Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of employment and support allowance assessment waiting times in Wales.
Answered by Priti Patel
Centre for Health and Disability Assessments is working closely with the Department to achieve all its performance requirements and progress is being made on reducing the volume of outstanding cases and reducing the time people have to wait for an assessment.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
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 availability of doctor's appointments for employment and support allowance assessments in (a) the UK, (b) Wales and (c) Caerphilly County Borough area.
Answered by Priti Patel
Claimants attending Employment and Support Allowance assessments are seen by a Healthcare Professional who may be a fully qualified occupational therapist, physiotherapist, nurse, or doctor. Certain medical conditions however, have been designated as requiring a doctor’s assessment, for example: stroke, head-injury, multiple-sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy and, spina bifida.
The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments is able to provide doctors to assess designated doctor-only cases in all parts of the country.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of priority employment and support allowance cases in (a) the UK, (b) Wales and (c) Caerphilly County Borough.
Answered by Priti Patel
Cases are not generally given priority over any other except where the claimant is terminally ill.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress he has made on tackling fraud and error.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Fraud and error is currently estimated to be 2.1% of benefit expenditure, down from 2.2% in 2009/10.
My Department is working hard to reduce Fraud and Error. A number of initiatives have been put in place under the prevent, detect, correct, punish and deter agenda and the introduction of the Single Fraud Investigation Service, tougher penalties, cross Government working and increased recovery powers demonstrate our commitment to getting this right.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any (a) external contractors and (b) consultancy companies engaged by his Department have charged more than the initial price agreed for their services since May 2010.
Answered by Steve Webb
DWP engages external contractors through a Crown Commercial Service neutral vendor contract. Each contractor is engaged for a set period and at an agreed daily rate. If it is necessary to extend the period of engagement then a new work order is put in place.
DWP pays consultancy companies on either a fixed price or a time and materials basis as agreed in the contract. A purchase order is put in place for the contract and DWP’s financial systems do not allow for overpayment against the purchase order. Where further work is required over and above that initially agreed then a variation to the contract and purchase order is put in place.