Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many errors have been recorded in the payment of winter fuel payments by reason of (a) incorrect address (b) being paid into incorrect bank account, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department for Work and Pensions Is not required to retain this information. In the circumstances the information is only possible to obtain at disproportionate cost to the DWP.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to publish its review of how the welfare system supports terminally ill people; and for what reason that review has not yet been published.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department is committed to delivering an improved system for claimants that are nearing the end of their lives and is working at pace across government to bring forward proposals.
In July 2019, the Secretary of State announced an in-depth evaluation of how the benefits system supports people nearing the end of their life. The evaluation included 3 strands of research:
- hearing directly from claimants and charities about their first-hand experiences;
- considering international evidence to find out what works in other nations and the support they provide; and
- reviewing current DWP performance to better understand how our Special Rules for Terminal Illness process operates and performs.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme backdated to 1 March 2020 will trigger universal credit over-payments for additional income for claimants encouraged to claim that benefit until the scheme is available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Universal Credit takes into account any income received for the relevant assessment period (AP). In terms of the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the department has agreed that this will not be applied retrospectively to previous APs.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have died while waiting for their eligibility for personal independence payments to be determined; and what the main disabling condition was of those people.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is claimed by people with a range of health conditions and disabilities, many of which are degenerative or life limiting and the Department treats the death of any claimant sympathetically. Claims made under Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) are fast tracked and are being cleared in 6 working days on average (as at the end of October 2019, the latest available published data).
The cause of death of claimants to PIP is not collated centrally by the Department.
Between the introduction of PIP in April 2013 and 31st October 2019, the latest date for which published data is available, 4,617,990 decisions were made on claims to PIP. Of these, 20,830 (less than 0.5%) claimants died prior to a decision being made on their case.
The Department only records the disabilities of claimants who have reached the assessment stage. Therefore, the disabilities of claimants who passed away prior to the assessment stage appear under “Unknown or missing” in the table below.
Table: Disability of claimants who died prior to a decision being made on their PIP claim (Great Britain only).
| Normal Rules (at registration) | Special Rules (at registration) | Total |
Autoimmune disease | 40 | # | 40 |
Cardiovascular disease | 320 | 30 | 350 |
Diseases of the immune system | # | # | # |
Diseases of the liver, gallbladder, biliary tract | 320 | 90 | 410 |
Endocrine disease | 70 | # | 70 |
Gastrointestinal disease | 30 | 10 | 40 |
Genitourinary disease | 120 | 30 | 150 |
Haematological Disease | 10 | # | 10 |
Hearing disorders | # | # | # |
Infectious disease | 20 | # | 20 |
Malignant disease | 1,740 | 4,510 | 6,250 |
Metabolic disease | 10 | # | 10 |
Multisystem and extremes of age | # | # | # |
Musculoskeletal disease (general) | 200 | # | 210 |
Musculoskeletal disease (regional) | 190 | # | 190 |
Neurological disease | 450 | 40 | 490 |
Psychiatric disorders | 820 | 10 | 830 |
Respiratory disease | 500 | 40 | 540 |
Skin disease | 30 | # | 30 |
Unknown or missing | 10,460 | 700 | 11,160 |
Visual disease | 30 | # | 30 |
Total | 15,370 | 5,470 | 20,830 |
Please note that the DWP is only responsible for benefits in Great Britain. Social security benefits, including PIP, are a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. Questions about PIP claimants in Northern Ireland should be directed to the Department of Communities in Northern Ireland.
Notes:
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times her Department has used its discretionary waiver in respect of universal credit overpayments as a result of Departmental error in each of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
Waivers can only be granted by the Secretary of State where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and clear evidence of this can be provided. The discretion to waive benefit overpayments can only be exercised in line with Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on ‘Managing Public Money’.
Prior to the start of 2019/20, the reason that the overpayment occurred (fraud, claimant error or Departmental error) was not recorded on waiver requests. Therefore, for the years 2017/18 and 2018/19, I have instead provided the total number of successful waivers. It is important to note that these may not all have been for overpayments arising as a result of Departmental errors.
In 2017/18, there were no waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments. In 2018/19, there were 5 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, of these, 4 were granted on medical grounds. In 2019/20 year to date, there were 3 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, these were all granted on medical grounds.
*The data in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times her Department has used its discretionary waiver on health grounds in relation to universal credit over-payments as a result of Departmental error.
Answered by Will Quince
Waivers can only be granted by the Secretary of State where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and clear evidence of this can be provided. The discretion to waive benefit overpayments can only be exercised in line with Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on ‘Managing Public Money’.
Prior to the start of 2019/20, the reason that the overpayment occurred (fraud, claimant error or Departmental error) was not recorded on waiver requests. Therefore, for the years 2017/18 and 2018/19, I have instead provided the total number of successful waivers. It is important to note that these may not all have been for overpayments arising as a result of Departmental errors.
In 2017/18, there were no waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments. In 2018/19, there were 5 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, of these, 4 were granted on medical grounds. In 2019/20 year to date, there were 3 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, these were all granted on medical grounds.
*The data in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland to ensure that no one who takes necessary public health precautions and is unable to attend work as a result of covid-19 will be unpaid.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
In the Budget on 11 March, the Chancellor announced new measures to help people who are unable to work as a result of covid-19. The Department is working with colleagues in Northern Ireland to ensure the same arrangements are in place across the UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 hidden disabilities receive the same recognition as other disabilities in (a) car parks,(b) public (i) toilets, (ii) buildings and (iii) transport and (c) other public spaces.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Cabinet Office Disability Unit is currently working with the British Standards Institute to support their development of an Invisible Disability sign, recognising that some disabled people face unfair criticism when trying to access facilities designed for disabled people.
The Government will publish a National Strategy for Disabled People in 2020 focusing on removing barriers to ensure disabled people can lead a life of opportunity and fully participate in British society. The strategy will be developed with disabled people, disability organisations and charities, and will support disabled people in all aspects and phases of their lives, including housing, education, transport and jobs.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department takes to monitor health and safety compliance by approved MOT centres.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
In Great Britain, MOT test centres are predominantly located within motor vehicle repair premises, and regulation of health and safety compliance falls to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Such premises are not a current priority for HSE’s inspection activity and HSE only inspect these businesses where there is evidence that significant risk is not being managed, for example where concerns have been raised or following an incident. HSE promotes health and safety compliance via a number of industry stakeholders and provides specific relevant information to the industry through a range of communications channels. Further information on the sector plan for health and safety in the manufacturing industry can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/strategiesandplans/sector-plans/manufacturing.pdf.