Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the additional number of people who would be found fit for work if the (a) coping with social engagement and (b) getting about indicators were removed from the Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The department has developed estimates across the range of options being considered in the Work Capability Assessment activities and descriptors consultation. The consultation runs until the 30th October and we will continue to refine these estimates as responses are considered following the end of the consultation period.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date will the Child Support Collection Act 2023 enter into force.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Preventing domestic abuse within CMS remains a key priority for the department and we want to work at pace to tackle it. The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 requires secondary legislation before it can come into force. We will engage widely with stakeholders and other government departments to ensure the changes made are right.
The department has already commenced a single caseworker pilot where there are cases of Domestic Abuse within CMS. The evaluation of this pilot will take place early next year. We have also implemented mandatory training for all CMS staff in how to respond to cases of domestic abuse and rolled out a complex needs toolkit which provides caseworkers with clear steps to follow where there are cases involving domestic abuse.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) impact and (b) cost effectiveness of steps being taken by local authorities to increase levels of take up of Pension Credit; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We are identifying a trial with local authorities of ‘Invitation to Claim’ letters sent to housing benefit recipients who do not claim Pension Credit.
We will analyse the results of this later this year. We do not undertake assessments of general Local Authority activity.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for approximately a third of registrations for Universal Credit not leading to a claim being submitted in the year to February 2023; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The requested information is not held as claimants are not required to inform the Department why they have chosen not to continue their claim, and there may be multiple reasons why they have chosen not to.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of trends in poverty levels among people aged over 50 who have become economically inactive since the start of the pandemic; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is not possible to produce a robust assessment of trends in poverty levels among people aged over 50 who have become economically inactive since the start of the pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the sample size and quality of data collected during the first year of the pandemic. DWP did not publish lower-level data in the 2020/21 HBAI publication and advises caution when making comparison with previous years.
Discontinuities and additional biases introduced by the changes to data collection during the pandemic become more evident when the statistics are disaggregated into smaller groups, such as people aged over 50 who have become economically inactive since the start of the pandemic.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Employment on 4 July 2023, Official Report, Col 734, how many extra staff have been hired to tackle fraud and error in the benefit system between (a) January–June 2020, (b) July–December 2020, (c) January–June 2021, (d) July–December 2021, (e) January–June 2022, (f) July–December 2022 and (g) January–June 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Tackling fraud and error is a key priority for the DWP, and every member of staff has a role to play and undertakes mandatory annual fraud and error training. The department’s approach to tackling fraud was set out in the fraud plan [Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)], which included the commitment to increase our counter fraud teams and create a new targeted case review capability.
The department’s annual report and accounts, published on 6 July 2023 [DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)], shows how we are using our resource to tackle fraud and error.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in her Department worked on tackling fraud and error in the benefit system between (a) January–June 2020, (b) July–December 2020, (c) January–June 2021, (d) July–December 2021, (e) January–June 2022, (f) July–December 2022 and (g) January–June 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Tackling fraud and error is a key priority for the DWP, and every member of staff has a role to play and undertakes mandatory annual fraud and error training. The department’s approach to tackling fraud was set out in the fraud plan [Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)], which included the commitment to increase our counter fraud teams and create a new targeted case review capability.
The department’s annual report and accounts, published on 6 July 2023 [DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)], shows how we are using our resource to tackle fraud and error.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to amend Universal Credit regulations to allow claimants of legacy benefits to be eligible for transitional protection if their initial claim was rejected due to a lack of information but was then approved in a subsequent claim.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have no plans to amend the regulations.
The regulations allow transitional protection to be considered in all instances where there is a qualifying Universal Credit (UC) claim made within the given deadline, for which all the necessary information is provided.
Guidance has been issued to decision makers making this clear. We also issue reminders to claimants during this period about the need to make a UC claim to continue receiving benefit.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that legacy benefit claimants (a) are aware of and (b) have access to managed payments to landlord in the managed migration to Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are not currently moving claimants who have Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit.
The Department has published guidance online to ensure legacy benefit claimants are aware of and have access to managed payments to landlords. This information is in the public domain and can be found in the following link: Understanding Universal Credit - Advances and help with budgeting.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of excluding any legacy benefit claimant due to qualify for Pension Credit before April 2025 from having to migrate to Universal Credit; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are currently excluding anyone within 6 months of State Pension Age from the Managed Migration process to reduce the number of benefit changes households need to make within a short period of time.