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Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Theft
Wednesday 14th December 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of his Department's (a) laptops, (b) mobile phones, (c) memory sticks and (d) external hard drives have been lost or stolen in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Please see the table provided for figures on lost or stolen computers and phones.
Information requested for memory sticks and external hard drives is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Lost and stolen

17/18

18/19

19/20

20/21

21/22

22/23*

Computers (laptops and Surface Pros)

24

40

52

47

140

130

Mobile Phones

44

75

92

32

67

60

*up to end of November 2022

All DWP mobile phones and laptops are password protected and encrypted in accordance with Data Protection guidelines.

The figures provided combine lost and stolen items and do not include cases where items have been recovered. The majority of these losses/thefts occurred in home/office break-ins and whilst travelling. To put this in context, DWP is the largest government department employing over 82,000 staff and is a geographically dispersed organisation, with managers having responsibility for colleagues across a number of locations.


Written Question
Means-tested Benefits
Thursday 8th December 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to introduce means testing for (a) Disability Living Allowance and (b) Personal Independence Payment.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

We have no plans to means test Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Both DLA and PIP are intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise as a result of a long-term health condition, or disability, and have been non-means tested since they were introduced.


Written Question
Support for Mortgage Interest
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to reform Support for Mortgage Interest by (a) removing the zero earnings rule, (b) reducing the qualifying period from nine months to three months and (c) offering the support as a grant.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government announced a package of Housing Reforms on 9th June 2022, including changes to extend the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) scheme. The reforms include reducing the qualifying period from nine to three months and removing the zero earnings rule to extend SMI eligibility to all eligible Universal Credit claimants. Further details of the changes are being worked on by officials and will be announced in due course.

There are no plans to revert SMI to a benefit. The purchase of a home involves the acquisition of a valuable capital asset and so a fair balance has to be struck between the needs of homeowners and the cost to taxpayers. The loan system offers the same degree of protection from repossession at the point of need but strikes a better balance between the needs of claimants and the cost to taxpayers.


Written Question
Support for Mortgage Interest
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a breakdown of the number of recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest by (a) constituency and (b) region.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below shows the number of households with Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loan in payment, by region, for the latest quarter (March to May 2022). This comes from the latest published data on Support for Mortgage Interest and includes all cases in payment in Great Britain. Statistical disclosure control has been applied.

Region

March to May 2022

North East

578

North West

1,880

Yorkshire and The Humber

1,015

East Midlands

929

West Midlands

1,208

East of England

1,080

London

1,423

South East

1,517

South West

1,221

Wales

924

Scotland

1,063

Total

12,845

The table below shows the number of households with SMI loan in payment, by parliamentary constituency, for the latest quarter (March to May 2022). Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data where ".." denotes a nil or negligible number of claimants. Therefore, the total number of households with an SMI loan in payment may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.

Parliamentary Constituency

Number of households receiving an SMI payment in quarter March to May 2022

Aberavon

26

Aberconwy

9

Aberdeen North

10

Aberdeen South

12

Airdrie and Shotts

24

Aldershot

21

Aldridge-Brownhills

22

Altrincham and Sale West

22

Alyn and Deeside

18

Amber Valley

7

Angus

5

Arfon

9

Argyll and Bute

9

Arundel and South Downs

20

Ashfield

27

Ashford

21

Ashton-under-Lyne

20

Aylesbury

15

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock

18

Banbury

12

Banff and Buchan

9

Barking

30

Barnsley Central

18

Barnsley East

21

Barrow and Furness

26

Basildon and Billericay

25

Basingstoke

15

Bassetlaw

20

Bath

8

Batley and Spen

24

Battersea

15

Beaconsfield

7

Beckenham

15

Bedford

23

Bermondsey and Old Southwark

19

Berwick-upon-Tweed

5

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

10

Bethnal Green and Bow

17

Beverley and Holderness

17

Bexhill and Battle

22

Bexleyheath and Crayford

21

Birkenhead

37

Birmingham, Edgbaston

25

Birmingham, Erdington

36

Birmingham, Hall Green

41

Birmingham, Hodge Hill

41

Birmingham, Ladywood

19

Birmingham, Northfield

24

Birmingham, Perry Barr

23

Birmingham, Selly Oak

24

Birmingham, Yardley

53

Bishop Auckland

19

Blackburn

26

Blackley and Broughton

33

Blackpool North and Cleveleys

39

Blackpool South

48

Blaenau Gwent

21

Blaydon

16

Blyth Valley

15

Bognor Regis and Littlehampton

35

Bolsover

15

Bolton North East

10

Bolton South East

30

Bolton West

22

Bootle

38

Boston and Skegness

27

Bosworth

18

Bournemouth East

40

Bournemouth West

46

Bracknell

15

Bradford East

40

Bradford South

58

Bradford West

35

Braintree

12

Brecon and Radnorshire

8

Brent Central

21

Brent North

23

Brentford and Isleworth

17

Brentwood and Ongar

17

Bridgend

34

Bridgwater and West Somerset

20

Brigg and Goole

15

Brighton, Kemptown

34

Brighton, Pavilion

18

Bristol East

39

Bristol North West

21

Bristol South

25

Bristol West

12

Broadland

18

Bromley and Chislehurst

18

Bromsgrove

10

Broxbourne

35

Broxtowe

13

Buckingham

11

Burnley

22

Burton

13

Bury North

26

Bury South

26

Bury St Edmunds

23

Caerphilly

36

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

6

Calder Valley

19

Camberwell and Peckham

18

Camborne and Redruth

33

Cambridge

9

Cannock Chase

20

Canterbury

9

Cardiff Central

26

Cardiff North

24

Cardiff South and Penarth

49

Cardiff West

34

Carlisle

10

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr

16

Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire

21

Carshalton and Wallington

15

Castle Point

26

Central Ayrshire

27

Central Devon

15

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich

18

Ceredigion

14

Charnwood

22

Chatham and Aylesford

21

Cheadle

24

Chelmsford

16

Chelsea and Fulham

6

Cheltenham

11

Chesham and Amersham

8

Chesterfield

25

Chichester

8

Chingford and Woodford Green

25

Chippenham

21

Chipping Barnet

28

Chorley

26

Christchurch

22

Cities of London and Westminster

5

City of Chester

21

City of Durham

13

Clacton

45

Cleethorpes

33

Clwyd South

15

Clwyd West

20

Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill

32

Colchester

13

Colne Valley

22

Congleton

17

Copeland

10

Corby

24

Coventry North East

31

Coventry North West

27

Coventry South

18

Crawley

10

Crewe and Nantwich

17

Croydon Central

28

Croydon North

41

Croydon South

26

Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East

37

Cynon Valley

23

Dagenham and Rainham

19

Darlington

26

Dartford

24

Daventry

13

Delyn

34

Denton and Reddish

19

Derby North

16

Derby South

18

Derbyshire Dales

7

Devizes

12

Dewsbury

24

Don Valley

19

Doncaster Central

36

Doncaster North

14

Dover

20

Dudley North

18

Dudley South

14

Dulwich and West Norwood

18

Dumfries and Galloway

16

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

11

Dundee East

14

Dundee West

9

Dunfermline and West Fife

16

Dwyfor Meirionnydd

12

Ealing Central and Acton

19

Ealing North

30

Ealing, Southall

27

Easington

20

East Devon

18

East Dunbartonshire

29

East Ham

24

East Hampshire

12

East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow

34

East Lothian

12

East Renfrewshire

21

East Surrey

18

East Worthing and Shoreham

24

East Yorkshire

18

Eastbourne

38

Eastleigh

31

Eddisbury

15

Edinburgh East

9

Edinburgh North and Leith

14

Edinburgh South

7

Edinburgh South West

14

Edinburgh West

12

Edmonton

39

Ellesmere Port and Neston

25

Elmet and Rothwell

11

Eltham

22

Enfield North

32

Enfield, Southgate

22

Epping Forest

31

Epsom and Ewell

11

Erewash

21

Erith and Thamesmead

24

Esher and Walton

13

Exeter

23

Falkirk

16

Fareham

16

Faversham and Mid Kent

17

Feltham and Heston

24

Filton and Bradley Stoke

25

Finchley and Golders Green

18

Folkestone and Hythe

34

Forest of Dean

10

Fylde

25

Gainsborough

19

Garston and Halewood

31

Gateshead

17

Gedling

22

Gillingham and Rainham

22

Glasgow Central

20

Glasgow East

50

Glasgow North

17

Glasgow North East

37

Glasgow North West

29

Glasgow South

31

Glasgow South West

43

Glenrothes

15

Gloucester

27

Gordon

16

Gosport

19

Gower

23

Grantham and Stamford

12

Gravesham

19

Great Grimsby

36

Great Yarmouth

21

Greenwich and Woolwich

10

Guildford

9

Hackney North and Stoke Newington

9

Hackney South and Shoreditch

17

Halesowen and Rowley Regis

19

Halifax

28

Haltemprice and Howden

9

Halton

38

Hammersmith

18

Hampstead and Kilburn

13

Harborough

16

Harlow

18

Harrogate and Knaresborough

14

Harrow East

20

Harrow West

17

Hartlepool

31

Harwich and North Essex

18

Hastings and Rye

43

Havant

29

Hayes and Harlington

19

Hazel Grove

25

Hemel Hempstead

15

Hemsworth

22

Hendon

29

Henley

16

Hereford and South Herefordshire

25

Hertford and Stortford

14

Hertsmere

21

Hexham

5

Heywood and Middleton

29

High Peak

17

Hitchin and Harpenden

..

Holborn and St Pancras

14

Hornchurch and Upminster

23

Hornsey and Wood Green

17

Horsham

6

Houghton and Sunderland South

25

Hove

32

Huddersfield

18

Huntingdon

7

Hyndburn

15

Ilford North

21

Ilford South

36

Inverclyde

24

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey

12

Ipswich

21

Isle of Wight

42

Islington North

16

Islington South and Finsbury

19

Islwyn

21

Jarrow

16

Keighley

14

Kenilworth and Southam

10

Kensington

10

Kettering

22

Kilmarnock and Loudoun

12

Kingston and Surbiton

27

Kingston upon Hull East

11

Kingston upon Hull North

18

Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle

15

Kingswood

17

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath

15

Knowsley

41

Lanark and Hamilton East

26

Lancaster and Fleetwood

25

Leeds Central

21

Leeds East

11

Leeds North East

24

Leeds North West

12

Leeds West

17

Leicester East

29

Leicester South

22

Leicester West

28

Leigh

40

Lewes

14

Lewisham East

34

Lewisham West and Penge

19

Lewisham, Deptford

16

Leyton and Wanstead

9

Lichfield

7

Lincoln

24

Linlithgow and East Falkirk

23

Liverpool, Riverside

19

Liverpool, Walton

38

Liverpool, Wavertree

30

Liverpool, West Derby

33

Livingston

26

Llanelli

24

Loughborough

25

Louth and Horncastle

28

Ludlow

10

Luton North

31

Luton South

34

Macclesfield

18

Maidenhead

6

Maidstone and The Weald

12

Makerfield

30

Maldon

11

Manchester Central

23

Manchester, Gorton

30

Manchester, Withington

19

Mansfield

17

Meon Valley

15

Meriden

26

Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney

23

Mid Bedfordshire

9

Mid Derbyshire

14

Mid Dorset and North Poole

17

Mid Norfolk

12

Mid Sussex

11

Mid Worcestershire

14

Middlesbrough

23

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland

27

Midlothian

15

Milton Keynes North

18

Milton Keynes South

24

Mitcham and Morden

26

Mole Valley

14

Monmouth

12

Montgomeryshire

8

Moray

..

Morecambe and Lunesdale

25

Morley and Outwood

20

Motherwell and Wishaw

22

Na h-Eileanan an Iar

..

Neath

37

New Forest East

27

New Forest West

17

Newark

18

Newbury

7

Newcastle upon Tyne Central

19

Newcastle upon Tyne East

16

Newcastle upon Tyne North

28

Newcastle-under-Lyme

12

Newport East

19

Newport West

18

Newton Abbot

30

Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford

15

North Ayrshire and Arran

29

North Cornwall

19

North Devon

22

North Dorset

11

North Durham

18

North East Bedfordshire

7

North East Cambridgeshire

33

North East Derbyshire

10

North East Fife

12

North East Hampshire

8

North East Hertfordshire

..

North East Somerset

25

North Herefordshire

14

North Norfolk

13

North Shropshire

22

North Somerset

15

North Swindon

37

North Thanet

40

North Tyneside

27

North Warwickshire

20

North West Cambridgeshire

25

North West Durham

21

North West Hampshire

15

North West Leicestershire

14

North West Norfolk

17

North Wiltshire

16

Northampton North

37

Northampton South

24

Norwich North

14

Norwich South

17

Nottingham East

23

Nottingham North

34

Nottingham South

26

Nuneaton

24

Ochil and South Perthshire

13

Ogmore

34

Old Bexley and Sidcup

16

Oldham East and Saddleworth

26

Oldham West and Royton

14

Orkney and Shetland

..

Orpington

13

Oxford East

10

Oxford West and Abingdon

12

Paisley and Renfrewshire North

24

Paisley and Renfrewshire South

22

Pendle

17

Penistone and Stocksbridge

9

Penrith and The Border

..

Perth and North Perthshire

10

Peterborough

34

Plymouth, Moor View

30

Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport

31

Pontypridd

28

Poole

26

Poplar and Limehouse

17

Portsmouth North

27

Portsmouth South

25

Preseli Pembrokeshire

16

Preston

24

Pudsey

15

Putney

10

Rayleigh and Wickford

13

Reading East

14

Reading West

7

Redcar

26

Redditch

19

Reigate

14

Rhondda

23

Ribble Valley

13

Richmond (Yorks)

10

Richmond Park

12

Rochdale

26

Rochester and Strood

21

Rochford and Southend East

35

Romford

24

Romsey and Southampton North

7

Ross, Skye and Lochaber

13

Rossendale and Darwen

27

Rother Valley

20

Rotherham

14

Rugby

28

Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner

11

Runnymede and Weybridge

12

Rushcliffe

13

Rutherglen and Hamilton West

30

Rutland and Melton

10

Saffron Walden

10

Salford and Eccles

16

Salisbury

14

Scarborough and Whitby

15

Scunthorpe

20

Sedgefield

15

Sefton Central

24

Selby and Ainsty

15

Sevenoaks

10

Sheffield Central

7

Sheffield South East

18

Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough

21

Sheffield, Hallam

12

Sheffield, Heeley

19

Sherwood

25

Shipley

28

Shrewsbury and Atcham

19

Sittingbourne and Sheppey

35

Skipton and Ripon

12

Sleaford and North Hykeham

18

Slough

21

Solihull

20

Somerton and Frome

16

South Basildon and East Thurrock

22

South Cambridgeshire

9

South Derbyshire

19

South Dorset

19

South East Cambridgeshire

13

South East Cornwall

33

South Holland and The Deepings

34

South Leicestershire

12

South Norfolk

8

South Northamptonshire

15

South Ribble

19

South Shields

17

South Staffordshire

9

South Suffolk

6

South Swindon

21

South Thanet

34

South West Bedfordshire

36

South West Devon

27

South West Hertfordshire

8

South West Norfolk

15

South West Surrey

7

South West Wiltshire

27

Southampton, Itchen

26

Southampton, Test

18

Southend West

22

Southport

35

Spelthorne

14

St Albans

8

St Austell and Newquay

24

St Helens North

28

St Helens South and Whiston

36

St Ives

25

Stafford

16

Staffordshire Moorlands

13

Stalybridge and Hyde

28

Stevenage

14

Stirling

8

Stockport

27

Stockton North

22

Stockton South

25

Stoke-on-Trent Central

17

Stoke-on-Trent North

18

Stoke-on-Trent South

17

Stone

14

Stourbridge

30

Stratford-on-Avon

11

Streatham

21

Stretford and Urmston

33

Stroud

11

Suffolk Coastal

15

Sunderland Central

24

Surrey Heath

12

Sutton Coldfield

17

Sutton and Cheam

12

Swansea East

26

Swansea West

20

Tamworth

16

Tatton

20

Taunton Deane

24

Telford

30

Tewkesbury

12

The Cotswolds

10

The Wrekin

23

Thirsk and Malton

10

Thornbury and Yate

17

Thurrock

33

Tiverton and Honiton

13

Tonbridge and Malling

6

Tooting

11

Torbay

35

Torfaen

25

Torridge and West Devon

19

Totnes

35

Tottenham

15

Truro and Falmouth

20

Tunbridge Wells

11

Twickenham

12

Tynemouth

20

Uxbridge and South Ruislip

18

Vale of Clwyd

46

Vale of Glamorgan

48

Vauxhall

14

Wakefield

12

Wallasey

48

Walsall North

20

Walsall South

19

Walthamstow

28

Wansbeck

18

Wantage

15

Warley

30

Warrington North

29

Warrington South

24

Warwick and Leamington

14

Washington and Sunderland West

26

Watford

21

Waveney

37

Wealden

24

Weaver Vale

19

Wellingborough

29

Wells

28

Welwyn Hatfield

14

Wentworth and Dearne

11

West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

7

West Bromwich East

21

West Bromwich West

24

West Dorset

10

West Dunbartonshire

18

West Ham

24

West Lancashire

42

West Suffolk

14

West Worcestershire

13

Westminster North

15

Westmorland and Lonsdale

13

Weston-Super-Mare

39

Wigan

16

Wimbledon

8

Winchester

8

Windsor

17

Wirral South

20

Wirral West

22

Witham

16

Witney

14

Woking

9

Wokingham

8

Wolverhampton North East

21

Wolverhampton South East

23

Wolverhampton South West

10

Worcester

20

Workington

8

Worsley and Eccles South

29

Worthing West

32

Wrexham

14

Wycombe

21

Wyre Forest

14

Wyre and Preston North

25

Wythenshawe and Sale East

29

Yeovil

19

Ynys Môn

11

York Central

10

York Outer

10


Written Question
Support for Mortgage Interest
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the number of recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below shows the number of households who had a Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loan in payment for the past four years from April 2018, the point at which SMI became a loan, to March 2022.

Number of households with an SMI loan in payment by year

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

18,400

18,000

16,400

15,500

Note: the year runs from 1st April to 31st March. These figures include all cases in payment in Great Britain and are rounded to the nearest hundred

Note that quarterly experimental statistics are published which include the number of households in receipt of a Support for Mortgage Interest loan payment per quarter. The publication can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/support-for-mortgage-interest-statistics.

The number of households receiving SMI, prior to it becoming a loan, has been published and can be viewed in table 3c, row 20 of the ‘Benefit expenditure and caseload tables’ publication. The publication can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2022. Note that this does not include Universal Credit households in receipt of SMI.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Pensioners
Thursday 3rd November 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to keep the (a) triple lock on pensions, (b) winter fuel payment, (c) the older person's bus pass and (d) all other pensioner benefits.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is currently conducting his statutory annual review of State Pension and benefit rates. We cannot pre-empt the outcome of that review, which will be announced in due course.


Written Question
Vacancies
Thursday 27th October 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job vacancies there are in England (a) in total and (b) by region.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Regional figures on the number of job vacancies are not published by the ONS.

ONS data shows that there are 1.25 million job vacancies in the UK in Jul-Sep 2022. This number has been falling for three consecutive quarters from a record high of 1.3 million.

The ONS publishes a weekly index of regional online job adverts, which give us an idea of regional trends in vacancies. As we can see from the data below, online job adverts have fallen in every English region since last year, meaning we are successfully filling vacancies in the labour market and getting people into work.

Change on the year in Online Job Adverts by Region

England: -19.5%

North East: -27.5%

North West: -16.9%

Yorkshire & the Humber: -20.4%

East Midlands: -28.3%

West Midlands: -25%

East of England: -22.7%

London: -16.9%

South East: -15.9%

South West: -17.2%


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Standards
Tuesday 27th September 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made a comparative assessment of the levels of accuracy between Personal Independence Payment assessments that are made (a) over the phone and (b) face to face.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The department is absolutely committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality, objective and accurate assessments, as part of the suite of evidence the department uses to decide entitlement.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, DWP worked at pace with its providers to deliver telephone and video assessments, changing from face-to-face assessments with minimum delay to the service for claimants. In line with feedback from our Health and Disability Green Paper consultation (2021), we continue to offer telephone and video assessments, alongside face-to-face and paper-based assessments.

The development of the future health assessment strategy will be supported by a programme of in-house analysis, and externally commissioned research into the outcomes and experiences of the multi-channel approach.

Assessment providers work continuously to drive improvements in assessment services, and the department ensures a high standard is maintained across all types of assessment. An Independent Audit function continually monitors performance and provides feedback to the assessment providers. Claimants also have the option to request an audio recording of their Personal Independence Payment telephone assessment, which can improve trust in the process.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Telephone Services
Tuesday 27th September 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to ensure the accuracy of phone-based assessments for Personal Independence Payments claimants.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The department is absolutely committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality, objective and accurate assessments, as part of the suite of evidence the department uses to decide entitlement.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, DWP worked at pace with its providers to deliver telephone and video assessments, changing from face-to-face assessments with minimum delay to the service for claimants. In line with feedback from our Health and Disability Green Paper consultation (2021), we continue to offer telephone and video assessments, alongside face-to-face and paper-based assessments.

The development of the future health assessment strategy will be supported by a programme of in-house analysis, and externally commissioned research into the outcomes and experiences of the multi-channel approach.

Assessment providers work continuously to drive improvements in assessment services, and the department ensures a high standard is maintained across all types of assessment. An Independent Audit function continually monitors performance and provides feedback to the assessment providers. Claimants also have the option to request an audio recording of their Personal Independence Payment telephone assessment, which can improve trust in the process.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Consultants
Monday 11th July 2022

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on consultancy fees in each of the last five years.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The DWP consultancy spend for the financial years ending 2018 through to 2022 is shown below.

2017/18 £7,200,259

2018/19 £4,446,169

2019/20 £4,570,665

2020/21 £1,284,861

2021/22 £1,041,058