Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the 2020-21 Child Maintenance Service statistics release, for what reason there are 7,100 unassigned arrangements for the Child Maintenance Service; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce that number.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Unassigned arrangements are cases where the applications process is not yet complete.
The latest Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics show that over 90% of applications are usually cleared within 12 weeks. The statistics can be found in “Table 1: Applications to the Child Maintenance Service, Great Britain, July 2020 to June 2021” of the National Tables of the latest Child Maintenance Service (CMS) publication here:
Applications are considered 'cleared' when one of the following occurs:
a) the amount of child maintenance to be paid has been calculated and an arrangement to pay maintenance between the two parents has been agreed;
b) the amount of child maintenance to be paid has been calculated as zero; or
c) the child maintenance application has been closed.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of the £60.9 million of child maintenance due and paid through Collect & Pay in 2020-21 is (a) arrears repayments and (b) monthly standard liability.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The total amount of child maintenance paid each quarter through Child Maintenance Service Collect & Pay and of that, the total paid towards arrears, from April 2020 to March 2021, is shown in Table 1. It shows that of the £170.4 million paid, £35.6 million was paid towards arrears.
Table 1: The total amount of child maintenance paid each quarter through Child Maintenance Service Collect & Pay and of that, the total paid towards arrears, from April 2020 to March 2021.
Year | Quarter | Total Arrears Paid (£ millions) | Total Amount Paid (£ millions) |
|
|
|
|
2020 | June | 8.7 | 41.7 |
| September | 8.0 | 41.1 |
| December | 8.7 | 42.2 |
2021 | March | 10.2 | 45.4 |
|
|
|
|
| Total | 35.6 | 170.4 |
Source: Child Maintenance Group administrative data
Notes:
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Supreme Court judgment in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Appellant) v MM (Respondent) (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 34, what her Department's timeframe is for its review of PIP claims since 6 April 2016; when her Department plans to complete that review and distribute payments; and how many PIP claims they plan to review each month.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We are not planning to invite claimants for an assessment or require them to complete an additional application form as part of this review. However, we may contact claimants, their representatives or carers for more information, so that we can make a decision on their claim.
I can confirm awards will not be reduced as part of this exercise. If claimants are entitled to more PIP following a review, they will have their award increased and will receive backdated payments.
While it is too early in the process for us to give a date by which we expect to have completed all the reviews, I would like to provide reassurance that we are committed to ensuring that claimants get the PIP they are entitled to.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Supreme Court judgment in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Appellant) v MM (Respondent) (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 34, whether claimants identified in her Department's review of PIP claims since 6 April 2016 will be required to (a) complete a reassessment, (b) complete an additional application form or (c) provide additional evidence as part of that review process.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We are not planning to invite claimants for an assessment or require them to complete an additional application form as part of this review. However, we may contact claimants, their representatives or carers for more information, so that we can make a decision on their claim.
I can confirm awards will not be reduced as part of this exercise. If claimants are entitled to more PIP following a review, they will have their award increased and will receive backdated payments.
While it is too early in the process for us to give a date by which we expect to have completed all the reviews, I would like to provide reassurance that we are committed to ensuring that claimants get the PIP they are entitled to.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Supreme Court judgment in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Appellant) v MM (Respondent) (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 34, if she will confirm that her Department's review of PIP claims since 6 April 2016 will not negatively impact claims and result in claimants' payments being increased and backdated accordingly.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We are not planning to invite claimants for an assessment or require them to complete an additional application form as part of this review. However, we may contact claimants, their representatives or carers for more information, so that we can make a decision on their claim.
I can confirm awards will not be reduced as part of this exercise. If claimants are entitled to more PIP following a review, they will have their award increased and will receive backdated payments.
While it is too early in the process for us to give a date by which we expect to have completed all the reviews, I would like to provide reassurance that we are committed to ensuring that claimants get the PIP they are entitled to.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published by the Government in July 2021, when her Department plans to begin consulting on workforce reporting on disability for large employers; what the timeframe is for that consultation; and when her Department plans to publish next steps and recommendations in response to that consultation.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We will begin consulting on workforce reporting on disability for large employers in the coming months. In line with the government's consultation principles, the consultation will run for at least 12 weeks, and will provide a response within 12 weeks of the consultation closing. We have committed to publishing our next steps following the consultation, and plan to do so in 2022.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published by the Government in July 2021, when the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work plans to chair the first quarterly meeting of the Disability Ministerial Champions; and whether her Department plans to publish targets to review in each of those meetings to hold the cross-government strategy to account.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The first Ministerial Disability Champions were appointed in summer 2020, at the request of the Prime Minister, to drive the development and delivery of the National Disability Strategy.
Their role, as set out on GOV.UK, includes championing disabled people and driving the delivery of the National Disability Strategy in their respective departments. All champions contributed a statement of intent, and a specific range of commitments published in the Strategy.
The Strategy committed to publishing an annual report in summer 2022, which will detail the progress made against the commitments. The Ministerial Disability Champions will have direct input into the annual report.
An updated list of Departmental Ministerial Disability Champions will be published on GOV.UK in due course. The next ministerial champions meeting is due to happen this month.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to coordinate the work of the Ministerial Disability Champions to help disabled children and their families recover from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The first Ministerial Disability Champions were appointed in summer 2020, at the request of the Prime Minister, to drive the development and delivery of the National Disability Strategy.
Their role, as set out on GOV.UK, includes championing disabled people and driving the delivery of the National Disability Strategy in their respective departments. All champions contributed a statement of intent, and a specific range of commitments published in the Strategy.
The Strategy committed to publishing an annual report in summer 2022, which will detail the progress made against the commitments. The Ministerial Disability Champions will have direct input into the annual report.
An updated list of Departmental Ministerial Disability Champions will be published on GOV.UK in due course. The next ministerial champions meeting is due to happen this month.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have been assessed by phone for personal independence payment since March 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Telephone assessments only commenced for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in late March 2020 and were then used as one of the alternatives to face to face assessments. For the two providers of medical assessments this was on 23rd March 2020 (Capita) and 6th April 2020 (IAS) respectively.
Therefore, the majority of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments after March 2020 would have been by telephone, with some paper- based and video call assessments. Where it was not possible to carry out a PIP telephone assessment decisions were made on paper using all the available evidence to ensure any payment was not delayed. We do not readily hold the information on how assessments were carried out for specific conditions.
Face to face assessments for Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) were re-introduced in May. They have initially focused on claimants who we have been unable to assess fully by other means. Paper-based assessments, as before the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered in the first instance, and telephone assessments and video assessments introduced in response to the pandemic continue to take place where appropriate.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have submitted a mandatory reconsideration after being assessed by phone for personal independence payment since March 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Telephone assessments only commenced for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in late March 2020 and were then used as one of the alternatives to face to face assessments. For the two providers of medical assessments this was on 23rd March 2020 (Capita) and 6th April 2020 (IAS) respectively.
Therefore, the majority of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments after March 2020 would have been by telephone, with some paper- based and video call assessments. Where it was not possible to carry out a PIP telephone assessment decisions were made on paper using all the available evidence to ensure any payment was not delayed. We do not readily hold the information on how assessments were carried out for specific conditions.
Face to face assessments for Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) were re-introduced in May. They have initially focused on claimants who we have been unable to assess fully by other means. Paper-based assessments, as before the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered in the first instance, and telephone assessments and video assessments introduced in response to the pandemic continue to take place where appropriate.