the department will undertake an Internal Process Review to establish if anything should have been done differently or if there are any lessons the department can learn.
Thematic learning from these serious cases is fed into the departments Serious Case Panel, which has an external chair, and considers a range of evidence from across the department. We are looking at ways to increase the amount of information made public about the work of the Serious Case Panel without jeopardising the privacy of the customers whose cases have been reviewed.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for Pension Credit took longer than six weeks to process in the last 12 months.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not routinely capture data aligned to a 6-week clearance rate. However, we do capture data against a 50-day clearance rate and our performance is published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Of 248,000 Pension Credit claims cleared in performance year 2023/24. 192,000 were cleared within the planned 50-day timescale, equating to 77.7%. 56,000, 22.3% were cleared outside of the of the 10-week planned timescale.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 effectiveness of the steps her Department has taken to increase take-up of Pensions Credit since January 2019.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The latest available take-up estimates Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial yearending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) cover the financial year 2021/2022 and suggest an overall Pension Credit take-up rate of 63%. The next take-up estimates covering the financial year 2022/2023 are due to be published in October.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to continue the nationwide rollout of the Mandatory In-Work Progression offer.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Getting people into work and helping them to progress at work is central to growing the economy. As part of our growth mission, the Government will produce a Get Britain Working White Paper, to set out the policy framework for delivering on our manifesto commitments.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to estimate the additional costs disabled people incur as a result of their conditions or impairments.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper looks at different options to reshape the current welfare system so that we can provide better targeted support to those who need it most. Chapter 3 ‘PIP – What do we provide support for?’ explores the types of extra costs disabled people or people with long-term health conditions have, recognising each individual has different costs and experiences.
We are gathering information through our 12-week consultation which was published on Monday 29 April and will close on Monday 22 July at 11:59pm.
We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation which can be found here, so that we are able to hear from as many disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives, and local stakeholders as possible on these important issues.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number and proportion of disabled people facing one-off extra costs related to their disability.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on the 14th of May to PQ24769.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 potential impact of his Department's report entitled Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, published on 20 July 2021 on the finances of people with complex disabilities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
In Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, we explored how the benefits system can better meet the needs of claimants now and in the future, by improving claimant experience of our services, enabling independent living, and improving employment outcomes.
We received over 4,500 written responses to the Green Paper, and held consultation events with disabled people and people with health conditions and their representatives. These included both virtual and face-to-face events, with events in Scotland, Wales and every region of England.
We carefully considered the feedback we received to our consultation in developing the next steps set out in the Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published in March 2023. As stated in the White Paper, we are continuing to develop and refine our policy proposals.