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 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 721W, on official visits, what domestic visits each of the Ministers in his Department has made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was.
Answered by Mike Penning
This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Details of all Ministerial overseas travel is published on a quarterly basis.
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 written evidence from his Department to the Work and Pensions Committee of 20 October 2013 on child maintenance reform, when he will publish initial findings from the series of behaviour change trials undertaken by his Department to test different interventions aimed at addressing the barriers that prevent parents making regular payments of child maintenance.
Answered by Steve Webb
The series of behaviour trials completed later than expected, in May 2014. Now that the trials are completed, a full evaluation is underway. Once the evaluation has concluded, we will share the findings in accordance with the undertakings we gave to the Select Committee, in October 2013. We will incorporate any learning from the successful trials into our approach to tackle and prevent the build-up of arrears.
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, when he will bring into force section 40 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008.
Answered by Steve Webb
We are exploring bringing into force powers laid out in the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, providing for the disclosure of payment information to credit reference agencies. This would be subject to a public consultation before any regulations were laid in Parliament.
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 11 June 2014, Official Report, columns 170-1W, on employment and support allowance, how many decisions on eligibility for employment and support allowance have been made in each month since May 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
We have interpreted the question to be for Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessments decision outcomes. This information is published in table 1a for initial functional assessments and table 1b for repeat functional assessments at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-june-2014
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 visits each of the Ministers in his Department have made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Details of Ministers' visits overseas are published quarterly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications
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 people have participated in each of the seven Help and Support for Separated Families Innovation Fund projects to date.
Answered by Steve Webb
Round one projects all aim to reach different numbers of parents depending on their need, the project's location, resources available and the type of service being offered. One of these round one projects initially works with non-resident parents only, whereas the other projects engage a lead parent which could be either the parent with care or the non-resident parent. Most projects then aim to work with both parents during the intervention but this isn't always possible.
As far as it is possible, the actual number of parents participating, and whether they are a parent with care or a non-resident parent, is data that is currently being collected by our round one projects. This forms part of the data that will be collated, analysed and assessed by our independent evaluator. It is our intention that this will be published alongside final evaluation results when completed.
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, when each of the new projects chosen in the second round of competition for funding from the Help and Support for Separated Families Innovation Fund will commence.
Answered by Steve Webb
All projects successful during the second round of the Innovation Fund procurement exercise became operational during or before April 2014.
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 much has been awarded to each of the 10 projects that received funding from Help and Support for Separated Families Innovation Fund in the second round of bidding in December 2013.
Answered by Steve Webb
The below list provides the original agreed contract value for each of the contracts awarded in the second procurement round of the Innovation Fund. The contract value is the possible highest amount payable as this is partly dependent on performance.
Children 1st - £451,964
Family Lives - £306,234
National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) - £382,081
Pinnacle People - £242,240
Mediation Now - £86,448
Sills & Betteridge - £720,742
Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships (TCCR) - £398,762
Headland Future (now Changing Futures) - £322,795
Family Matters Mediate - £165,856
National Family - £480,354
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 the parents who have so far participated in the first round of Help and Support for Separated Families Innovation Fund projects have been (a) parents with main care of a child or children and (b) non-resident parents.
Answered by Steve Webb
Round one projects all aim to reach different numbers of parents depending on their need, the project's location, resources available and the type of service being offered. One of these round one projects initially works with non-resident parents only, whereas the other projects engage a lead parent which could be either the parent with care or the non-resident parent. Most projects then aim to work with both parents during the intervention but this isn't always possible.
As far as it is possible, the actual number of parents participating, and whether they are a parent with care or a non-resident parent, is data that is currently being collected by our round one projects. This forms part of the data that will be collated, analysed and assessed by our independent evaluator. It is our intention that this will be published alongside final evaluation results when completed.
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 of 21 March 2012, Official Report, column 705W on Atos Healthcare, on how many occasions a Jobcentre Plus decision-maker did not follow the advice of an Atos-approved healthcare professional when making a decision on the eligibility for employment and support allowance in each month since May 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information requested is shown in the table below.
The number of occasions where the JCP decision maker's final decision was different to the advice given by the Atos healthcare professional – May 2010 to June 2013
Month JCP decision differs from Atos recommendation
May-10 900
Jun-10 900
Jul-10 1,100
Aug-10 1,200
Sep-10 1,200
Oct-10 1,900
Nov-10 2,600
Dec-10 2,300
Jan-11 2,700
Feb-11 3,100
Mar-11 3,700
Apr-11 2,800
May-11 3,100
Jun-11 2,800
Jul-11 2,100
Aug-11 1,900
Sep-11 1,600
Oct-11 1,400
Nov-11 1,500
Dec-11 1,200
Jan-12 1,800
Feb-12 2,300
Mar-12 2,700
Apr-12 2,300
May-12 2,600
Jun-12 2,700
Jul-12 3,200
Aug-12 3,200
Sep-12 3,800
Oct-12 4,600
Nov-12 4,700
Dec-12 3,700
Jan-13 4,800
Feb-13 4,400
Mar-13 4,000
Apr-13 4,100
May-13 4,900
Jun-13 5,300
Data sources:
DWP's benefit administration datasets covering new claims (starting from 27 October 2008); Atos Healthcare's face to face assessment, ESA85 data and limited capability for work questionnaire, ESA50 data; and HMCTS's appeals caseload data.
Notes:
1. These figures do not include work capability assessments completed on incapacity benefit (IB) reassessment claims.
2. The table includes initial assessments only and the figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.