Select Committee

Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)

DSN0007 - Defence Spending in Northern Ireland

Written Evidence May. 01 2024

Inquiry: Defence Spending in Northern Ireland
Inquiry Status: Closed
Committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (Department: Northern Ireland Office)

Found: DSN0007 - Defence Spending in Northern Ireland Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Written Evidence

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Deposited Papers

May. 01 2024

Source Page: Pensions Dashboards Programme: Progress update report April 2024. 11p.
Document: Pensions_Dashboard_Programme-PUR-Apr_2024.pdf (PDF)

Found: The same obligation for personal and stakeholder pensions was set out by the Financial Conduct Authority

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Lords Chamber
Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill
Committee stage - Wed 01 May 2024
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Mentions:
1: Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab - Life peer) management company, and it would be under their exclusive control, giving them full responsibility for services - Speech Link
2: None extent of obligations imposed by awards (which may, in particular, provide for payments in money or services - Speech Link
3: Lord Rooker (Lab - Life peer) have no interest to declare, other than my 60-year membership of the Institution of Engineering and Technology - Speech Link
4: Lord Best (XB - Life peer) sector, with its Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Ombudsman Service.As with accountants, lawyers - Speech Link
5: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab - Life peer) statutory requirements that seem to be changing, not just year by year but month by month, as is the technology - Speech Link

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Commons Chamber
Oral Answers to Questions - Wed 01 May 2024
Scotland Office

Mentions:
1: Chris Stephens (SNP - Glasgow South West) levelling up seems to benefit places such as the financial district of Canary Wharf, which has benefited - Speech Link
2: Alister Jack (Con - Dumfries and Galloway) Public services in Scotland are in a desperate state. - Speech Link
3: Alister Jack (Con - Dumfries and Galloway) whole United Kingdom will benefit from that, and it will ensure that our armed benefit from the latest technology - Speech Link
4: Rishi Sunak (Con - Richmond (Yorks)) I was very pleased to see the thriving local technology and manufacturing industry, which will help us - Speech Link

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Commons Chamber
UK Trade Performance - Wed 01 May 2024
Department for Business and Trade

Mentions:
1: Kemi Badenoch (Con - Saffron Walden) Services exports are at an all-time high. - Speech Link
2: Kemi Badenoch (Con - Saffron Walden) The UK economy is 80% services, so it is good that services exports are going up. - Speech Link
3: Kemi Badenoch (Con - Saffron Walden) Many of the people who want to understand that technology are coming to the UK. - Speech Link

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Commons Chamber
UK Trade: Aviation - Wed 01 May 2024
Cabinet Office

Mentions:
1: Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) and financial and professional services, in which—as my hon. - Speech Link
2: Alan Mak (Con - Havant) It is our blueprint to make sure that we have the skills, technology and infrastructure to deliver for - Speech Link

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Bill Documents
1 May 2024 - Explanatory Notes
HL Bill 74 Explanatory Notes
Renters (Reform) Bill 2022-23

Found: This will ensure all tenants under releva nt tenancies have access to redress services to deal with

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Written Question

State Retirement Pensions

Wednesday 1st May 2024

Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new State Pension claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2010.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Jobseekers Allowance	88.6%	86.8%	80.6%	53.1%	82.5%	87.1%	67.8%	58.7%
Employment and Support Allowance	84.6%	85.3%	73.3%	96.1%	70.9%	42.5%	47.4%	39.5%
State Pension	87.9%	73.7%	86.8%	86.7%	76.2%	45.6%	72.0%	96.2%
Pension Credit	71.0%	55.2%	53.4%	44.8%	88.2%	74.3%	45.7%	77.7%
Disability Living Allowance (child)	96.8%	96.5%	96.2%	91.3%	92.1%	35.6%	4.6%	3.5%
Personal Independence Payment	85.1%	77.2%	72.3%	40.4%	23.0%	6.8%	38.4%	51.7%
Child Maintenance Service	82.8%	87.4%	88.3%	91.6%	84.3%	84.3%	79.4%	79.6%
Universal Credit			80.4%	85.2%	90.9%	85.7%	84.4%	TBC

Comments to note:

• Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

• In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.

Service Performance Context:

Jobseekers Allowance

• From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.

Employment and Support Allowance

• ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.

State Pension

• Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.

Pension Credit

• 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.

Disability Living Allowance (Child)

• Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
• Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
• During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
• We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.

Personal Independence Payment

• PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
• PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.

Child Maintenance Service

• Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.

Universal Credit

• Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

• The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.

• Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.

Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)

Jobseekers Allowance	Within 10 working days
Employment and Support Allowance	Within 10 working days
State Pension	Within 20 working days of State Pension entitlement date or 20 working days of Initial date of claim if claiming after entitlement has started.
Pension Credit	Within 50 working days
Disability Living Allowance (Child)	Within 40 working days
Personal Independence Payment	Within 75 working days
Child Maintenance Service	Payment within 12 weeks
Universal Credit	% Full Payment 1st Assessment Period

Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.

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Written Question

Pension Credit

Wednesday 1st May 2024

Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new Pension Credit claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2010.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Jobseekers Allowance	88.6%	86.8%	80.6%	53.1%	82.5%	87.1%	67.8%	58.7%
Employment and Support Allowance	84.6%	85.3%	73.3%	96.1%	70.9%	42.5%	47.4%	39.5%
State Pension	87.9%	73.7%	86.8%	86.7%	76.2%	45.6%	72.0%	96.2%
Pension Credit	71.0%	55.2%	53.4%	44.8%	88.2%	74.3%	45.7%	77.7%
Disability Living Allowance (child)	96.8%	96.5%	96.2%	91.3%	92.1%	35.6%	4.6%	3.5%
Personal Independence Payment	85.1%	77.2%	72.3%	40.4%	23.0%	6.8%	38.4%	51.7%
Child Maintenance Service	82.8%	87.4%	88.3%	91.6%	84.3%	84.3%	79.4%	79.6%
Universal Credit			80.4%	85.2%	90.9%	85.7%	84.4%	TBC

Comments to note:

• Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

• In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.

Service Performance Context:

Jobseekers Allowance

• From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.

Employment and Support Allowance

• ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.

State Pension

• Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.

Pension Credit

• 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.

Disability Living Allowance (Child)

• Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
• Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
• During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
• We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.

Personal Independence Payment

• PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
• PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.

Child Maintenance Service

• Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.

Universal Credit

• Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

• The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.

• Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.

Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)

Jobseekers Allowance	Within 10 working days
Employment and Support Allowance	Within 10 working days
State Pension	Within 20 working days of State Pension entitlement date or 20 working days of Initial date of claim if claiming after entitlement has started.
Pension Credit	Within 50 working days
Disability Living Allowance (Child)	Within 40 working days
Personal Independence Payment	Within 75 working days
Child Maintenance Service	Payment within 12 weeks
Universal Credit	% Full Payment 1st Assessment Period

Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.

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