Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what evaluation he has made of the effectiveness of the Disability Confident scheme.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The previous Positive about Disability (Two Ticks) scheme has been replaced by the new Disability Confident scheme, which was formally launched on 2 November 2016 with attendant publicity aimed at both employers and disabled people. Prior to the change there were about 3,500 employers listed as “Two Ticks”. There are currently more than 2,400 employers signed up to Disability Confident, with that number growing daily.
The new scheme has been designed to give employers the tools they need to recruit, retain and develop disabled staff. Employers currently registered with the Two Ticks scheme are invited to transfer to Disability Confident. If they accept, they are sent the Disability Confident Employer self-assessment pack and allowed 12 months to undertake the self-assessment.
Some employers have chosen to undertake the self-assessment straight away. In submitting details to be awarded Disability Confident Employer, the employer is required to confirm that they have undertaken the self-assessment.
No validation of the self-assessment is required. However, to reach the highest level of Disability Confident Leader, a business must put that assessment up for external challenge, which could include examination by disabled groups, disabled staff networks or professional assessment bodies.
The new Disability Confident scheme went live in a test and learn phase from July 2016. Feedback was considered and changes made to the scheme before it was launched on 2nd November. The effectiveness of the scheme will now be closely monitored, looking at the number of employers signed up by sector and by geographic area, as well as such issues as what offers of employment, apprenticeships, internships, etc. they are making and delivering.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) adults and (b) children with cystic fibrosis who have previously claimed disability living allowance have received no award when assessed under the new personal independence payment.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Department intends to provide detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of disability living allowance between the ages of 16 and 64 qualifying for each rate of (a) care and (b) mobility component have a main disabling condition of cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is shown in the table below.
DLA care component with Cystic Fibrosis as an identified main disability condition, aged 16-64 - August 2015 | |
All | 3,770 |
Higher Rate | 1,320 |
Lower Rate | 720 |
Middle Rate | 1,670 |
Nil Rate | 70 |
DLA mobility component with Cystic Fibrosis aged 16-64 - August 2015 | |
All | 3,770 |
Higher Rate | 1,780 |
Lower Rate | 110 |
Nil Rate | 1,880 |
Source: DWP 100% WPLS. |
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Notes: |
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1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Totals show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and excludes cases where the payment has been suspended e.g. if they are in hospital. |
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3. A diagnosed medical condition does not mean that someone is automatically entitled to DLA. Entitlement is dependent on an assessment of how much help someone needs with personal care and/or mobility because of their disability. These statistics are only collected for administrative purposes. | |
4. DLA care and mobility components can be paid together or on their own. The nil payment row is where the claimant is in receipt of the care component and not the mobility component 5. This information does not include PIP which replaced DLA for new claimants aged 16 to 64 from 8 April 2013. | |
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on tackling benefit fraud and error in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Fraud and error is tackled within a number of areas across the Department. Specifically, the Fraud, Error and Debt Programme which commenced in June 2013 and delivers major change projects.
Spending on the Fraud, Error and Debt Programme for the 5 years between 2010/11 and 2014/15 was £300m, delivering savings of circa £2bn. Further savings in the region of £2.9bn are expected by the end of 2021- 2022.
In addition the Fraud and Error Service is a specialist organisation focused on identifying and correcting benefit fraud and the many Operational teams across the Department also play a critical role in preventing fraud and error occurring. The Department also provides financial incentives to Local Authorities with regard to identifying fresh initiatives to support the reduction of fraud and error in housing benefit.
To provide a breakdown of how much the Department spent in aggregate on tackling benefit fraud and error in the last five years would incur disproportionate costs and we have therefore not provided a breakdown.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to work with credit reference agencies on addressing benefit fraud and error.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We already use credit reference agency data in the Fraud and Error Service on a case by case basis to support investigations, for example once high suspicion has already been identified which could be via a Hotline allegation or staff referral for example. In debt recovery the use of credit reference agency data enables us to have more informed discussions with the debtor and to reach agreement on rates of repayment that are sustainable for the debtor and meet our needs.