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 Universal Credit claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2012.
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:
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
Employment and Support Allowance
State Pension
Pension Credit
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
Personal Independence Payment
Child Maintenance Service
Universal Credit
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.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to ensure that family hubs provide advice on smoking and vaping harm reduction.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability, and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts a huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
The Government is investing an additional £300 million to improve support for families, though the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme guide sets out minimum expectations that local authorities receiving programme funding should deliver by March 2025. With regards to smoking support, the programme guide sets out that staff in a family hub are expected to be trained in delivering Very Brief Advice on smoking to parents identified as smokers, and some family hubs may provide smoking cessation support on-site, for example through drop-ins.
Staff in family hubs know what stop smoking services (SSS) are provided locally, and connect families to these services. Smokers are three times as likely to succeed with SSS, when compared to an unsupported quit attempt. As announced in Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, published in October 2023, the Government is investing an additional £70 million per year, for five years, to support local authority led SSS, almost doubling current spend and supporting 360,000 people to set a quit date each year.
In addition, we are establishing a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant smokers and their partners to quit smoking, with smoking cessation support. This evidence-based intervention will encourage pregnant women to give up smoking, and remain smokefree throughout pregnancy and beyond, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Whilst anyone smoking should focus on giving up cigarettes before giving up vaping, giving up vaping is an important step in overcoming nicotine dependence. We are working with the NHS Better Health website to provide advice for people who want to quit vaping. The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training has produced guidance for local SSS staff, on how best to support vapers to quit. We are also exploring further ways to support people to quit vaping, as part of the national Swap to Stop programme.
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:
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
Employment and Support Allowance
State Pension
Pension Credit
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
Personal Independence Payment
Child Maintenance Service
Universal Credit
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.
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 proportion of new Child Maintenance claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2012.
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:
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
Employment and Support Allowance
State Pension
Pension Credit
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
Personal Independence Payment
Child Maintenance Service
Universal Credit
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.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on autism assessments in each of the last five years; how much funding her Department has allocated to autism assessments in each of the next three years; and what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of that funding in meeting the target waiting time for such an assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Information on the total spend on autism assessments is not held centrally. NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to integrated care boards (ICBs), which are responsible for commissioning services using these core allocations to meet the needs of their local populations, including autism assessment services. The following table shows the total baseline expenditure in ICBs for learning disability and autism services over the last five years, disaggregated for autism services where possible:
| Learning disability | Autism services | Unseparated learning disability and autism services | Total |
2019/20 | N/A | N/A | £1,809,200,000 | £1,809,200,000 |
2020/21 | N/A | N/A | £2,285,600,000 | £2,285,600,000 |
2021/22 | £85,800,000 | £3,700,000 | £2,268,300,000 | £2,357,900,000 |
2022/23 | £625,800,000 | £27,100,000 | £1,928,800,000 | £2,581,700,000 |
2023/24 | £926,000,000 | £47,100,000 | £1,928,800,000 | £2,904,600,000 |
In addition, specific funding has been allocated to ICBs in 2023/4 and 2024/25 from the Service Development Funding, to improve autism assessment waiting lists and pathways. The following table shows information on the additional national funding allocated to ICBs by NHS England, over each of the last five years, to improve autism assessment waiting lists and pathways:
| Service Development Funding via the NHS Long Term Plan Transformation Funding | Spending Review 2021 via the COVID-19 Recovery Fund | Total funding for autism assessment pathways |
2019/20 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2020/21 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2021/22 | £2,500,000 | £14,500,000 | £17,000,000 |
2022/23 | £5,000,000 | N/A | £5,000,000 |
2023/24 | £4,200,000 | N/A | £4,200,000 |
2024/25 | £4,300,000 | N/A | £4,300,000 |
Notes:
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance 2024/25 asks local systems to improve autism assessment pathways, through implementation of the NHS England autism assessment national framework. Allocations from 2025/26 onwards are subject to future decisions on spending. Further information on the operational and planning guidance and national framework is available respectively at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/autism-diagnosis-and-operational-guidance/
A specific assessment of the adequacy of funding in meeting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s waiting time standard for autism assessments has not been made. However, autism waiting times statistics are published on a quarterly basis. The total number of people with an open referral, where the diagnosis not yet completed, for suspected autism has increased by 47%, from 117,032 in December 2022 to 172,022 in December 2023. In December 2023, it was estimated that only 5.9% of patients whose referrals have been open in the system for at least 13 weeks received their first contact appointment within 13 weeks.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many learning disability nurses there (a) are and (b) were in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and core organisations, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice, or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. The statistics are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
A large proportion of learning disability nurses work outside NHS trusts, and we do not hold data on where they work. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes data on the number of nurses on the register across the United Kingdom, which will include nurses employed in other settings, such as education. Data is available in the Fields of Practice sheet in the permanent register data tables, at the following link:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of learning disability nurses are in senior leadership roles.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and core organisations, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice, or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. The statistics are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
A large proportion of learning disability nurses work outside NHS trusts, and we do not hold data on where they work. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes data on the number of nurses on the register across the United Kingdom, which will include nurses employed in other settings, such as education. Data is available in the Fields of Practice sheet in the permanent register data tables, at the following link:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of health and adult social care staff that will undertake the second part of tier (a) one and (b) two of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism in the next three years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have provided estimates of the number of health and adult social care staff that would undertake Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in our consultation stage impact assessment. This assessment was published as part of the public consultation on the Oliver McGowan Code of Practice. The impact assessment and wider public consultation are available, respectively, at the following two links:
For healthcare, we estimated that over the first three years of training roll-out, 1,036,000 staff would be trained at Tier 1 level, and 1,186,000 staff would be trained at Tier 2 level. For adult social care, over the same period, we estimated that 840,000 staff would be trained at Tier 1 level, and 492,000 staff would be trained at Tier 2 level. In addition, over 1.7 million people have already completed the first part of Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, an e-learning package.
The final stage impact assessment incorporates additional evidence on the number of staff expected to undertake training, which was provided by organisations through the public consultation. The final assessment will be published in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department held discussions with organisations representing disabled people on the announcements made in the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State, and ministers, regularly meet with organisations representing disabled people, regarding a range of issues, including welfare. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on gov.uk in line with transparency data releases and can be found here: DWP ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, - GOV.UK
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the National Learning Disability Board last met.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The final meeting of the National Learning Disability Board took place on 19 July 2016. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/learning-disability-programme-board#minutes