Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the average proportion of pensioners' energy bills that was met by the winter fuel payment in winter (a) 2003-04 and (b) 2013-14.
Answered by Steve Webb
This information is not available.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2015 to Question 221342, what the name is of the first of two evaluation partners who have been appointed by his Department to independently evaluate the 17 Innovation Fund pilots set up under the Help for Separated Families initiative.
Answered by Steve Webb
We have signed a contract with Adetiq to ensure the security of data during evaluation.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which of the 17 Help and Support for Separated Families Innovation Fund pilots will finish in March 2015 as originally planned; and which of those pilots will continue, and for how long.
Answered by Steve Webb
Officials are in discussion with all current projects about a possible extension beyond March 2014. I will make an announcement about this in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether an external evaluator has been appointed to provide an independent assessment of the 17 Innovation Fund projects set up under the Help for Separated Families initiative to establish what works in assisting separated parents to co-operate in the interests of their children; when it is planned that that evaluation process will take place; and when it is planned that that evaluation report will be published.
Answered by Steve Webb
One of two evaluation partners has been appointed and we are in the process of appointing the second.
Evaluation data continues to be collected by all of the live projects and this data will be analysed and interpreted by our independent evaluator throughout the duration of their contract into 2016.
Results will be published after all projects have ended delivery and the external evaluator has completed their follow up work and analysis.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls were received by the Child Maintenance Options Service from parents who had been in contact with the Options Service during the period covered by his Department's most recent survey of effective family-based arrangements.
Answered by Steve Webb
The number of inbound calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service in each month from Apr-13 to March 14 is available in the table below.
Month | Number of calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service |
Apr-13 | 8,024 |
May-13 | 7,845 |
Jun-13 | 8,915 |
Jul-13 | 10,360 1 |
Aug-13 | 11,990 |
Sep-13 | 13,835 |
Oct-13 | 14,835 |
Nov-13 | 21,375 2 |
Dec-13 | 22,760 |
Jan-14 | 26,515 |
Feb-14 | 25,875 |
Mar-14 | 26,865 |
Notes:
- Data Sourced from CMO Monthly MI Service Pack
- Data rounded to nearest 5
1 Child Maintenance Options started providing a ‘soft gateway’ to the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme, offering parents applying to the 2012 Scheme the opportunity to explore the full range of options before making an application, including considering making their own arrangements.
2 Child Maintenance Options became the automatic ‘gateway’ to the statutory 2012 child maintenance scheme, ensuring all parents who wish to access the 2012 Scheme are making a fully informed decision and have considered making their own arrangements first.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of parents in the survey conducted by his Department of parents' contact with the Child Maintenance Options Service between February 2013 and March 2014 had no maintenance arrangement following contact with the Service.
Answered by Steve Webb
Information around different arrangement types (including where parents have no arrangement) is under development and while not included in this publication, once assured, it will be included in future releases of this publication.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of parents in the survey conducted by his Department of parents' contact with the Child Maintenance Options Service between February 2013 and March 2014 chose to make a statutory maintenance arrangement following contact with the Service; and how many children such statutory arrangements covered.
Answered by Steve Webb
Information around different arrangement types is under development and while not included in this publication, once assured, it will be included in future releases of this publication.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 44 of Information about Secondary Legislation Arising from the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, published by his Department in January 2008, if he will publish the report of the evaluation to test the links between payments of child maintenance and client behaviour concerning the repayment of other financial commitments.
Answered by Steve Webb
The report ‘Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill: Disclosure of Information to credit reference agencies - exploratory analysis’ was published by the Department in 2008 and a copy is attached.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West on 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 655W, on employment and support allowance: work capability assessment, what the average wait was for an employment and support allowance applicant between completing the ESA 50 questionnaire and undergoing the work capability assessment in the most recent year for which data are available.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The average time from receipt of an ESA50 to the completion of face to face work capability assessment (for both Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Reassessment), for the period from January 2014 to September 2014, was 102 working days.
Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd. has been awarded the contract to succeed Atos Healthcare from March 2015, to undertake Work Capability Assessments. The priority for MAXIMUS Health and Human Services Ltd will be to transition the service smoothly from the current provider, stabilise the operation to deliver the best service possible for claimants, increase the volume of assessments carried out and reduce waiting times without compromising quality.
We are continuing to work closely with Atos under the current contract and process claims as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2014 to Question 203664, when he plans to start the public consultation on the implementation of section 40 of the Welfare Reform Act 2008.
Answered by Steve Webb
I will be making a written ministerial statement soon to address this issue.