Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Worthing West constituency and (b) Arun District, Worthing Borough and West Sussex County authorities areas in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.
The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.
This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.
On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.
The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.
| Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) |
| 2017-18 |
(a) Worthing West constituency | £1.66 |
(b) Arun District local authority area | £2.55 |
(c) Worthing local authority area | £1.40 |
(d) West Sussex County £10.82 | |
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the criteria for assessments for personal independence payments for people with mental health problems.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The assessment criteria for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) have been developed to take into account the overall impact of a claimant’s physical or mental health condition or impairment on their functional ability, rather than focusing on a particular diagnosis. The inclusion in the assessment of activities around communicating, engaging with others, and planning and following journeys assists with assessing the impact of conditions affecting mental, intellectual, cognitive and developmental functions.
66% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate daily living component, compared with 22% who received the highest DLA care component. And 31% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate mobility rate, compared with just 10% of DLA recipients.