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9 Mar 2010 : Column 234W—continued
Mr. Harper:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 25 February 2010, Official Report,
column 84WS, on exportability of disability benefits, what estimate she has made of the number of claimants who lost entitlement to (a) carer's allowance, (b) the disability living allowance higher care component and (c) attendance allowance when they moved to another European Economic Area country or to Switzerland between 8 March 2001 and 18 October 2007; and what estimate she has made of the total monetary value of such payments (i) since 18 October 2007 and (ii) in each of the next three years. [320159]
Jonathan Shaw: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided in October 2007 that the disability benefits (disability living allowance care component, attendance allowance and carer's allowance) are sickness benefits and may be paid to people who leave the UK to live elsewhere in the European Economic Area or Switzerland providing certain conditions are met. This includes a requirement that customers making a new claim have been in the UK for 26 weeks out of the past 52 weeks.
After careful consideration we have decided to take a different approach on cases where people lost entitlement to a disability benefit when they moved to another EEA state or Switzerland before 18 October 2007 (the date of the ECJ judgment) but no earlier than 8 March 2001.
We accept that these people will have been in the UK for 26 out of the previous 52 weeks when they left the UK. We therefore no longer require that they should satisfy this condition at the date they seek reinstatement, providing they continued to meet the other relevant domestic and EU law eligibility requirements throughout the period their claim was disallowed. Payment will be considered from 18 October 2007.
We do not have the information in the form requested. We currently hold data on 4,000 to 5,000 people who have moved to another EEA member state since 2002 and lost entitlement to a disability benefit. We estimate that the total monetary value of payments to these cases, from 18 October 2007 to the end of March 2010, could be between £30 million and £40 million. In 2010-11 the cost could be between £12 million and £15 million, reducing to between £10 and £13 million and £8 to £11 million in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively.
However, the data we hold may not be complete. We will monitor the numbers of people seeking payment of benefits they had earlier lost and will revise our estimates as necessary.
Social Security Benefits: Dundee
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in Dundee, East constituency are in receipt of attendance allowance; and how much on average they receive in attendance allowance each week. [319567]
Jonathan Shaw:
Attendance allowance provides an important non-contributory, non-income-related and tax free cash contribution towards the extra costs of severely disabled people. The Government are committed to providing real help to disabled people, particularly through the early stages of economic recovery. This is why the Chancellor announced in the December 2009 pre-Budget report that attendance allowance would be increased by 1.5 per cent.-bringing forward help
when it is most needed. Without this commitment, the recent negative growth in the retail prices index would have meant that this benefit would not have increased in 2010.
The information requested is in the table.
| Number of cases in payment and average weekly payment of attendance allowance in the Dundee, East constituency in August 2009 | |
| Attendance allowance | Number/£ |
| Notes: 1. Number of cases in payment rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Average weekly amount paid is rounded to the nearest penny. 3. Total number of attendance allowance cases in payment excludes people with entitlement where payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | |
Social Security Benefits: Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were in receipt of attendance allowance in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the average weekly payment was of that allowance in that constituency in that period. [319014]
Jonathan Shaw: Attendance allowance provides an important non-contributory, non-income-related and tax free cash contribution towards the extra costs of severely disabled people. The Government are committed to providing real help to disabled people, particularly through the early stages of economic recovery. This is why the Chancellor announced in the December 2009 pre-Budget report that attendance allowance would be increased by 1.5 per cent.-bringing forward help when it is most needed. Without this commitment, the recent negative growth in the retail prices index would have meant that this benefit would not have increased in 2010.
The information requested is in the table.
| Number of cases in payment and average weekly payment of attendance allowance in the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency in August 2009 | |
| Attendance allowance | Number/£ |
| Notes: 1. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Average amounts are rounded to the nearest penny. Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | |
Social Security Benefits: Young People
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals aged under 25 years old commenced a claim for (a) incapacity benefit, (b) work-related employment and support allowance and (c) support group employment in each of the last four quarters for which figures are available. [318668]
Jonathan Shaw
[holding answer 25 February 2010]: The available information is provided in the tables. Information on the number of new claims from those
under 25 years old for employment and support allowance broken down into work-related employment group and support group is not available. To compile the data and quality assure them could only be done at disproportionate costs.
| Incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance on-flows Great Britain and abroad | ||
| Quarter | All ages | Under 25 |
| Notes: 1. On-flows in the quarter is the total number of spells on incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance that commenced within the quarter. A person may flow on and then off the benefit more than once during the quarter. Does not include approximately eight per cent of short duration on-flows every quarter. 2. From 6 April 2001 no new claims for severe disablement benefit were accepted. 3. Incapacity benefit generally applies to people of working age although a small number of claimants are over state pension age. 4. Figures rounded to the nearest ten. 5. Some additional disclosure controls have been applied. Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study | ||
| Employment and support allowance on-flows Great Britain and abroad | ||
| Quarter | All ages | Under 25 |
| Notes: 1. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008. 2. Data relating to employment and support allowance complies with national statistics standard however this is a new benefit using a new data source which may not have reached a steady state in terms of operational processing and retrospection. 3. Figures rounded to the nearest ten. 4. Some additional disclosure controls have been applied. Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | ||
Unemployment Benefits
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of (a) incapacity benefit and (b) employment and support allowance aged under 25 years old there were in (i) each year since 1997 and (ii) each of the last four quarters for which figures are available. [316976]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is in the following tables. These figures reflect the numbers of claimants of incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance and employment and support allowance aged under 25 who have claimed an incapacity benefit.
| Employment and support claimants under 25 years-November 2008 to August 2009 | |
| Claimants under 25 years | |
| Notes: 1. Figures rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit for new claims from October 2008. Source: DWP Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. | |
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the quarterly off-flows from employment and support allowance have been since its inception, broken down by reason for termination. [317943]
Jonathan Shaw: The information is not available.
Unemployment Benefits: Medical Examinations
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department has paid to health-care companies for conducting capability assessments in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland since 27 October 2008. [317757]
Jonathan Shaw: The cost of conducting the medical assessment process associated with employment and support allowance is £51.07 million covering the period from 27 October 2008 up to 22 February 2010. This covers the full costs of the medical assessments including work-focused health-related assessments, gathering information from customers and health care professionals, necessary investments in information technology and infrastructure and set-up costs.
The contract is provided on a national basis. A separate cost of providing medical services for Scotland is not available.
Work Capability Assessment
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether employees of Atos Medical Ltd contracted to carry out work capability assessments are required to have diagnostic experience relating to (a) illnesses with complex and varied symptoms and (b) mental health. [318178]
Jonathan Shaw: Atos Healthcare doctors and nurses are specifically trained to provide decision making authorities with independent, accurate and authoritative advice and reports on the effects of disability.
The DWP chief medical adviser approves health care professionals to carry out assessments. Approval is dependent on strict recruitment criteria, completion of a course of training in disability assessment medicine approved by the chief medical adviser and evidence of satisfactory performance.
Atos Healthcare doctors must be fully registered with the General Medical Council without current or previous restrictions, conditions or warnings and hold a licence to practice from the date the GMC issues licences. In addition they must have at least three years post full registration (GMC or EEA-European Economic Area equivalent) experience as a minimum. Alternatively for non EU graduates three years post full registration experience in the doctors native country is required. In individual cases, solely at the discretion of
the CMA, the requirements that no conditions or warnings be attached to registration and that the doctor must have a minimum of three years post-registration experience, may be waived.
Atos nurses must be fully registered (level 1) registered general nurses without current or previous restrictions or cautions with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. In addition they must have at least three years post full- registration experience. In individual cases, solely at the discretion of the CMA, the requirements that no cautions be attached to registration and that the nurse must have a minimum of three years post-registration experience, may be waived.
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