Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to take steps to help ensure that the treatment of payments made under the Republic of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme to those living in the UK do not discriminate against those in receipt of means-tested benefits.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Means-tested benefits have no specific disregard of payments made by the Republic of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme to those living in Great Britain and DWP currently has no plans to change this policy.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of people economically inactive in England due to eyesight problems.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest published estimates for 2022/23 show that there were around 310,000 people aged 16 to 64 in the UK who were economically inactive and self-reported difficulties with their sight – this may not be the reason, or the only reason, for them being inactive. Of which, around 250,000 were living in England (source).
Figures for England are from the same underlying data source (Annual Population Survey) but are unpublished.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of applicants awaiting a decision and (b) average time between receipt of an application and such a decision being made under the Disability Living Allowance for children as of 17 November 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested on the volume of applicants waiting for a decision, and the journey time from an application received by DWP to a decision made, is not readily available. To provide this would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Employment and Support Allowance hearings where his Department was the respondent were attended by an official from his Department in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
From January to December 2022, there were 53,010 first-tier tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Personal Independence Payment appeals. Of these, 13,600 (26%) were attended by a presenting officer.
From January to December 2022, there were 4,940 first-tier tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Employment and Support Allowance appeals. Of these, 1,190 (24%) were attended by a presenting officer.
Information available within cost shows that from January to December 2022, HM Courts & Tribunals Service listed 4,840 Child Maintenance Service appeals. Of these 2,130 (44%) were allocated to a presenting officer to attend.
Please note:
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Child Maintenance hearings where his Department was the first respondent were attended by an official from his Department in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
From January to December 2022, there were 53,010 first-tier tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Personal Independence Payment appeals. Of these, 13,600 (26%) were attended by a presenting officer.
From January to December 2022, there were 4,940 first-tier tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Employment and Support Allowance appeals. Of these, 1,190 (24%) were attended by a presenting officer.
Information available within cost shows that from January to December 2022, HM Courts & Tribunals Service listed 4,840 Child Maintenance Service appeals. Of these 2,130 (44%) were allocated to a presenting officer to attend.
Please note:
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Personal Independence Payment hearings where his Department was the respondent were attended by an official from his Department in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
From January to December 2022, there were 53,010 first-tier tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Personal Independence Payment appeals. Of these, 13,600 (26%) were attended by a presenting officer.
From January to December 2022, there were 4,940 first-tier tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) Employment and Support Allowance appeals. Of these, 1,190 (24%) were attended by a presenting officer.
Information available within cost shows that from January to December 2022, HM Courts & Tribunals Service listed 4,840 Child Maintenance Service appeals. Of these 2,130 (44%) were allocated to a presenting officer to attend.
Please note:
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure the timely allocation of complaints about the Child Maintenance Service for investigation by independent case examiner investigators.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The ICE reviews complaints where the customer has exhausted the relevant complaints process and remains dissatisfied. Information about ICE investigation report outcomes is routinely included in the Independent Case Examiner’s Annual Report, which is published on the ICE page of the gov.uk website. The ICE Office can only accept a complaint for investigation once the customer has exhausted the relevant DWP complaints process.
The ICE process has several stages. When a referral is received into the office, the team initially considers whether, without undertaking a detailed examination of the evidence, a resolution can be brokered with the relevant department or its supplier. If resolution cannot be achieved, and the complaint is accepted, the case awaits allocation to an investigator who, following a review of the evidence, will first consider if settlement is appropriate. This requires the relevant department or its supplier to agree action with the complainant. Full investigation reports of detailed findings and any recommendations for redress are based on a thorough examination of case evidence. Cases are currently, broadly, brought into investigation according to the date on which the complaint was accepted.
At this point the customer (or their representative) is given an indication of when the investigation is likely to commence and how long it is likely to take. This gives the customer a far better sense of the process and what to expect from it. The cases appropriate for a full investigation are the most complex and the Independent Case Examiner will not compromise the quality of the investigation to achieve the 20 week aim.
The ICE office continues to review its internal processes and structures to make the most efficient use of its investigative resource. The majority of those staff newly-recruited in 2022-23 have been deployed on CMS cases. A further 6 staff were recruited in January. Once they have consolidated training, further resource will be deployed on CMS cases.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to reduce the backlog of people awaiting a Personal Independence Payment claim to be assessed.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department, and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service.
We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all the available evidence, including that from the claimant.
We are continuing to see an improvement in PIP clearance times, with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced each quarter from 26 weeks in August 2021, to 16 weeks at the end of October 2022. This is because we are:
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 5 on page 2 of the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, The number of new disability benefit claimants has doubled in a year, published in December 2022, whether he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the report's findings on trends in the number of people reporting that their health limits their daily activities.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
I have frequent discussions with other members of the Government on a range of issues in my role as Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work.
Entitlement to Personal Independence Payment is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself.
Claim volumes vary over time and not all claims are successful. Between the year ending October 2021 and year ending October 2022, the overall increase of new claims was 18.2%.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
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 Universal Credit claimants whose cases require a manual calculation each month.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of claimants who require a manual calculation of Universal Credit per month is approximately 0.48%.