Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have had their payments reduced as a result of being paid two consecutive months salaries in a single assessment period as a result of their payment dates.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the National Audit Office report entitled Rolling out universal credit, published on 15 June 2018, whether the Government has any plans to review the operation of the system of universal credit to address the findings detailed in that report.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided to Question 154701 on 21 June 2018.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd 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 support people who require a mobility vehicle during a personal independence payment mandatory reconsideration and appeal process.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We recognise that the transition from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be challenging for some individuals, which is why the Department worked closely with Motability as we developed our plans for the introduction of PIP. The Motability charity provides a one-off package of transitional support and advice to support customers who no longer meet the eligibility criteria for the Motability Scheme. For the majority of these customers, who joined the scheme before 2013, Motability will provide transitional support of £2,000. This should help support the mobility needs of those who choose to appeal during this period.
Disability Living Allowance continues for 4 weeks after a PIP decision. Motability allows those who are no longer eligible for their scheme following PIP reassessment to keep their vehicle for a further 3 weeks, for a total of 7 weeks. This means that the majority of those requesting a mandatory reconsideration can keep their vehicle until this is completed.
We work closely with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to reduce appeals times and these continue to improve.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd 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 ensure that (a) medical assessors and (b) others considering applications for (a) personal independence payment and (b) other benefits have knowledge of (i) muscular dystrophy, (ii) neuromuscular conditions and (iii) other rare and progressive conditions.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All healthcare professionals carrying out assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, which includes the evaluation of how medical conditions affect claimants in their day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment, assessors refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar.
Benefit entitlement is determined by the Department’s decision makers, who receive extensive training to enable them to evaluate a claim and assess a claimant’s needs. In order to make a decision on benefit entitlement the decision maker considers all the available evidence, including the reports received from the healthcare professional and any further evidence, which may include reports from GPs, hospital doctors and other clinicians.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
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 effects of the introduction of charges for the use of the Child Maintenance Scheme on families and children.
Answered by Priti Patel
We have committed to Parliament that we will undertake a review of the impact of charging within 30 months of its introduction. The Secretary of State will report on those findings, including any further proposed changes.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting for an employment and support allowance (ESA) assessment in Wrexham and Denbighshire; and how many such people are (a) new claimants and (b) existing ESA recipients.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The information requested on the number of people waiting for an Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) work capability assessment in Wrexham and Denbighshire Local Authorities is shown in the table below.
Number of people whose ESA functional assessment has not yet been completed for initial and repeat assessments in Wrexham and Denbighshire Local Authorities: October 2008 to March 2014.
| Initial assessments | Repeat assessments |
|
|
|
Denbighshire | 700 | 200 |
Wrexham | 800 | 200 |
Source: Data in the tables above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.
Notes:
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year in Clwyd South constituency.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Statistics on Employment and Support Allowance claimants are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool
Guidance for users is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance payments for more than one year in Clwyd South constituency.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Jobseeker’s Allowance caseloads by duration are available at: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/select/wizpopular.asp. These figures may include a small number of people in receipt of National Insurance credits only.
Under the last Government, figures for long-term JSA were kept artificially low by moving claimants onto training allowances. This Government stopped doing that when we introduced the Work Programme, meaning we now have a true measure of the number of people claiming benefit due to unemployment.