Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 people with chronic and enduring mental illnesses make an application for universal credit.
Answered by Lord Sharma
DWP work coaches support people with disabilities and health conditions every working day and the Department has delivered additional training to 1,800 work coaches to support claimants with mental health conditions.
The Department has also recruited local Community Partners to provide extra expertise on disability and health conditions. Furthermore, our Disability Employment Advisors actively provide advice and guidance to support claimants with disabilities, including those with mental health issues.
If someone cannot access the online Universal Credit service on their own, DWP staff will help them make a claim and can also refer them to DWP funded local services which offer assisted digital and personal budgeting support. Universal Support provides extra help for claimants to make and maintain their claim and to manage their money.
Claimants can also claim over the phone, which is free to use, and where necessary, appointees can also make a claim on a claimant’s behalf and help maintain their online account. In circumstances where a claimant is unable to visit their local Jobcentre or conduct their business with DWP using other channels, home visits are also available.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 people with chronic and enduring mental illnesses make an application for housing benefit.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Although this Department has overall responsibility for the Housing Benefit scheme and its funding, local authorities have the statutory responsibility for its day-to-day administration. This incorporates the assessment of individual claims for benefit and devising their own arrangements to assist claimants (including those with chronic and enduring mental illnesses) with claims for Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what lessons her Department learned from the universal credit pilot in Waveney in 2016; and what changes her Department plans to make as a result of those lessons learned prior to the wider rollout of universal credit in Suffolk in 2018.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Universal Credit Full Service rolled out in Waveney as part of our published implementation schedule for 2016, not as a pilot.
The Universal Credit Agile methodology means the Department continuously learns during rollout, by listening to feedback from staff, claimants and stakeholders, and builds improvements into the system. This activity is ongoing and happened before, during and after the rollout in the Waveney area.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to abolish the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
There are no plans to abolish the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit. It remains available to those whose State Pension age was on or before 5 April 2016, and who are aged 65 or over.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many carers were (a) in receipt of and (b) have an underlying entitlement to carer's allowance as a result of caring for someone who is in receipt of (i) attendance allowance, (ii) personal independence payment and (iii) disability living allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of carer's allowance were in receipt of (a) attendance allowance and (b) personal independence payment in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 help people with disabilities back into work.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Last year saw an increase of 238,000 disabled people in work. The employment rate is now 46.3% - up 2.1% from last year. Our Disability Confident Campaign is ensuring that employers understand the benefits of employing disabled people. And our programmes, like Work Choice and Access to Work, are supporting disabled people into work. We will continue to build on this success.