Social Security Benefits
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are claiming (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payment following an adverse effect to a medical procedure. [200656]
Mike Penning: No data on causation of a health condition or disability are collected for disability living allowance or personal independence payment.
Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on ensuring that people claiming benefits receive medical treatment that has been identified as enabling them to return to work; and if he will make a statement. [201057]
Mike Penning: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has not had any recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health on this subject.
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Standards
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's key performance indicators are for decisions that require mandatory reconsideration. [201012]
Esther McVey: There is no statutory time limit. We deliberately do not have one because each case will be considered on its merits.
State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad
Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on the freezing of state pensions for those living overseas. [200894]
Steve Webb: The UK state pension is payable worldwide. However, where a recipient is not ordinarily resident in the UK, eligibility for annual up-rates is generally restricted to people living in a country which is a member of the European Economic Area, including by extension Switzerland, or in a country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement that provides for up-rating of the UK state pension. A list of these countries can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad
Restricting the availability of annual up-rates to the UK state pensions in this manner has been the long- standing policy of successive Governments. This Government have no plans to change it.
Mr Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensions are paid to British citizens resident overseas. [201378]
Steve Webb: Figures for the pension caseload are published on the DWP tabulation tool at:
http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/sp/ccgor/ccsex/a_carate_r_ccgor_c_ccsex_nov13.html
No information is available on the nationality or citizenship of state pensions recipients. However, in November 2013, there were approximately 1.21 million state pensions paid outside Great Britain. Not all of these will necessarily be to British citizens, but may be to anyone who has built up an entitlement to a state pension, regardless of nationality.
Unemployment: Young People
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he expects EU funding allocated to the Youth Guarantee to be drawn down in the UK. [201125]
Esther McVey: There is no EU funding allocated to the Youth Guarantee.
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the level of youth unemployment in (a) the UK and (b) Bournemouth East constituency; and if he will make a statement. [904366]
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Esther McVey: Excluding full-time students, nationally there were 565,000 unemployed under-25s in February to April 2014, a fall of nearly 100,000 since the 2010 election. Latest figures show 5,700 unemployed under-25s in Bournemouth East in January to December 2013, a fall of 900 compared to the same period in 2010.
Universal Credit
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many officials have acted as Senior Responsible Officer for the universal credit project since 2010. [201073]
Esther McVey: Five officials have acted as Senior Responsible Officer for the universal credit project since 2010.
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish the business case for the universal credit programme. [201234]
Esther McVey: In line with standard practice, as the universal credit business case includes details of a sensitive nature the Department will not be putting the business case into the public domain.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people started to receive universal credit in March 2014. [201242]
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Esther McVey: Statistics on how many people started on universal credit in March 2014 can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
Work Capability Assessment
Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 176W, on work capability assessment, if he will make it his policy to set a target time scale for employment and support allowance and incapacity benefit reassessment work capability assessments in order to monitor and reduce the waiting times for those assessments. [201308]
Mike Penning: We are committed to completing work capability assessments as quickly as possible so that eligible claimants receive the appropriate rate of benefit.
However it is important to get assessments right rather than setting an artificial time scale for completion. We are working with the existing supplier to improve processing times and reduce waiting times. In addition, we are seeking a replacement supplier to undertake work capability assessments.
In the meantime we continue rigorously to monitor and manage the existing contract to ensure that both quality and performance are maintained as part of our drive to improve the quality of decision making and to process claims more quickly.