Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department issues guidance to benefit assessors on assessing (a) Crohn’s Disease, (b) Ulcerative Colitis and (c) other fluctuating conditions for Personal Independence Payments.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All assessment providers (APs) are required to ensure that health professionals (HPs) carrying out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments have a broad training in disability analysis, as well as awareness training in specific conditions ranging from common to rare.
At present, neither Independent Assessment Services nor Capita have a specific Condition Insight Report (CIR) relating to Crohn’s Disease. However, HPs have access to a range of resources as well as experienced clinicians to support them in assessing individuals with conditions that they may not be familiar with. Additionally, assessment providers engage with medical experts, charities, and relevant stakeholders, to strengthen their training programmes and Capita recently developed a CIR for HPs on Ulcerative Colitis in collaboration with Crohn’s and Colitis UK.
It is stressed in the HP training that, although a claimant may sometimes be able to perform a task, they may not be able to do so safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, or in a reasonable time-period due to pain, fatigue, etc. HPs are expected to be mindful of the fact that many conditions fluctuate, producing symptoms that vary in intensity from mild to severe, and are instructed not to base their opinion solely on the situation as observed at the assessment. This is further explained in the PIP Assessment Guide for APs available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessments his Department has made regarding the adequacy of the managing toilet needs or incontinence descriptor for Personal Independence Payment claims.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was established in collaboration with a wide range of experts and stakeholders, and following a comprehensive public consultation between 2010-2012, including on the activities and descriptors.
We believe the resulting descriptors relating to the managing toilet needs or incontinence activity is the best way of identifying people whose daily living is most affected by this.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of Universal Credit and subject to deductions who were (a) assessed and (b) not assessed to have (i) limited capability for work and (ii) limited capability for work and work-related activity had (A) up to five per cent, (B) between six and 10 per cent, (C) between 11 and 15 per cent, (D) between 16 and 20 per cent, (E) between 21 and 25 per cent and (F) more than 25 per cent of the Standard Allowance deducted in the most recent month for which data is available; and what the average deduction was for each category.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet. Table 1 provides the number of Universal Credit households broken down by the level of deduction and Table 2 provides the average deduction amount for each of the Universal Credit household types requested that have at least one deduction.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of Universal Credit and subject to deductions with (a) no one and (b) at least one person in work had (i) up to five per cent, (ii) between six and 10 per cent, (iii) between 11 and 15 per cent, (iv) between 16 and 20 per cent, (v) between 21 and 25 per cent and (vi) more than 25 per cent of the Standard Allowance deducted in the most recent month for which data are available; and what the average deduction was for each category.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet. Table 1 provides the number of Universal Credit households broken down by the level of deduction and Table 2 provides the average deduction amount for each of the Universal Credit household types requested that have at least one deduction.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of Universal Credit and subject to deductions (a) with and (b) without children had (i) up to five per cent, (ii) between six and 10 per cent, (iii) between 11 and 15 per cent, (iv) between 16 and 20 per cent, (v) between 21 and 25 per cent and (vi) more than 25 per cent of the Standard Allowance deducted in the most recent month for which data are available; and what the average deduction was for each category.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet. Table 1 provides the number of Universal Credit households broken down by the level of deduction and Table 2 provides the average deduction amount for each of the Universal Credit household types requested that have at least one deduction.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of Universal Credit and subject to deductions of their Standard Allowance who were (a) assessed and (b) not assessed to have (i) limited capability for work and (ii) limited capability for work and work-related activity had (A) up to five per cent, (B) between six and 10 per cent, (C) between 11 and 15 per cent, (D) between 16 and 20 per cent, (E) between 21 and 25 per cent and (F) more than 25 per cent of their Standard Allowance deducted in the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested for Universal Credit households with limited capability for work and work-related activity with deductions is provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Deductions are made for a number of reasons including to help claimants pay back rent arrears or debt to energy companies so they are not evicted and can heat their homes, as well as to pay court fines.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of universal credit and subject to deductions (a) with children and (b) without children had (i) up to five per cent, (ii) between six and 10 per cent, (iii) between 11 and 15 per cent, (iv) between 16 and 20 per cent, (v) between 21 and 25 per cent and (vi) more than 25 per cent of the Standard Allowance deducted in the most recent month for which data are available.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested for Universal Credit Households with children with deductions is provided in the attached spreadsheet.
The UK Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Under Universal Credit there is a co-ordinated approach to deductions from benefit, which supports claimants to manage their financial obligations. We carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments with our support for claimants.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of proposals from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation for a cross-departmental forum in collaboration with business and industry to consider long-term workforce planning.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government departments already work closely together, and with employers, on our approach to skills and the labour market.
DWP regularly meets with departments responsible for key sectors to identify and promote opportunities within high demand and growing sectors. By identifying barriers and skills needs, DWP can ensure that provision is available to support people to move into and progress in jobs in local growing sectors.
Government departments also work closely with employers to ensure that the skills offer encompasses the needs of employers by putting them at the heart of the skills system and ensuring that education and training meets their needs. By 2030, almost all technical courses will be on employer-led standards, ensuring that the education and training people receive, is directly linked to the skills needed for jobs.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average universal credit award is in (a) Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The mean amount of Universal Credit awarded for households in Great Britain is published and can be found in Table 2 of the Households on Universal Credit dataset at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
This table can be filtered by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency.
Guidance on how to extract information from Stat-Xplore can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
The statistics for Northern Ireland are published by the Department for Communities and can be found at:
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/universal-credit-statistics
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the recruitment sector on (a) providing sufficient workforce for businesses and (b) tackling the increasing vacancy level.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is continuing to work with a number of other Government Departments, Devolved Authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as sector and trade bodies to fill vacancies in sectors experiencing labour shortages, offering training for those who need it, and securing jobs directly for those ready to move into roles.
We regularly meet with stakeholders such as the Recruitment Employers Confederation (REC) and the Federation of Small Business (FSB) to discuss recruitment.
The Department’s National Employer and Partnership Team work collaboratively with a number of recruitment agencies across the UK, notably Manpower, Capita, Reed, Adecco and Staffline. Each of these accounts have a dedicated Senior National Account Manager to support them.
The National Employer and Partnership Team also work closely with the Recruitment Employers Confederation (REC) who are the Trade Body for the sector.
All of the recruitment agencies are employing people direct, and all are reporting high levels of vacancies, including permanent jobs. The National Employer and Partnership Team work closely with the agencies to promote their opportunities to the department’s growing network of Jobcentre Plus. Recent examples are Adecco recruiting for Amazon across the UK, who are placing opportunities with local jobcentres in a variety of locations. Capita are also recruiting for Go – Centric who have 1500 contact centre opportunities across the UK.