Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made for the implications of her policy of the Court of Appeal judgment handed down on 22 June 2020 on the Universal Credit system; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The Court of Appeal judgment affects a small minority of claimants in very specific circumstances, those who receive two calendar monthly payments of earnings in one assessment period and lose out on the work allowance. We recognise the impact that having double earnings in an assessment period can have on individual claimants and their ability to manage their finances.
While the court judgment does not require us to fix this issue by a particular date, we are currently working on ways to resolve this for claimants as soon as possible. We will keep the House updated as progress is made.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department made of the proportion of claimants assessed for (a) personal independence payment and (b) employment support allowance who subsequently make a complaint about the (i) conduct and (b) content of the assessment report.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information is not held in the specific categories requested.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Prime Minister, what contact his special advisors have had with (a) developers or (b) their representatives on the Westferry Printworks development, PA/18/01877/A1 which was granted planning permission by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 14 January 2020.
Answered by Boris Johnson
Ministers and special advisers act in accordance with the MHCLG Guidance on Planning Propriety Issues. In that light, No10 Ministers and special advisers would not discuss the details of live planning applications with MHCLG Planning Ministers. Any representations by other Government departments to a called-in or recovered planning application being considered by MHCLG would be disclosed as part of the evidence to the planning inquiry.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of removing the cap on discretionary housing payments to enable local authorities to provide support to households affected by covid-19.
Answered by Will Quince
We have already provided £180m in Discretionary Housing Payment(DHP) funding to Local Authorities to support vulnerable claimants with housing costs in the private and social rented sector in England and Wales for 2020/21. This includes an extra £40m as announced last year at the spending round.
In addition to the central government contribution, Local Authorities in England and Wales are able to top up DHP funding up to a maximum of two and a half times this figure using their own funds.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that employment support allowance and new style employment support allowance applications (a) can be made online and (b) are processed urgently during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On average we are processing ‘new style’ Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) claims in 2.2 days but we recognise people will have found it difficult to speak to us given the volume of traffic, and so we have fast-tracked the development of an online application process for NSESA, which went live on 20 April. This will allow the majority of people who need to claim this benefit to do so online. The NSESA claim phone lines are still available for people who do not have access to, or who cannot, use the online system. DWP have prioritised the clearance of all benefit claims by moving colleagues to front line processing roles, which has significantly increased our capacity and we are endeavouring to clear claims received as quickly as possible.
ESA is now closed as a means-tested benefit for new claimants in the majority of cases and working-age claimants with a disability or health condition should now make a claim to Universal Credit.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that her Department's social security claims enquiry lines are adequately staffed during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we are working quickly to deploy staff on to critical services. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that guidance for disability benefits assessors accurately reflects the potential effect of endometriosis on ability to work.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
While preparing to undertake an assessment, Healthcare Professionals can access a wide range of clinical resources to research any conditions presented. This includes evidence based protocols, e-learning modules or case studies, as well as keeping knowledge up to date through Continuous Professional Development.
Healthcare Professionals employed by Centre for Health and Disability Assessment (CHDA) have access to a learning module on chronic pain that contains a section on endometriosis. CHDA also plan to develop and deliver a learning module on endometriosis as part of their upcoming Continuous Professional Development schedule.