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20 Nov 2008 : Column 737W—continued
Disability Living Allowance: Chronically Sick
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are receiving disability living allowance under the special rules relating to a terminal illness (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) region and (ii) constituency; and if he will make a statement. [236012]
Jonathan Shaw: Information about the number of people who are receiving disability living allowance under special rules provisions by parliamentary constituency is not available. The available information is in the table.
Disability Living Allowance: Sight Impaired
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to decide whether the higher rate of mobility allowance should be awarded to those who are visually impaired. [230766]
Jonathan Shaw: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave on 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 76W, to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock).
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate his Department has made of the likely cost of extending the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance to include people registered blind; and if he will make a statement. [236010]
Jonathan Shaw: We have made no recent estimate of the likely cost of extending the higher rate mobility component to registered blind people.
For the likely costs of extending the higher rate mobility component to people with severe sight impairments, I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) on 17 September 2008, Official Report, column 2226W.
Incapacity Benefit
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidelines his Department has in place regarding contacting incapacity benefit claimants by telephone in the evenings and at weekends. [237844]
Jonathan Shaw: Atos Healthcare, formerly Atos Origin Medical Services, provides medical services on behalf of the Department to support the Department’s decision making on sickness and disability related benefits, including incapacity benefit.
Working within departmental guidelines, Atos Healthcare uses a telephone appointment system to contact customers to arrange their medical examination appointments. The telephone lines are open from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday, and 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday to
Sunday, as approved by the Department. This allows for both inbound and outbound calls within these times.
Income Support: Lone Parents
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department’s estimate is of the average benefit income of lone parents affected by the changes to the eligibility rules for income support coming into effect in November 2008 (a) before and (b) immediately after these changes come into effect (i) in the UK and (ii) broken down by the smallest geographical area for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [230280]
Kitty Ussher: Jobseeker’s allowance is paid at the same rate as income support so lone parents who claim income support on other grounds or who transfer to jobseeker’s allowance will receive the same amount.
According to latest benefit data (February 2008), the average income support payment for a lone parent with a child aged seven or over is £95.32 per week.
A table showing the average income support payment for a lone parent with a child aged seven or over, at local authority level, has been placed in the Library.
The assessment phase rate of employment and support allowance is also paid at the same rate as income support and so, in general, lone parents will see no change to their benefit if they transfer over to employment and support allowance.
However, those who are in receipt of the income support disability premium and transferring to the main phase of employment and support allowance will receive slightly less (£1.85 a week), from the point they transfer to employment and support allowance. Jobcentre Plus identified, and attempted to contact, all the lone parents affected, to make them aware and to invite them to claim income support on the grounds of incapacity to give them an opportunity to remain on income support on the grounds of incapacity. All existing incapacity benefits customers will be moved to employment and support allowance by 2013.
Mentally Ill Staff
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information his Department has gathered on the effect of its policies and practices on the recruitment, development and retention of employees with mental illnesses within (a) his Department and (b) the public sector bodies for which he has responsibility; and what use has been made of that information. [228561]
Jonathan Shaw: Under the Disability Equality Duty introduced by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, the Department and its public sector bodies listed in the associated regulations are required to publish and implement Disability Equality Schemes. These are plans setting out how they will carry out the Disability Equality Duty, monitor, and report on progress. In particular this includes their arrangements for gathering information on the effect of their policies and practices on the recruitment, development and retention of their disabled employees, including those with mental health conditions, and making use of that information.
The public sector bodies sponsored by my Department that are subject to these requirements are responsible for publishing and implementing their own disability equality schemes.
In order to carry out the Disability Equality Duty we have adopted a number of specific measures which include:
all external recruitment advertisements contain the "Positive About Disabled People Two Ticks Symbol", which ensures that all applicants who declare a disability are given reasonable adjustments at each stage of the selection process to ensure they are competing on a level playing field.
when disabled applicants are successful, all relevant adjustments are made, in consultation with the individual and expert advisors where appropriate. Managers keep under review any particular requirements that disabled employees may have, in line with the 'Two Ticks" commitments.
we operate the Workstep scheme, which enables people with severely disabled people to be employed, with support from external providers such as Scope.
all our employment policies and processes are subject to equality impact assessments in order to assess the impact of the policy or process on disability, race or gender.
we run a specific development programme for disabled and ethnic minority staff which aims to identify and overcome the barriers that can prevent these groups of staff from fulfilling their potential. The current intake includes staff who have mental health conditions.
we are currently developing a holistic wellbeing programme to look at and tackle the underlying causes of poor physical and mental health. To assist this we collect and analyse data on sickness absence caused by anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. Our annual staff survey also seeks employees' opinions on the causes and effect of work-related pressure and we collect anonymous data on the reasons our staff telephone our counselling help line.
In line with the Disability Equality Duty, a report is published every three years to show progress towards disability equality in my policy sector and proposals for co-ordination of future work by relevant public authorities within my policy sector. These reports will show what impact, if any, policies have had on the recruitment and retention of disabled people including those with mental health conditions, and set out proposals to address any gaps identified when establishing the progress made across the policy sector. The first report must be published by December 2008.
Motability
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 69W, on Motability, how many allegations of (a) fraud and (b) misuse were substantiated but did not lead to the cancellation of a contract; and what the nature of the fraud or misuse was in each year since 1999. [236375]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 18 November 2008]: Motability is an independent charitable company and is responsible for the administration of the Motability scheme. Motability has advised that this information can be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Further information about Motability can be obtained directly from the scheme.
Post Office Card Account
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what additional functionality the new Post Office Card Account will offer; and if he will make a statement. [236850]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The precise functionality will be subject to detailed contractual discussions with Post Office Ltd., but we expect enhancements to include: (i) a simpler more automated opening process for customers (ii) an ability to make payments more quickly into Post Office card accounts through industry standard Faster Electronic Payments (iii) an ability to correct mistakes, for example if the customer withdraws more than they intended to and wants the money immediately put back into their account. This can happen when the customer does not realise, for example, that their winter fuel payment has been paid into their Post Office card account and they ask to withdraw the full balance in their account.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the oral statement of 13 November 2008, Official Report, columns 965-82W, on the Post Office Card Account, what the increased functionality of the new Post Office Card Account will be under the new contract. [237000]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 18 November 2008]: The precise functionality will be subject to detailed contractual discussions with Post Office Ltd., but we expect enhancements to include: (i) a simpler more automated opening process for customers (ii) an ability to make payments more quickly into Post Office card accounts through industry standard Faster Electronic Payments (iii) an ability to correct mistakes, for example if the customer withdraws more than they intended to and wants the money immediately put back into their account. This can happen when the customer does not realise, for example, that their winter fuel payment has been paid into their Post Office card account and they ask to withdraw the full balance in their account.
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place a copy of each of the public tender documents for the Post Office Card Account in the Library. [237407]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The procurement exercise for a successor to the Post Office card account has been halted and instead another contract will be awarded to Post Office Ltd.
As the tender process never reached a final conclusion it would serve no purpose to publish anything more than the notice that appeared in the Official Journal of the European Union (already in the Library) which set out what we intended to procure.
Winter Fuel Payments
Jenny Willott:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the cost of extending the winter fuel payment to people (a) receiving the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance and (b) receiving the higher rate care component of disability
living allowance because they are terminally ill, who otherwise would not be entitled to it in each of the next six years in real terms; and if he will make a statement. [237094]
Jonathan Shaw: Winter fuel payments are made to people aged 60 or over including those who are disabled or terminally ill.
The estimated annual cost of extending winter fuel payments to people receiving the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance is in the table.
| Estimated annual cost of extending winter fuel payments to people receiving the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance—all under 60 (including children) | |
| Total cost in each year at 2008-09 prices (£ million) | |
The estimated annual cost of extending winter fuel payments to people receiving the higher rate care component of disability living allowance under the special rules relating to a terminal illness is in the table.
| Estimated annual cost of extending winter fuel payments to people with a terminal illness receiving the higher rate care component of disability living allowance under the special rules— all under 60 (including children) | |
| Total cost in each year at 2008-09 prices (£ million) | |
These estimates include those customers living in a household that already receives a winter fuel payment. It is not possible to identify disability living allowance customers living in households that are not entitled to a winter fuel payment.
The estimates for 2008-09 are based on a £250 payment, which includes a one off additional payment of £50 for this year. Constant prices have been used, therefore, the estimates are based on a £200 payment for subsequent years.
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