Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 13 February (HL13342), what steps they are taking to reduce the waiting time for Personal Independence Payment appeals from the date on which an appeal is lodged to the final outcome.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Ministry of Justice recognises that there are delays in the system and is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members have already been appointed and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been recruited. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely. In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and providing a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Jobseeker's Allowance claimants are sanctioned if they do not accept a job offer because of low pay and conditions.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Employers should comply with employment law on pay and conditions. Claimants will have good reason for refusing employment if they do so because the national minimum wage applies to them and the employment does not pay at least the national minimum wage. In such a case a sanction would not be applied. Jobseeker's Allowance claimants are not required to apply for zero hours contract jobs and will not be sanctioned if they refuse an offer of a job on a zero hours contract.
If a claimant has doubts about the terms and conditions of employment (other than the level of pay) which they consider makes the employment unsuitable, they are encouraged to discuss this in advance with their Work Coach. Sanctions are only used in a small percentage of cases, and that is when people fail to meet their agreed commitments without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good cause, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
Guidance for decision makers can be found in the Decision Makers Guide (DMG) and Advice for Decision Making Guide (ADM) available at Gov.uk. This guidance is supplemented from time to time with updates to reflect legal and procedural changes.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by the Minister for Women and Equalities on 7 February (HC Deb, col 405), what steps they are taking to ensure that housing stock across the country can be made more flexible.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Through Building Regulations we set minimum standards of accessibility for all new homes. The revised National Planning Policy Framework introduced an expectation that local housing policies should make use of the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing which promotes going above the minimum standards.
Through the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), which helps towards the cost of adapting a home to make it more accessible, the Government has invested more than £2.2 billion, providing around 280,000 adaptations by the end of 2018-19.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities to meet housebuilding targets; and what guidance they provide to assist local authorities in their negotiations with developers.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Government has already dedicated over £44 billion of investment to help local authorities to deliver the homes communities need. On 14 February, the Government announced nearly £250 million of housing deals which will deliver almost 25,000 more homes. As part of this, the government will be investing £157 million in infrastructure such as building roads and putting natural green space alongside developments.
Last year Government introduced a new approach to viability assessment through the revised National Planning Policy Framework and accompanying guidance. The new approach ensures that developers will have greater certainty about what they are expected to contribute, and that these costs can be reflected in the price paid for land. Local authorities will be better able to hold developers to account and will need to set out more clearly for communities what infrastructure and affordable housing has been delivered through developer contributions.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for Personal Independence Payment appeals to be heard in England.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Information on the average waiting time to a first tribunal hearing is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry of Justice publish statistics on the average (mean) age of a case at disposal. In the period July to September 2018 the mean age at disposal for Personal Independence Payment appeals in Great Britain was 30 weeks. This is the average number of weeks from receipt in Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to the final outcome within the period. It will include cases cleared at hearing and cases cleared without a hearing which include strike outs, superseded and withdrawals prior to a hearing. An appeal may not necessarily be cleared at its first hearing.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 4 December 2018 (HL Deb, cols 932–3), when they expect to publish new planning guidance for local authorities on housing for older and disabled people.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We have strengthened national planning policy so that local planning authorities are expected to have clear policies for addressing the housing needs of older and disabled people. We will publish further planning guidance that will assist councils to put these policies in place, in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individuals have had to wait (1) three to six months, (2) six to nine months, (3) nine to 12 months, and (4) over 12 months for their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals to be heard in each year since PIP was introduced.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of support available to disabled people while making a claim for Universal Credit in the natural migration process.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people who claim UC to ensure that it is supportive and responsive to their needs. Where claimants are unable to make or manage their claim on-line, telephone and face to face support to support these claimants. In exceptional circumstances, home visits can be arranged for those claimants whose disability prevents them from attending their local Jobcentre or accessing telephone and online services.
For those claimants requiring help, assistance is available through Assisted Digital Support, part of our Universal Support offer. This provides help, support and skills claimants need to make and maintain their digital account online.
Universal Support also includes a Personal Budgeting Support component, which is delivered via face to face by Local Authorities. Additionally, online support is available via Money Manager, a Money Advice Service tool.
We have also increased the numbers of Disability Employment Advisers who now provide additional support to the work coaches so they can better personalise support as we continuously improve the offer available.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote alternative ways for disabled people to make a claim for Universal Credit apart from an online application.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Anyone who need helps making their claim online can call our Freephone helpline to find out what help and support is available. Claimants can also access the internet for free at their local Jobcentre, Council or library. If a claimant needs more intensive or specific support, face-to-face and other help is available through our current Universal Support Assisted Digital service offer, which provides bespoke help, support and skills for claimants to make and maintain their digital account online.
Universal Credit has been designed with accessibility in mind and we are committed to providing personalised support for all claimants, including vulnerable groups, so we ensure that we make reasonable adjustments to meet claimant’s individual needs to allow them to access our services and information. This means that for example, the Department can communicate with customers in a variety of different formats such as Braille, audio, large print, or by arranging for a member of staff to visit the customer in their home.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that disabled people receive sufficient support to make a claim for Universal Credit if they are unable to access the internet at home or at public internet locations.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Anyone who need helps making their claim online can call our Freephone helpline to find out what help and support is available. Claimants can also access the internet for free at their local Jobcentre, Council or library. If a claimant needs more intensive or specific support, face-to-face and other help is available through our current Universal Support Assisted Digital service offer, which provides bespoke help, support and skills for claimants to make and maintain their digital account online.
Universal Credit has been designed with accessibility in mind and we are committed to providing personalised support for all claimants, including vulnerable groups, so we ensure that we make reasonable adjustments to meet claimant’s individual needs to allow them to access our services and information. This means that for example, the Department can communicate with customers in a variety of different formats such as Braille, audio, large print, or by arranging for a member of staff to visit the customer in their home.