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, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the existing mandatory reconsideration process as part of its potential reforms.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper explores changes that the government could make to the current PIP system to ensure support is targeted where it is most needed. These options include:
Mandatory reconsideration does not feature in the Green Paper.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2024 to Question 24267 on Universal Support: Disability, when in May she expects the figures to be made available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The next release of published statistics for the Work and Health Programme (WHP) is planned for 30 May 2024. This was announced in the latest Work and Health statistics release.
This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer, which is part of the first phase of Universal Support (US). Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.
The Secretary of State has also committed to the publication of data for the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) provision as part of the first phase of US. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP as part of its Policy portfolio is responsible for the administration of the Disability Confident Scheme – but this answer relates to how DWP as an employer uses and supports Disability Confident. DWP is committed to Disability Confident and back in November 2023 was re-accredited for the next three years as a Disability Confident Leader – the top-level award. In June 2023, 22% of DWP staff indicated that they had a disability (an increase of 3.7% compared to June 2021) and 13.6% of Senior Civil Servants in the department declared a disability (an increase of 1.6% compared to June 2021) – hence support in this space is a departmental priority.
There are no officials working specifically on Disability Confident outside of policy group in DWP – but we do have a Disability Lead working in our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing team who supported the co-ordination of the evidence.
As part of this submission DWP provided a large amount of evidence on the good practice that is happening with a focus on disability. This included but was not limited to:
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman report into the changes to Women’s State Pension Age, published on 21 March 2024, if he will bring forward proposals for a compensation scheme by 23 July 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House. A further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered. This work is ongoing.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Carer's Allowance overpayments to people living in Wales there were for the value of (a) £0.01 to £500, (b) £500.01 to £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 to £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 to £20,000 and (e) more than £20,000 in financial years (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23 and (iii) 2023-24.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are unable to provide a response to this request as it is not possible for us to identify the data requested by geographic location.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people in destitution.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 13 May 2024 to question number 902774.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to estimate the additional costs disabled people incur as a result of their conditions or impairments.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper looks at different options to reshape the current welfare system so that we can provide better targeted support to those who need it most. Chapter 3 ‘PIP – What do we provide support for?’ explores the types of extra costs disabled people or people with long-term health conditions have, recognising each individual has different costs and experiences.
We are gathering information through our 12-week consultation which was published on Monday 29 April and will close on Monday 22 July at 11:59pm.
We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation which can be found here, so that we are able to hear from as many disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives, and local stakeholders as possible on these important issues.
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, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, how the outcome of the Personal Independence Payment consultation will interact with the reforms proposed in Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published 16 March 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is removing the Work Capability Assessment because it is committed to doing everything it can to help disabled people and people with long-term health conditions start, stay and succeed in work.
The consultation, Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper, considers potential changes to the welfare system. Currently, no decisions have been taken on potential changes.
As we develop any proposals, we will consider the interactions with the removal of the Work Capability Assessment. This will be carefully worked through before we consider introducing any changes.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were on the WorkWell pilot on 15 May 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
WorkWell, backed by £64m investment, will provide support for up to 59,000 disabled people and people with health conditions to start stay and succeed in work.
The 15 successful WorkWell pilots were announced on 7 May 2024. The pilot areas will now develop a delivery plan with a view to services going live from October 2024.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are being assisted through Universal Support.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have interpreted your question as referring to the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative and Work and Health Programme (WHP) Pioneer, both of which form part of the first phase of Universal Support.
We explained in our press release that we expect to help 25,000 people by September 2024. Progress will be reported in the WHP official statistics publication on GOV.UK. Information relating to IPSPC is not currently available; however, the Secretary of State has committed to the publication of data for the IPSPC initiative as part of the first phase of Universal Support. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.
The next release of published statistics for the WHP is planned for 30 May 2024. This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer. Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.