Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the total amount lost to personal independence payment (a) fraud and (b) over-payment in financial year (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for financial year 2023-24 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK
Below is an extract:
PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENTS (PIP) | ||
| Overpayments | |
| FYE 24 | FYE 23 |
All | 0.4% (£90m) | 1.1% (£200m) |
Fraud | 0.0% (£0m) | 0.2% (£40m) |
Claimant Error | 0.3% (£60m) | 0.8% (£140m) |
Official Error | 0.1% (£30m) | 0.1% (£20m) |
The Department will publish the figures for 2024 – 25 in the upcoming year.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 October 2024 on DWP Fraud, Error and Debt Bill, HCWS114, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the £1.6 billion saved over the next five year period will be due to tackling (a) fraud, (b) error and (c) debt in each of the next five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The savings from the Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM) come from both fraud and error, and it is not possible to separate the components.
The measures referred to have now been scrutinised by the Office for Budget Responsibility and included in the Budget (table 2.1 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b98bb40f7da695c921c61/Autumn_Budget_2024_Print.pdf) that sets out the year by year savings and estimates £1.5bn over five years from 25/26.
The proportions coming from a) fraud and error which comes from EVM and b) debt which comes from the new debt recovery powers in each year is as follows:
| 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 | 2029-30 |
F&E | N/A | 33% | 55% | 64% | 65% |
Debt | N/A | 67% | 45% | 36% | 35% |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6280 on Gaza: Air Force, whether his Department used information from the Ministry of Defence on unarmed UK surveillance aircraft operations when making its International Humanitarian Law assessment on Israel, published on 2 September 2024.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are unable to comment on the detail of intelligence matters, for operational security reasons. The government is clear on the fundamental importance of the international rule of law. The UK's robust export licensing criteria states that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Following our review into Israel's compliance with IHL in Gaza, this Government concluded that a clear risk does exist, and we have suspended export licences for such items that could be used in the current conflict in Gaza.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the regional variation of funding for charitable hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.
More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for charitable hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.
More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to replace all radiotherapy machines older than ten years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government announced last week that £70million will be spent on new radiotherapy machines, which will help ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on whether information gathered by unarmed UK surveillance aircraft and provided to the Israeli military was used in Operation Arnon in Nuseirat on 8 June 2024.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Our mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities.
We are unable comment further on detailed intelligence matters for operational security reasons.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6280 on Gaza: Air Force, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that information gathered by unarmed UK surveillance aircraft and shared with the Israeli military is only used to help locate hostages.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Our mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities.
We are unable comment further on detailed intelligence matters for operational security reasons.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has shared information gathered from surveillance flights over Gaza with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; and if he will (a) declassify and (b) publish that information.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Our mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities.
We are unable comment further on detailed intelligence matters for operational security reasons.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will hold discussions with disability organisations on the potential merits of visits by job coaches to mental health patients in hospital.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Ministers across Government value the insights that can be gained from meeting with people with experience and the organisations that represent them. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions demonstrated this recently, sharing her experience of visiting a severe mental illness Individual Placement and Support programme.
The Individual Placement and Support employment model is internationally recognised as one of the most effective ways to support people with mental health problems to gain and keep paid employment. IPS services offer intensive, individually tailored support to help people choose and find the right job, with ongoing support for the employer and employee to help ensure the person sustains their employment.
Policy responsibility for the severe mental illness Individual Placement and Support programme rests with Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Health and Social Care.