Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of adult social care to local authorities for people in receipt of (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) other working age benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
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 in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment are also in receipt of adult social care support.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not centrally record whether PIP claimants are in receipt of adult social care support.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent work coaches work in jobcentres.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The latest figure for the number of Work Coaches expressed as Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) in the Department is 17,160 as at the end of March 2025.
Notes:
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, whether people with terminal illnesses will be affected by the new PIP eligibility threshold of four points in a single category.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who are nearing the end of their life will be unaffected by the reforms to the PIP assessment criteria. Claims made under the special rules for end of life are automatically awarded the enhanced rate of the daily living component without having to take part in an assessment and without having to meet the required period condition. The majority of claimants are also awarded the mobility component.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, if she will make it her policy to publish an evaluation of the effectiveness of her proposed reforms once implemented in increasing long-term employment outcomes for disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We anticipate that we will assess effectiveness of Pathways to Work measures in the usual way, including through evaluation of their implementation and the impacts that they have on employment, incomes, benefit receipt and other indicators. We will publish more information on our evaluation strategy in due course.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her proposed reforms on labour market participation by people with (a) disabilities and (b) long term health conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, whether people affected by changes to the Universal Credit health element will be able to appeal reassessments under the new system.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Decisions made by a decision maker on entitlement to benefit generally confer a right of appeal.
The outcome of any WCA will lead to a decision about the customer’s capability for work, which would have appeal rights. If the customer disagrees with that decision, they may request a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and can lodge an appeal if they remain dissatisfied following the MR process.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, whether her Department plans to provide additional training to assessors carrying out PIP assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All health professionals who carry out PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes evaluation as to how medical conditions affect claimants in their day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in specific conditions. The department works extensively with assessment providers to make improvements to guidance, training and audit procedures to ensure a quality service. All core training and guidance material for health professionals undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.
On 18 March we announced our plans to introduce a new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) so that people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in PIP to be eligible for the daily living component. All health professionals and DWP case managers will receive training and guidance on these changes to eligibility criteria before they are implemented.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what proportion of PIP assessments she expects to be face-to-face.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to assessing people for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as quickly as possible to ensure they receive the support they are entitled to in a timely manner. PIP assessments are currently carried out via a range of channels. As set out in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, we are committed to doing more face-to-face assessments, while preserving alternative health assessment channels to meet the specific needs of people who require a different channel, for example as a reasonable adjustment.
Further details on this commitment, along with other measures designed to improve the PIP assessment are set out in the Green Paper. We will set out further detail of the proposals for reform of the health and disability system following a full 12-week consultation period where responses are fully considered.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Reform UK - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of extending eligibility for heart screening to amateur athletes.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount.
National Governing Bodies (NGBs) are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm. NGBs are independent of Government, but the Government expects NGBs to make the health and safety of players their top priority.
Sport England, DCMS arm's-length body for grassroots sport, works closely with Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), an organisation which aims to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening, research, and supporting affected families. Sport England is helping increase awareness of CRY in the community sports sector, including through Buddle, its online site for clubs and community organisations.
The Department for Health and Social Care has responsibility for preventative healthcare strategies. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is an independent scientific advisory body which advises ministers and the NHS in the four nations of the UK on all aspects of screening. It is currently reviewing a submission received via its annual call process to consider Sudden Cardiac Death screening in young people aged 14-35 engaging in sport. More information on the annual call process can be found here: UK NSC annual call.