Personal Independence Payment
Mike Penning Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
Later today the Government’s response to the consultation on the moving around activity within the assessment for personal independence payment (PIP) will be published on the gov.uk website. I will place a copy of the Government’s response in the House Libraries.
The consultation received over 1,100 responses, from both individuals and organisations. We listened carefully to all the feedback received.
The Government believe that the criteria are the best way of identifying those whose physical mobility is most limited. We think it is justified to focus support in this way on those with the greatest need and will not be making any changes to the criteria.
We recognise that the reliability criteria in the assessment are a key protection for claimants. Respondents to the consultation welcomed their inclusion but were concerned about how they will be applied. In response, we will look to strengthen the criteria by introducing a requirement for health professionals to confirm they have considered the reliability criteria when formulating their advice.
Later today I also intend to lay before Parliament amending regulations, which will introduce a phased start for PIP natural reassessments from 28 October 2013.
Introducing natural reassessment gradually enables us to test the claimant reassessment journey, using an approach similar to the one we took with new claims in the controlled start area in April.
This is in line with the way we have been introducing all our other programmes of change and we have made it clear that we would take a controlled approach to introducing PIP, learning lessons from live running. Later this week I will publish a note on the gov.uk website providing further detail.
As originally announced, most existing disability living allowance (DLA) claimants will not be reassessed until 2015 or later, after DWP has considered the findings of the first independent review in 2014.
Office for Nuclear Regulation
Mike Penning Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
The Department for Work and Pensions has obtained approval for an advance from the Contingencies Fund of £550,000 to implement shared services (HR, finance and procurement) for the Office for Nuclear Regulation. This advance is necessitated by the lead in time for delivery prior to Royal Assent of the Energy Bill.
Parliamentary approval for additional resource of £550,000 for this new service will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Department for Work and Pensions. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £550,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. The repayment is expected to be made in the financial year 2013-14.
This advance will allow the Office for Nuclear Regulation to continue to work to its current development timetable and implement shared services in time for the Office for Nuclear Regulation to be established as a public corporation in April 2014.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Penning Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)
5. What assessment he has made of the performance of Atos Healthcare in delivering occupational health assessments.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
In the last week, I have looked carefully at the key performance indicators for delivery times, which have been met or exceeded. In the last 12 months, they have gone from 93% to the contracted target of 97%.
Mrs Lewell-Buck
Last year, my constituent Alan Johnson, a dedicated paramedic, was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. At 55 years of age, he was advised to retire early. Atos went on to ignore the advice of his GP and his specialist, refused him a medical and told him that he had not had the condition long enough to qualify, and then forced him to return to work. Will the Minister meet me to discuss this appalling case so that Mr Johnson can receive the pension he is due?
Mike Penning
Of course I will meet the hon. Lady, but there is an appeals process, and I suggest her constituent goes through that full process—in case he has not—before we meet, as we do not want jeopardise an appeal in any way. This was a problem we inherited from the previous Administration. Occupational health assessments were set up under Atos in 2008; it was not great, but we are working hard to sort it out.
Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)
6. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the benefit cap in encouraging people back to work.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
9. What steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for work capability assessments.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
The work capability process was introduced by the previous Labour Administration in 2008. We are committed to ensuring that work capability assessments are as fair and accurate as possible in determining who is fit to work and when they can return to work. The Department has instructed Atos to introduce a quality improvement plan, as was announced in this House by written statement.
Steve Brine
I thank the Minister for that. Can he just confirm that nobody will be worse off as a result of the necessary push on quality that he has just mentioned and the slow-down it may cause for some of our constituents?
Mike Penning
No one will be worse off. Quality is very important, so as to ensure that when the assessments are done the first time, they are done accurately and do not have to go back on appeal. If there is an overpayment to someone because they are assessed at a lower rate, they will be able to keep that payment.
Tom Greatrex
The Minister’s predecessor, who is in his place, previously said from the Dispatch Box that one reason for the number of incorrect decisions was people not providing the right medical evidence. May I invite the new Minister to have a look at the wording of the ESA50 form? It states:
“If you have any medical documents that you think will support your claim, send them in with your questionnaire. For example, this could be a medical report from your doctor, consultant or support worker.”
It then says, immediately afterwards:
“Please do not send medical statements”.
It is little wonder there is confusion.
Mike Penning
In my first week, I must admit that I have not had a chance to look at that part of the form. I will do so, and if it needs amending I will do that.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Will my hon. Friend undertake a work capability assessment on the Ministry of Justice, because the waiting time for appeal hearings for WCA claims is now up to 40 weeks in the Kettering area? That is completely unacceptable.
Mike Penning
I think we all accept that the delays are unacceptable. We need to ensure that the assessments are done correctly when they are first done, and the Department is working closely now to make sure that they are assessed before they get to the referral situation.
Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)
The changes to the WCA appeals process that are due to come into effect later this month will put some very sick and disabled people in a dreadful position, whereby those who are clearly unfit for work and are appealing a bad decision by Atos will be unable to claim any replacement benefits for the duration of the reconsideration process because being able to work is a prerequisite for claiming jobseeker’s allowance. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact that these changes will have on local authorities, housing associations and primary health care?
Mike Penning
As the Minister of State for disabled people—a brand new role, with not a junior Minister but a senior Minister—it is my role, across government and including local authorities, to make sure that the system is working. Where there are problems, I will look at them. I will be working closely with all the authorities that the hon. Lady has suggested, but I do not accept her premise as to how many of them will be worse off.
Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)
10. How many former Remploy workers are now in employment.
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
17. What discussions he has had with Motability on the changes from disability living allowance to personal independence payment.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
DWP Ministers have regularly met the management of Motability to ensure that they are well placed to manage the introduction of personal independence payments and are able to effectively support their customers through this transitional period.
Diana Johnson
There are 3,200 people in Hull who have a vehicle under the Motability scheme. What assessment has the Minister made of the number who will lose their vehicle under the new PIP criteria?
Mike Penning
We are working very closely with Motability, and if someone does lose their Motability vehicle and they were in the scheme prior to January 2013 there will be a £2,000 lump sum to help. I must say to the hon. Lady that only 30% of people on the higher rate take Motability, but we will work very closely to ensure those who deserve it continue to get it.
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
People with autism and mental health problems have particular problems with the work capability assessment, and the courts recently found that the test put people with mental health problems at a substantial disadvantage. Will the Minister or the Secretary of State rethink the work capability assessment for those people and pause the process, for which Rethink Mental Illness called?
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
I have looked at this very closely in the past week. Of course, lots of groups would want us to look at individual cases. The way the assessment is done is not rigid, and it will evolve. We will look at this carefully, but I cannot make promises on individual groups today.
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
T3. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether benefits officers been have told not to sanction people when the only job offered is on a zero-hours contract? Do Ministers recognise that the new claimant commitments mean that people will not actually be able to sign zero-hours contracts without risking losing their in-work benefits?
Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)
Every single week, constituents tell me that Atos claims that it has not received the forms that they have completed. Last week, a young disabled constituent told me that that had happened on several occasions, leaving him penniless for weeks at a time. Why can the Secretary of State not sort this shambles out?
Mike Penning
The personal circumstances that the hon. Gentleman has described are completely unacceptable. If he gives me the details of the case, I will look at it. The performance of Atos is ever so important and it was an issue for the previous Administration. We are working on it, but those circumstances are not acceptable and I will look at the matter.
Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State confirm that since the benefit cap was introduced, his Department has helped more than 16,000 people who would have been affected by it into work? Does that not show that those who voted against the benefit cap cannot be trusted on welfare reform?