Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time was that a claimant received payment of employment and support allowance pending appeal in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Published statistics show that between Q1 2009/10 (the earliest period statistics are available) and Q3 2014/15 (the latest period statistics are available), Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) received 1,096,732 Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) appeals. Whilst the vast majority of these claimants would have chosen to continue to receive a payment of ESA pending their appeal, some did choose to remain on Jobseeker’s Allowance. As the latter information is not available it is not possible to provide an exact answer.
Historical information on the average length of time for appeals is not readily available. The most recently published HMCTS statistics state the average (mean) clearance time for Judge and Member ESA/Incapacity Benefit appeals was 22 weeks. Accordingly this would also be the average length of time of payment of ESA pending appeal.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what investigations his Department undertook into the work of Maximus before the award of the work capability assessment contract.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
We are confident in MAXIMUS’s ability to deliver this contract after a thorough evaluation process of their performance on major contracts.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission a review and recalculation of the shared accommodation rate to ensure that it reflects the real cost of rooms in shared houses.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Department has no plans to review the way the Shared Accommodation Rates are calculated. The Rent Officer Services set the rates in line with the current DWP policy for uprating Local Housing Allowance and with reference to evidence of achieved rents in the local area.
In 2014/15, 56 out of the 192 Shared Accommodation Rates have been increased by 4%, in those areas where there is the greatest divergence between LHA rates and local rents.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many youth rate jobseeker's allowance claimants have been referred for sanction while they undertake a traineeship since August 2013.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Youth claimant attendance and participation on a traineeship is voluntary so there would not be any sanction if they chose to leave the programme early. However, Jobcentre Plus work coaches interview anyone who does not complete their traineeship to establish why, and to determine the most appropriate next steps towards achieving their job goal.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are taken against a claimant of youth rate jobseeker's allowance who leaves a traineeship before it was completed.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Youth claimant attendance and participation on a traineeship is voluntary so there would not be any sanction if they chose to leave the programme early. However, Jobcentre Plus work coaches interview anyone who does not complete their traineeship to establish why, and to determine the most appropriate next steps towards achieving their job goal.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Government expects to receive from (a) the 20 per cent deduction from the child maintenance payment of the paying parent and (b) the four per cent deduction of total payment of support to the child from the receiving parent.
Answered by Steve Webb
Paragraph 106 of the CSA Case Closure, Introducing CMS Fees, Supporting Family Based Arrangements Impact Assessment gives an estimate of the total income by year raised through the parent with care fee and the non-resident parent fee. This Impact Assessment, published on 22 November 2013, is available at
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library and publish the tender and bid for the Child Maintenance Options contract.
Answered by Steve Webb
Contract documents for the Child Maintenance Options Contract are published on the Contracts Finder website. These documents include the Contract itself, the requirements issued to bidders, and the successful bidder's response. Contracts Finder is a publicly accessible website where contract documents are published in order to meet government transparency commitments. The specific link to this Contract is: https://online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/Common/View%20Notice.aspx?site=1000&lang=en¬iceid=1072427&fs=true
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department have been asked to assist G4S in the delivery of the new Child Maintenance Options scheme to date; how many more staff G4S estimates will be needed to administer this contract when peak levels of applications are reached; and how much in staffing costs his Department is liable to pay as a result.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Child Maintenance Options service is not a new service and was introduced in 2008. It offers information and support to help separating and separated parents make an informed choice about their child maintenance arrangement. It is not a child maintenance scheme.
The Department has in place planned and agreed business continuity arrangements with its supplier. This includes utilising the Department's staff to take some calls where volumes exceed contracted levels. Over the past nine months the Department has used anything from 5 to 20 people for periods ranging from minutes to hours.
The child maintenance reform programme includes ending liabilities on Child Support Agency cases in the 1993 and 2003 schemes over the next three years and it is too early to accurately predict when peak call volumes into Child Maintenance Options will be reached. Child Maintenance Options calculates resource requirements based on forecast volumes provided by the Department on a rolling three month basis. The number of staff Child Maintenance Options employs will increase in line with these forecasts over the next three years before returning to more normal levels when the reforms have completed. The associated costs are reflected in the contract.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the G4S contract to provide the Child Maintenance Options programme was underestimated; for what reasons staff in his Department were assisting G4S with its work on this programme; and if he will consider transferring G4S staff under TUPE regulations to his Department.
Answered by Steve Webb
Call forecasting volumes used as part of a re-tendering exercise for delivery of the Child Maintenance Options service were based on historic call volume data. From November 2013, Child Maintenance Options became the mandatory gateway for all new applicants to the statutory scheme, which led to an incremental increase in demand.
This, among other recent changes, added an increased level of uncertainty into forecasting call volumes, in anticipation of which the Department has in place planned and agreed business continuity arrangements with the supplier. This includes the use of colleagues from the Department in order to take some calls where volumes exceed contracted levels.
This service was introduced in 2008 and has never been delivered in-house, and there are no plans to do so. Therefore, the transferring of staff under TUPE regulations is not applicable.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the cost of (a) the tender and bid process for the Child Maintenance Options contract, (b) his Department assisting G4S to fulfil the contract, (c) his Department's in-house option for continued delivery before it was contracted out and (d) bringing the work back in-house should the G4S contract be terminated early.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Child Maintenance Options service was introduced in July 2008 to provide information and support to help separating parents make an informed choice about their child maintenance arrangement. As with all previous tender and bid processes for this work, the cost of the tender is within the Department's budget.
The most recent Child Maintenance Options contract is available to view at: https://online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/Common/View%20Notice.aspx?site=1000&lang=en¬iceid=1072427&fs=true However, to identify specific costs associated with this contract would incur a disproportionate cost.
The Department did not assist G4S to fulfil the contract. It is part of planned business continuity arrangements to use colleagues from the Department in order to take some calls where volumes exceed contracted levels.
Since the service was introduced in 2008 it has always been contracted out. There are no plans to bring the service in-house, and to calculate the cost of doing so would be to provide new information at disproportionate cost.