Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of devolving employment support services to (a) London boroughs and (b) the Mayor of London.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the English Devolution Trailblazer deeper devolution deals, the Department of Work and Pensions have agreed with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities to test a new approach to design of future Contracted Employment Programmes including co-design and a delegated delivery model, aligned with the Combined Authorities geographical footprint.
We will evaluate the impacts and outcomes of this new approach to further understand the opportunities and risks involved, before considering the Department’s approach to future contracted employment programmes.
Full details of the ‘Trailblazer’ deals can be found here:
Greater Manchester Combined Authority Trailblazer deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on the roll out of the Back to Work Plan.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are making good progress delivering the Back to Work plan. For example, in April we published a call for evidence on fit note reform and on May 7th announced the 15 areas that will pilot our new WorkWell service.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time is between pre-action correspondence relating to his Department being (a) received by the Treasury Solicitor and (b) responded to in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department responds to a range of correspondence badged by the sender as “pre-action”, sent into a variety of offices across DWP. These are handled on a case-by-case basis. It does not currently collect data that can answer the question asked, and nor is there a requirement for it to do so.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the address to which to submit pre-action correspondence to his Department changed from DWP Legal Advisers to the Treasury Solicitor in January 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The relevant pre-action protocol continues to require, as it did before 1st January 2024, that pre-action correspondence be sent to the place where the decision was made, i.e. to the address on the letter notifying the decision. Once a claim is issued, service should be on the Treasury Solicitor.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to communicate to benefits advisers the change of address to which to submit pre-action correspondence relating to his Department.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The relevant pre-action protocol continues to require, as it did before 1st January 2024, that pre-action correspondence be sent to the place where the decision was made. There has therefore been no change to communicate.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of unpaid carers receiving Carer’s Allowance are caring for someone who receives Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest readily available statistics from November 2023 show 145,156 unpaid carers were claiming Carer’s Allowance in England and Wales were also receiving Personal Independence Payment. This data is available on Stat X-plore here.
These statistics show 486,123 people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance in England and Wales were caring for someone in receipt of a Personal Independence Payment, which was 54% of the Carer’s Allowance in receipt caseload.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unpaid carers receiving Carer’s Allowance are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest readily available statistics from November 2023 show 145,156 unpaid carers were claiming Carer’s Allowance in England and Wales were also receiving Personal Independence Payment. This data is available on Stat X-plore here.
These statistics show 486,123 people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance in England and Wales were caring for someone in receipt of a Personal Independence Payment, which was 54% of the Carer’s Allowance in receipt caseload.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates 2 service types: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. In Direct Pay cases, the CMS provides a maintenance calculation and issues a payment schedule, but the payments are arranged privately between the receiving parent and the paying parent. In Collect and Pay, the CMS collects the maintenance from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent.
Since Direct Pay was introduced, the CMS has made several improvements to how the service operates. The importance of full and on-time maintenance payments is emphasised in all cases and the CMS will notify parents at the start of every case, and at each annual review, what to do if their arrangement breaks down.
The CMS also sends SMS messages to all receiving parents using the Direct Pay service to remind them to contact the CMS if their maintenance arrangement is not working. My Child Maintenance Case, which is a parent’s online service account with the CMS, also reminds parents to check their bank account for receipt of direct payments and encourages digital reporting of any missed payments.
If a Direct Pay arrangement breaks down, the case will be moved to Collect and Pay where the CMS collects the money from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent. Further enforcement action can also be taken if parents continue to fail to pay.
Government takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse often continues and can worsen after separation, which can have detrimental impacts on the welfare of children.
The CMS has procedures in place to ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse can use its services safely. Of 29,000 new applications to the CMS in the quarter ending December 2023, 56% of applications were exempt from the application fee, largely on the grounds of domestic abuse.
The CMS recognises that domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional, or financial abuse, violent or threatening behaviour and coercive control and has procedures in place to ensure domestic abuse cases are handled appropriately.
For parents using the Direct Pay service, the CMS can act as an intermediary to facilitate the exchange of bank details to help ensure there is no unwanted contact between parents and can provide information on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code, which reduces the risk of a parent’s location being traced. CMS caseworkers will also signpost, where needed, to suitable domestic abuse organisations, if domestic abuse is raised or suspected.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the CMS. Latest statistics are available up to December 2023, with statistics for the number of child maintenance cases moved from collect and pay to direct pay shown in ‘Table 4: Service Type Changes, Great Britain, October 2015 to December 2023’ of the National tables.
The information requested in relation to how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 28 June 2023 following a Private Members Bill that had full Government support. We announced a consultation early 2024 to seek views on how the CMS collects and transfers maintenance.
On 8 May, the Department published a public consultation, Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, which follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 receiving Royal Assent. The consultation proposes to remove the Direct Pay service completely, which will go further than the measures set out in the Act and provide the same level of protection for all parents.
The consultation closes 31st July 2024. The Government will then carefully consider the feedback and a response will be published.
To find out more information go to: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates 2 service types: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. In Direct Pay cases, the CMS provides a maintenance calculation and issues a payment schedule, but the payments are arranged privately between the receiving parent and the paying parent. In Collect and Pay, the CMS collects the maintenance from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent.
Since Direct Pay was introduced, the CMS has made several improvements to how the service operates. The importance of full and on-time maintenance payments is emphasised in all cases and the CMS will notify parents at the start of every case, and at each annual review, what to do if their arrangement breaks down.
The CMS also sends SMS messages to all receiving parents using the Direct Pay service to remind them to contact the CMS if their maintenance arrangement is not working. My Child Maintenance Case, which is a parent’s online service account with the CMS, also reminds parents to check their bank account for receipt of direct payments and encourages digital reporting of any missed payments.
If a Direct Pay arrangement breaks down, the case will be moved to Collect and Pay where the CMS collects the money from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent. Further enforcement action can also be taken if parents continue to fail to pay.
Government takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse often continues and can worsen after separation, which can have detrimental impacts on the welfare of children.
The CMS has procedures in place to ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse can use its services safely. Of 29,000 new applications to the CMS in the quarter ending December 2023, 56% of applications were exempt from the application fee, largely on the grounds of domestic abuse.
The CMS recognises that domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional, or financial abuse, violent or threatening behaviour and coercive control and has procedures in place to ensure domestic abuse cases are handled appropriately.
For parents using the Direct Pay service, the CMS can act as an intermediary to facilitate the exchange of bank details to help ensure there is no unwanted contact between parents and can provide information on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code, which reduces the risk of a parent’s location being traced. CMS caseworkers will also signpost, where needed, to suitable domestic abuse organisations, if domestic abuse is raised or suspected.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the CMS. Latest statistics are available up to December 2023, with statistics for the number of child maintenance cases moved from collect and pay to direct pay shown in ‘Table 4: Service Type Changes, Great Britain, October 2015 to December 2023’ of the National tables.
The information requested in relation to how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 28 June 2023 following a Private Members Bill that had full Government support. We announced a consultation early 2024 to seek views on how the CMS collects and transfers maintenance.
On 8 May, the Department published a public consultation, Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, which follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 receiving Royal Assent. The consultation proposes to remove the Direct Pay service completely, which will go further than the measures set out in the Act and provide the same level of protection for all parents.
The consultation closes 31st July 2024. The Government will then carefully consider the feedback and a response will be published.
To find out more information go to: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2024 to Question 17024 on Department for Work and Pensions: Equality, how many people work in the (a) Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing and (b) specialist equalities team.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the EDIW team, part of the wider HR function on the 1st May there were 25 people.
As of the 13th May 2024, there is a headcount of 29 people on the Customer Accessibility, Standards and Assurance (CASA) team driving forward changes as part of continuous improvement. The team is developing an assurance framework and a clear set of standards to support the change process in the department.