Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2015 to Question 226839, whether quarterly or monthly data is now available on the number of adverse employment and support allowance sanction decisions broken down by the Summary International Classification of Diseases since January 2014; and what the reason was for each such sanction.
Answered by Mark Harper
Information on the number of adverse employment and support allowance sanction decisions broken down by the Summary International Classification of Diseases since January 2014 will shortly be published as part of a response to a Freedom of Information request here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistical-foi-releases
I can confirm that the Department does hold monthly data detailing the reasons for sanctions in such cases.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2015 to Question 226858 and with reference to his Department's response to the freedom of information requests 2014-79 and 2014-2282, whether his Department holds any quarterly or monthly data on the reasons for sanctions in such cases.
Answered by Mark Harper
Information on the number of adverse employment and support allowance sanction decisions broken down by the Summary International Classification of Diseases since January 2014 will shortly be published as part of a response to a Freedom of Information request here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistical-foi-releases
I can confirm that the Department does hold monthly data detailing the reasons for sanctions in such cases.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's response to freedom of information requests 2014-79 and 2014-2282, what information his Department holds on the reason for sanction in each case reported.
Answered by Mark Harper
The information requested is not yet available.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of adverse employment and support allowance sanction decisions broken down by the Summary International Classification of Diseases since January 2014; and what the reason was for each such sanction.
Answered by Mark Harper
The information requested is not yet available.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to reduce mental health stigma and discrimination as a result of signing up to the Time to Change Pledge.
Answered by Esther McVey
DWP is actively committed to creating an environment where open conversations around mental health are encouraged in order to tackle the associated stigma and discrimination.
Activities undertaken since signing the Time to Change pledge in February 2014 include:
1) the introduction of training, including Unconscious Bias and Mental Health Awareness;
2) staff communications from the DWP Champion for Disability, Wellbeing and Work Life Balance;
3) development of comprehensive support and guidance for all staff through on-going work with external partners such as Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Providers and Business Disability Forum.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2015 to Question 225560, when his Department plans to conclude its reviews of all claimant communications and sanctions processes; and if he will publish the results of that review.
Answered by Esther McVey
We have accepted all the recommendations made by the Oakley Report and have already implemented a number of improvements. The Government has published our response which sets out a number of target completion dates and a copy can be found here:
In the Government Response to the Oakley Review we committed to report on the progress of the Communications Review by the end of 2014. The Department published an update on improvements to communications following the review, on 18 December 2014. This can be found here:
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission research into the reasons why the largest category of people transferred from incapacity benefit to the fit-to-work group have been people with mental health issues.
Answered by Mark Harper
We have no plans to commission such research.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission research into the effect of benefit sanctions on the (a) mental and (b) physical health of people on jobseeker's allowance or the work-related activity group of employment and support allowance.
Answered by Esther McVey
As with all of our policies, we will keep the operation of the sanctions system under review to ensure that it continues to operate effectively and as fairly as possible.
We continue to make improvements to the sanctions system as committed to in the Oakley Review. The Government has gone further than the scope of the Review, for example, we are reviewing all claimant communications and sanctions processes, not only for those Jobseekers Allowance claimants who come under the remit of the Review, but all Jobseekers Allowance claimants and also all Employment Support Allowance claimants.
We will continue to publish sanctions statistics on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people on the Work Programme who have been subject to benefit sanctions have been identified as suffering from mental health problems.
Answered by Esther McVey
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment he has made of job outcomes of those people transferred from incapacity benefit to the fit to work groups who have (a) mental health and (b) other health issues.
Answered by Mark Harper
We do not hold information on job outcomes for Incapacity Benefit Reassessment claimants who are found fit for work.