Employment and Support Allowance
Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 12 September 2013, Official Report, columns 830-31W, on employment and support allowance, what the medical condition is of those people transferred from incapacity benefit to the employment and support allowance work-related activity group without being seen by an assessor; and what guidance his Department has issued on how such decisions are to be made. [175312]
Mike Penning: The decision to place a claimant who was in receipt of incapacity benefit onto employment and support allowance following the outcome of their work capability assessment would not be based on a prescribed medical condition.
A face to face assessment would not be required when there is enough existing evidence on the claimant’s condition at the scrutiny stage for Atos Healthcare professionals to make a recommendation to DWP Decision Makers.
Guidance about making the WCA decision for DWP Decision Makers is contained within the Work Capability Assessment Handbook and the Decision Makers Guide.
EU Law
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to which EU Directives within his Department's areas of responsibility the Government has formally opted into in each financial year since May 2010; on what dates each such directive was signed; and if he will make a statement. [175504]
Esther McVey: Details of all EU Directives that the UK has opted into pursuant to Protocol 21 to the Treaties on the Functioning of the European Union since May 2010 are listed on the Government's JHA opt-in web page.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/206297/2_JHA_opt-in_webpage_update_-_data_v0_1.pdf
In the Minister for Europe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), written ministerial statement of 20 January 2011, Official Report, columns 51-52WS, the Government committed to a number of measures to strengthen Parliamentary scrutiny of JHA
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measures, in particular to make written statements to Parliament on each opt-in decision and to set aside Government time for debates in both Houses in circumstances where there is particularly strong parliamentary interest in an opt-in decision.
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what EU Directives within his Department's areas of responsibility have come into force without the need for an opt-in decision in each financial year since May 2010; on what dates each such directive came into force; and if he will make a statement. [175525]
Esther McVey: Details of all EU legislation, including full details of all EU Directives that have come into force since May 2010, can be found on the Commission's website:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/RECH_legislation.do
The UK's opt-in applies to all measures adopted pursuant to Title V of Part Three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as set out in Protocol 21 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It follows that the opt-in does not apply to measures adopted that are not pursuant to Title V of Part Three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Housing Benefit
Mr Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to be able to advise local authorities as to the status of discretionary housing payments after March 2014; and if he will make a statement. [175691]
Steve Webb: The Government have made available £395 million in discretionary housing payment funding over the course of the spending round (2011-15).
We are currently assessing returns from local authorities which detail in-year discretionary housing payment expenditure to the end of September.
Final decisions about allocations will not be taken until after this work is completed. Local authorities will be advised of their allocations for 2014-15 in due course.
Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what compensation has been allocated to claimants wrongly denied exemption from the under-occupancy penalty in (a) London and (b) the rest of the UK. [175547]
Esther McVey: Pensioners are the only group exempt from the removal of the spare room subsidy. We are not aware of any pensioners who have erroneously had their spare room subsidy removed.
This would be a matter for individual local authorities who are responsible for administering housing benefit.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the (a) percentage and (b) cash change in housing benefit paid to social housing tenants was in each of the last 10 years; [175633]
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(2) what the (a) percentage and (b) cash change in housing benefit paid to (i) pensioner and (ii) working age households in social housing was in each of the last 10 years; [175634]
(3) what the (a) percentage and (b) cash change in housing benefit paid per 1,000 social tenants of (i)
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pensioner and (ii) working age households was in social housing in each of the last 10 years. [175635]
Steve Webb: The information requested is contained in Tables 1 and 2 as follows:
| Table 1: Housing benefit expenditure in the social rented sector—change since previous year | ||||||
| Total | Working age | Pensioner | ||||
| £ million, nominal | % | £ million, nominal | % | £ million, nominal | % | |
| Source: DWP statistical data and local authority subsidy returns. | ||||||
| Table 2: Housing benefit expenditure per 1,000 claimants in the social rented sector—change since previous year. | ||||||
| Total | Working age | Pensioner | ||||
| £ million, nominal | % | £ million, nominal | % | £ million, nominal | % | |
| Source: DWP statistical data and local authority subsidy returns. | ||||||
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the mental health and wellbeing of those tenants affected by the under-occupancy penalty. [175841]
Esther McVey: The removal of the spare room subsidy was subject both to an impact assessment and an equalities impact assessment. Claimants or their partners who reported a Disability Discrimination Act recognised disability were considered within the equalities impact assessment.
Both the impact assessment and the equalities impact assessment were published in June 2012 and links to them are provided as follows.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-benefit-under-occupation-of-social-housing-impact-assessment
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-sector-housing-under-occupation-equality-impact-assessment
Independent Living Fund: Wales
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will meet the Welsh Government Minister for Local Government to discuss the future of the Independent Living Fund; [175453]
(2) what plans he has to (a) close and (b) devolve to Wales the budget for the Independent Living Fund in 2015. [175454]
Mike Penning: The Department is examining the judgment very carefully and considering the implications before deciding upon the most appropriate way forward. Any new decision will be made using new advice prepared in light of the guidance provided by the court.
Internet
Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many clicks through to his Department's sorting out separation web app front page have come from each of the organisations that has embedded it in their website in the last three months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [175620]
(2) how many unique users his Department's sorting out separation web app received in the last six months for which figures are available; what proportion of visitors left the app without progressing beyond the front page; how many signposts within the app were clicked; and if he will make a statement. [175621]
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Steve Webb: This information currently received has not been validated for publication. However, the Department does intend to publish data on the performance of the sorting out separation web app and are currently considering how best to do this.
Jobcentre Plus
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many attacks on Jobcentre Plus staff were recorded in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011, (e) 2012 and (f) January to October 2013. [175305]
Esther McVey: Jobcentre Plus currently conducts approximately 25.5 million adviser interviews each year. Physical assaults Jobcentre staff are very rare. But we take such physical assaults extremely seriously and work with the police and departmental solicitors to secure the harshest penalties appropriate.
Please note that a more detailed online system was set up in September 2011 which has improved the quality of our reported incidents.
| Actual reported assaults by Jobcentre Plus staff | |||
| No injury/less than cuts and bruises | Cuts and bruises | More than cuts and bruises | |
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of JobCentre Plus centres which take incoming calls using an 0845 number; and if he will estimate the number of calls made per year to such centres using such numbers. [175829]
Esther McVey: Calls to each of the Department's 719 Jobcentre Plus offices are routed via an 0845 telephone number—0845 604 3719 for English language calls and 0845 604 4248 for Welsh language calls.
Jobcentre Plus also operates 32 working age contact centres which deliver 0845 service lines. Three further Jobcentre Plus sites handle 0845 calls relating to industrial injuries disablement benefit only and a further site delivers bereavement benefit 0845 calls only.
Additionally, certain call types received from 0845 numbers are routed to the Department's outsourcing partner, Serco.
Between November 2012 and October 2013 a total of 50.36 million calls were received via 0845 numbers managed by DWP.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many current staff working for Jobcentre Plus have completed an accredited training on domestic violence awareness. [175830]
Esther McVey:
The Department does not have any specific accredited training on domestic violence; however,
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all advisers are encouraged to complete an open learning customer service training awareness package on ‘Safeguarding Adults and Children’. Information on how many staff members have undergone this training is not accessible as the training forms part of the overall customer awareness package.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps staff working for JobCentre Plus take with those of Women's Aid to support women who have been victims of domestic violence. [175918]
Esther McVey: We regularly work with national stakeholders, including Women's Aid, and the skills our advisers have learnt on Women's Aid courses on domestic violence are incorporated into our training guidance.
We will continue to maintain strong relationships with our domestic violence stakeholders, including Women's Aid, at a national level. This allows us to ensure issues are dealt with, best practice is identified and shared and the latest evidence and analysis informs our policy decisions.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidelines his Department has issued to Jobcentre Plus managers on issuing sanctions to jobseeker's allowance claimants; and what processes are in place for monitoring the total number of sanctions issued to jobseeker's allowance claimants. [175745]
Esther McVey: There are a number of guidance products available for Jobcentre Plus staff which advises them of the conditionality requirements for jobseeker's allowance and where a referral to a decision maker would be appropriate to consider a sanction if the requirements were not met. For staff in a Jobcentre, there is the ‘Labour Market Conditions Guide' and applicable sections in the Jobseeker's Allowance chapter of the ‘Get Britain Working Guide'. For decision makers, there is the ‘Decision Makers Guide' and ‘Labour Market Decision Makers Procedural Guide’.
We deploy a comprehensive monitoring regime to check that sanctions are applied appropriately across our network. Where any site is making significantly more or fewer referrals than we would typically expect, an independent team reviews their activity to ensure sanctions are being applied appropriately.
Jobseeker's Allowance: Wales
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what number and proportion of claimants of jobseeker's allowance have been sanctioned in (a) each Welsh county and (b) each constituency in Wales in the latest year for which data is available. [174933]
Esther McVey: The latest year for which data are available at parliamentary constituency and unitary authority level is the period from June 2011 to May 2012 and are shown in the following table.
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| Number of sanctions applied to JSA claimants and what proportion this figure represents of the total number of JSA claims by parliamentary constituency and unitary authority, Wales; 1 June 2011 to 31 May 2012 | ||
| Number | Proportion (percentage) | |
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| Notes: 1. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Proportions are rounded to the nearest whole number and are calculated as the number of sanctions and disallowances applied divided by the total number of JSA claims. Some individuals will have more than one sanction or disallowance applied and/or more than one JSA claim. 2. The number of sanctions or disallowances applied is the number of referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. 3. The number of JSA claims is the total number of off-flows in the period plus the caseload at the end of that period. 4. 12 May is the latest data available for this level of detail. 5. Since 1 April 1996 Wales has been divided into 22 principal areas. The principal areas are variously styled as “county”, “county borough” or unitary authorities. Source: DWP Information Governance and Security Directorate: JSA Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database and ONS claimant count and off-flows data | ||
Office for Nuclear Regulation
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to appoint the new chief nuclear inspector. [175057]
Mike Penning: The appointment of Dr Andrew Hall as the Office for Nuclear Regulation's new chief nuclear inspector was announced on Friday 8 November 2013.
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to appoint new members of the board of the Office for Nuclear Regulation. [175124]
Mike Penning: The appointment of Mr Nicholas Baldwin as the non-executive chair of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) was announced on 29 October 2013. Subject to the successful passage through Parliament of the Energy Bill 2012-13 to 2013-14, which will establish the ONR as a statutory body, the appointment of further non-executive members to the ONR Board will commence next year in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The ONR chief executive officer, chief nuclear inspector, and deputy chief executive and director of finance will be executive members of the ONR Board. This may be supplemented by an extra ONR executive, subject to the agreement of the ONR Board.
Personal Independence Payment: South East
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of the 21 personal independence payment consultation centres serving South and East England cannot be reached within (a) 90 minutes and (b) 60 minutes by public transport from all parts of their catchment area. [174784][Official Report, 10 December 2013, Vol. 572, c. 1MC.]
Mike Penning: No claimant should travel more than 90 minutes (single journey) by public transport, for their consultation. As part of the process Atos, as the assessment provider in the south and east of England, will offer an assessment at their nearest location and it is only when that location is full would claimants be sent to an alternative site. As part of their bid, Atos stated that 75-90% of claimants will have no journey longer than 60 minutes. In the exceptional circumstance where a claimant is unable to make a journey within 90 minutes via public transport Atos will offer either a home visit or the ability to use a taxi.
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of the 21 personal independence payment consultation centres serving South and East England are not on a bus route. [174786]
Mike Penning: The invitation to tender (ITT) asked providers to consider the claimant experience and needs of the PIP claimant base such as proximity to public transport routes and access to suitable parking e.g. Blue Badge claimants and that they must not travel for more than 90 minutes.
Atos Healthcare, the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment provider in Lot 3 (London and southern England), have a delivery model based on working with partners established in the health care sector. Atos are using the premises of their partners for PIP consultations—locations such as physiotherapy clinics, local hospitals and medical centres, which may already be familiar to claimants and are usually at the centre of established public transport links.
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of the 21 personal independence payment consultation centres serving South and East England do not have parking available for clients within 50 metres of the centre. [174787]
Mike Penning: All Atos sites have available blue badge parking that enables claimants to park nearer and with easier access to the accommodation used for assessments.
As part of their bid Atos stated that at community hospital locations 30-40 blue badge spaces are available. In other accommodation (GP surgeries and Physiotherapist sites) Atos stated that 2-5 spaces would be available depending on the size of the estate.
A claimant will be issued details about this accommodation in advance of their assessment and if they are unable to attend Atos may offer a home visit.
Secondment
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private sector employees have been seconded by the private sector to his Department; what the name was of the company from which they were seconded; and whether any of those employees have worked on drafting legislation. [175662]
Mike Penning:
Individuals seconded from an external organisation in to the Department do not have a civil
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service contract and are not paid through the Departments payroll. Information on secondees in to the Department is not held centrally.
Social Fund
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the rate of repayment was for crisis and budgeting loans in the four years prior to the changes to the Discretionary Social Fund in 2013. [175832]
Steve Webb: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg), 30 October 2013, Official Report, column 510W.
There is no time limit for crisis loans and budgeting loans to be repaid. Loans remain outstanding until the full amount has been paid back and they can, in some cases, take many years to be recovered fully. Tables 1 and 2 show the proportion of crisis loan and budgeting loan expenditure made in each financial year between 2009-10 and 2012-13 that has been recovered in the following years up to and including 2012-13. Please note that these figures do not represent total recoveries made by the Social Fund scheme in each year as there will have been additional repayments from loans made in earlier years.
| Table 1: Crisis loan expenditure from 2009-10 and 2012-13 and the proportion recovered in each year up to 2012-13 | ||||||
| Year loan paid out | Expenditure (£) | % recovered in each following year | Total paid back by 2012-13 | |||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | |||
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| Table 2: Budgeting loan expenditure from 2009-10 and 2012-13 and the proportion recovered in each year up to 2012-13 | ||||||
| Year loan paid out | Expenditure (£) | % recovered in each following year | Total paid back by 2012-13 | |||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | |||
| Notes: 1. The information provided is Management Information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using Official/National Statistics but in this case we only have Management Information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official/National statistics and there are some issues with the data; for example, these amounts do not include expenditure or recoveries from applications which were processed clerically and have not yet been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System. 2. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000 and percentages are rounded to the nearest whole percentage point. Source: DWP Policy, Budget and Management Information System. | ||||||
Social Rented Housing
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the estimated real terms rise in housing expenditure due to rises in social sector rents, expressed in cash and percentage terms was, in each year since 2009-10; and if he will estimate the likely change in such expenditure in 2013-14. [175639]
Steve Webb: The information is shown in the following table. In 2013-14, eligible rent growth is lower due to the removal of the spare room subsidy, which reduces housing benefit (HB) eligible rents for social sector tenants where the property is underoccupied.
| Impact of yearly social sector rent growth on HB expenditure | |||||
| Social sector case load (Thousand) | Average social sector eligible rent (£ per week) | Real terms growth from previous year1 (%) | Impact on expenditure (£ billion) | Percentage of housing benefit expenditure (%) | |
| 1 Real terms is calculated as rent growth above the growth in the gross domestic product deflators updated on 20 March 2013. 2 Impacts for 2012-13 and 2013-14 are based on Budget 2013 forecasts as full out-turn is not available for these years. | |||||
Impacts for each year are independent and do not account for eligible rent being higher due to growth in previous years.
This impact is estimated based on analysis of the single housing benefit extract (SHBE) administrative data. It assumes eligible social rents have grown in real terms by the percentage shown in the table for all recipients on the case load in September, representing mid-financial year and compares this to if eligible rents had remained stable in real terms. This is based on the average growth for Great Britain overall, which is affected by the mix of claimants on HB, particularly geographically. Therefore if this analysis was done by region, or other breakdown, the impact would be likely to change.
This method assumes the eligible rent variable on SHBE reflects actual eligible rents; however, this variable is sometimes reported incorrectly. This is expected to have a small impact on the analysis.
Mr Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to introduce statutory underpinning in respect of housing rental switchback provision; and if he will make a statement. [175693]
Esther McVey: Provision for making payments to another person on a claimant's behalf already exists in regulation 58 of the Universal Credit Claims and Payments Regulations 2013.
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Social Security Benefits
Mr Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each local authority area who were receiving over £26,000 in benefits each year have been affected by the benefit cap to date; and how many people currently receive over £26,000 in benefits each year. [175339]
Esther McVey: Official statistics on the number of people who were receiving over £26,000 in benefits each year are not currently available. Official statistics on the number of households subject to the benefit cap at GB and regional level are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-cap-statistics
We aim to release these statistics at local authority level in December.
The information requested on how many people currently receive over £26,000 in benefits each year is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to release data on benefits claimants to water utility companies for the purpose of the allocation of social tariffs. [175706]
Mike Penning: There is no legislation in place currently that would permit the release of benefits information to water utility companies: it is likely that new legislation would be required to enable the sharing of benefits data with water utility companies on this scale. The Department has helped facilitate similar initiatives such as the Warm Home Discount Scheme, and is happy to consider any formal proposals for making better use of data.
The Department already has arrangements in place that permit deductions to be taken from benefits and paid to creditors, including utility, companies, to maintain essential household services. Deductions for utility charges can also include an amount to cover current consumption as well as to repay arrears.
Social Security Benefits: Bradford
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit sanctions there have been in Bradford in each of the last five years. [175527]
Esther McVey: Statistics on the number of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) sanctions and disallowance referrals, where the decision was found against the claimant, in each month from 1 April 2000 to 21 October 2012, by Jobcentre Plus Office can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/number-of-jobseekers-allowance-sanctions-and-disallowances-where-a-decision-has-been-made-in-each-month-from-1-april-2000-to-21-october-2012
Statistics on the number of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) sanctions and disallowance referrals, where the decision was found against the claimant, in each month from 22 October 2012 to 30 June 2013, by Jobcentre Plus Office can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jobseekers-allowance-and-employment-and-support-allowance-sanctions-decisions-made-to-june-2013
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Statistics on the number of employment and support allowance (ESA) sanctions referrals found against the claimant in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
| Number of ESA sanctions applied in Bradford: 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2013 | |
| Year of decision | Total number of sanctions applied |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Sanctions applied: The number of sanctions applied is the number of varied, fixed length and entitlement decision referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. 3. Year of decision: The year in which the decision to apply a sanction was made. Data is to 30 June 2013 which is the latest data available. 4. Figures are for the following Jobcentre Plus offices in Bradford Metropolitan District: Bradford Eastbrook Court, Bradford Westfield House, Keighley, Shipley. Source: DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate: ESA Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database. | |
Statistics on the number of sanctions applied to income support lone parents (ISLPs) in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
| Number of ISLP sanctions applied in Bradford: 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2013 | |
| Year of decision | Total number of sanctions applied |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Year of decision: The year in which the decision to apply a sanction was made. Data is to 30 June 2013, which is the latest data available. 3. Figures are for the following parliamentary constituencies: Bradford East, Bradford South and Bradford West. Source: DWP Income Support Computer System. | |
Social Security Benefits: Portsmouth
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit sanctions there have been in Portsmouth South constituency in each of the last five years. [175730]
Esther McVey: Statistics on the number of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) sanctions and disallowance referrals, where the decision was found against the claimant in each of the last five years for which information is available, are shown in the following table.
| Number of JSA sanctions applied in Portsmouth South parliamentary constituency: 1 January 2007 to 31 May 2012 | |
| Year of decision | Total number of sanctions applied |
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| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Sanctions applied: The number of sanctions applied is the number of varied, fixed length and entitlement decision sanction referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. 3. Parliamentary constituency: Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant postcode directory. Boundaries are as at the reference date. More information and a map can be found at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/beginner-s-guide/maps/index.html 4. Year of decision: The year in which the decision to apply a sanction was made. Data is up to and including 31 May 2012, which is the latest data available by parliamentary constituency. 5. Varied length sanctions: A sanction of between one week and 26 weeks is imposed for leaving employment voluntarily without just cause, refusing employment without good cause, or losing employment through misconduct. The actual period in each case is at the discretion of the adjudication officer who makes the decision. 6. Fixed length sanctions: A sanction of between one week and 26 weeks is imposed for refusal, without good cause, to attend an employment programme or carry out a jobseeker's direction. Payment of benefit continues in full pending the adjudication officer's decision on a sanction question. 7. Entitlement decisions: These are questions on which entitlement to JSA depends. For example, if there is doubt around whether the jobseeker's agreement (JSAg) is suitable, whether they are actively looking for work or making themselves available for work. In most cases payment of JSA will be suspended by benefit processing until the doubt is resolved. Source: DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate: JSA Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database. | |
The information requested for JSA sanctions data from May 2012 and for employment and support allowance (ESA) sanctions is not readily available by parliamentary constituency and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Statistics on the number of sanctions applied to income support lone parents (ISLPs) are shown in the following table.
| Number of ISLP sanctions applied in Portsmouth South parliamentary constituency: 1 January 2007 to 30 June 2013 | |
| Year of decision | Total number of Sanctions applied |
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| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Year of decision: The year in which the decision to apply a sanction was made. Data is to 30 June 2013 which is the latest data available. Source: DWP Income Support Computer System. | |
Supreme Court: Northern Ireland
Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive about the effect of the decision of the Supreme Court in R (on the application of Reilly and another) v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in Northern Ireland. [174803]
Esther McVey: The Supreme Court judgment in R (on the application of Reilly and another) v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was concerned with the Jobseekers Allowance (Employment, Skills and Enterprise) Regulations 2011. Northern Ireland has no equivalent regulations. Therefore Ministers for the Department for Work and Pensions have had no discussion with the Northern Ireland Executive about the effect of this Supreme Court judgment in Northern Ireland.
Telephone Services
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 his Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls each number has received in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at the BT local rate are available in each case. [175008]
Esther McVey: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The Department currently operates 180 0845 numbers;
(b) The Department does not operate any 0844 numbers;
(c) The Department does not operate any 0843 numbers.
There are no alternative geographic numbers for the Department's 0845 service lines.
The following table lists the total calls received by the Department's 0845 telephone numbers for the period November 2012 to October 2013:
| Service line | Language | Number | Call received |
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|
Calls diverted into the Debt Recovery line and included in the 0845 8500293 volumes above |
The Child Maintenance Group answered 3,340,300 calls to its main inbound service lines from July 2012 to June 2013.
Universal Credit
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to prevent fraud in the universal credit pilots. [175467]
Esther McVey: Fraud prevention is a key design principle for the universal credit pathfinder and a number of steps have been built into the business process to deliver this. All new universal credit claims are subject to identity verification at face to face interviews at the outset and claimants are required to produce documentation to verify their circumstances. There is then a further scrutiny of claims using a rule-based data matching service that directs the requirement for any additional documentary evidence or specialist attention where indicated.
Once in payment all claims are regularly checked for the potential for heightened risk based on unreported changes and new information being available, and referred for specialist intervention where required.
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people he expects to be claiming universal credit in April 2014. [175468]
Esther McVey: The Department published the strategy for releasing official statistics on universal credit in September 2013 and this is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
As outlined in the strategy, DWP officials are currently quality assuring data for universal credit and aim to release an initial set of official statistics on universal credit claimants before the end of 2013. These official statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Statistics Code of Practice and the precise release date will be pre-announced as soon as possible.
Statisticians within DWP and Office for National Statistics are working closely to ensure that information on universal credit claimants can be included within the claimant count as soon as possible.
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether (a) he, (b) his ministerial colleagues, (c) a Parliamentary Private Secretary to any Minister in his Department, (d) any of his Department's special advisers and (e) officials in his Department saw a draft or any part of a draft of the Committee of Public Account's Report, Universal Credit: Early Progress, HC 619, published on 7 November 2013 in advance of its full publication. [175526]
Esther McVey: No. The Department has seen only the final report.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when permitted work will cease to be allowed under the universal credit programme. [175587]
Esther McVey: Instead of a complex set of rules around permitted work in employment support allowance, universal credit provides work incentives for claimants who are disabled or have health conditions through a generous work allowance, topped up by universal credit's flat taper rate.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to introduce an engineering approach to security in the IT system for universal credit. [175611]
Esther McVey: The approach taken to securing the universal credit IT system is to design in and build proportionate, high-quality and cost-effective security controls and to ensure that business processes are 'secure by design'. This approach ensures that security is intrinsic to the IT development and that security controls are risk based and proportionate to the threat to the system that exists at any given point in time.
Security engineering best practices associated with specification, design, build and quality are being applied in universal credit. These include the use of security 'models' which are iteratively refined, and which describe the current threats at any given stage, the definition of a security architecture which acts as a design baseline for the security services, the specification of security acceptance criteria for use in automated testing and the fact that
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security specialists are embedded into the development process. These approaches combine to ensure that controls are integrated into the design and delivery of the IT system and are proportionate to the threat at each stage of roll out.
Mr Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he will take to ensure that local authorities have the relevant information to know when housing tenants have been transferred to universal credit; by what means he expects local authorities to know where to apply switchback arrangements for the avoidance of arrears; and if he will make a statement. [175692]
Esther McVey: We will announce transitional arrangements for the managed migration of existing housing benefit claimants to universal credit in due course. We have a process in place to notify the relevant LA when a HB claimant becomes a UC claimant so that the HB claim can be closed down1.
Under normal circumstances2, local authorities will not administer a claimant's housing costs once that person has migrated to universal credit, so the Department will not inform local authorities about new benefit claims. Local authorities will not operate the "switchback arrangements" (managed payments of housing costs to landlords).
Where a local authority is a claimant's landlord, it is the responsibility of the tenant to advise the LA of their universal credit claim. When a tenant reaches a specified level of rent arrears, LAs should, like other landlords, contact the UC Service Centre with evidence of the arrears to request DWP intervention3.
1 Someone currently getting HB can become “a UC claimant” if they become the partner of an existing UC claimant.
2 The exception is that, in the short term, LAs will continue to meet the housing costs for claimants living in supported exempt accommodation within the housing benefit system.
3 DWP interventions are:
(a) A re-assessment of a claimant's budgeting capability when they have built up arrears equivalent to one month's rent. This may result in personal budgeting support or a time-limited alternative payment arrangement, if the tenant is persistently underpaying; and
(b) Time-limited managed payments of the UC housing costs to landlords when a tenant has built up arrears equivalent to two months' rent.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect of universal credit on the ability of women to leave a violent relationship; and if he will make a statement. [175828]
Esther McVey: The Government are committed to tackling domestic violence and to providing better support for victims. It is our intention that universal credit will not cause a reduction in support levels for victims of domestic violence.
Universal credit radically simplifies the way that means-tested benefits are calculated and delivered. It is a more efficient and effective welfare system—one that delivers benefits more quickly and easily to claimants. This helps those who are fleeing domestic violence to obtain the financial support that they need more quickly.