Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2022 to Question 45546 on Employment and Support Allowance, whether her Department has contacted every person eligible for compensation.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
As part of the IB to ESA reassessment LEAP exercise the department reviewed around 600,000 cases and made 118,000 arrears payments amounting to over £600m.
Special payments for maladministration are made in line with the Department’s Special Payments policy. Where an individual feels they may be eligible for a Special Payment, they can contact the Department and set out their reasons. All requests received will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance have (a) applied for and (b) received compensation; and whether her Department has contacted every person eligible for compensation.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people fall under Article 30 of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018, and are therefore subject to EU Social Security Coordination rules in respect of benefit support in (a) the UK, (b) Wales and (c) Ceredigion constituency.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of changing fiduciary rules for pension fund managers to prioritise de-risking exposure to stranded assets.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Law Commission confirmed in two reports – in 2014 and 2017 – that trustees have a fundamental fiduciary duty to their members. Government agree that trustees have primacy in investment decisions.
Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries (LC350) - July 2014 https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/fiduciary-duties-of-investment-intermediaries/
Pension Funds and Social Investment (LC374) – June 2017
https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/pension-funds-and-social-investment/
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason people with fetal valproate spectrum disorder, which is a life-long disability, are required to re-apply for personal independence payment and disability living allowance.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing, including where childhood developmental milestones are reached. Award reviews allow for the correct rate of DLA or PIP to remain in payment, including where needs have increased as a consequence of a congenital, degenerative or progressive condition.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps is taking to increase participation in the Access to Work programme amongst disabled people in Wales.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Over the last 12 – 18 months, significant work has gone into increasing awareness and take up of Access to Work (AtW) amongst disabled people in Wales.
Upskilling sessions have taken place with Work Coaches, Armed Forces Champions, Schools Advisors and Prison Work Coaches, to support them in their discussions with disabled customers about moving closer to or into the workplace.
We have supported external organisations in Wales, including the NHS, Headway and Epilepsy UK, providing greater awareness of the AtW scheme. The DWP Health Model Offices in Wales is trialling a “Health Adjustment Passport”, using the passport to start conversations about disability with prospective employers, including support available through AtW.
The AtW team are supporting “DWP Wales Area Health Plans” to provide even more intensive support to reduce the disability employment gap and increase take up of AtW.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to reform the Disability Confident Scheme to ensure that employers meet a minimum criteria and are independently assessed before becoming a member of that Scheme.
Answered by Chloe Smith
As announced in the National Disability Strategy (NDS), DWP is undertaking a review of the Disability Confident scheme, involving the Business Leaders Group (BLG), Professional Advisers Group (PAG) and other key stakeholders, including representatives from the devolved governments. The review, which began in September 2021, seeks to review and strengthen the scheme overall and in particular levels 2 and 3. Our objective is ensuring it is clear, robust and sufficiently challenging in support of disability employment. The review is due to conclude at the end of the financial year. Following the conclusion of the review, all packs and guidance will be updated and made available via GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of requiring people whose benefit payments are paid into a Post Office card account to set up an alternative arrangement on people in (a) Ceredigion and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department expects that benefit claimants and pensioners will benefit from the additional services that transactional accounts offer compared to Post Office card accounts
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 introducing a phased approach for the reduction of carers allowance payments to claimants who permanently stop their caring duties, as a means of reducing the potential for financial hardship.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Entitlement to Carer's Allowance can continue for up to eight weeks following the death of the disabled person who was being cared for. This eight-week run-on helps carers who have recently been bereaved by giving them some time to adapt to their new circumstances.
When caring ceases for any reason, carers may have access to means-tested and other benefits depending upon their circumstances.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the level of child poverty in (a) Wales and (b) Ceredigion.
Answered by Will Quince
This Government is wholly committed to tackling poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to support the most vulnerable including through spending an additional £7.4billion to strengthen the welfare system, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112 billion in 2020/21. Additionally, in December 2020 we introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme, providing funding to Local Authorities in England to enable them to support people with food and essential utility bills during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for Ceredigion is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.
Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in Wales, covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020,“children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2019-20-tables” in table 4.16ts (relative low income, before and after housing costs) and in table 4.22ts (absolute low income, before and after housing costs).
In the three years to 2019/20 the absolute levels of child poverty, before housing costs, for Wales, was 16%, down 8 percentage points since the three years to 2009/10
The Department now publishes supplementary official statistics on the number of children in low income families at constituency level. Children in Low Income Families data is published annually.
In 2019/20 the absolute levels of child poverty, before housing costs, in Ceredigion was 16%. The latest figures on the number of children who are in low income in Ceredigion and in Wales covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020.
Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.