Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to allow people diagnosed with a terminal illness to access their state pension prior to their pension age if they have accrued sufficient contributions.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
We have no plans to allow early access to State Pension.
For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.
Scotland has the powers under the Scotland Act 2016 to make additional discretionary payments should it wish to do so. Whilst pensions remain a reserved matter, the Scotland Act 2016 has given the Scottish Government the ability to use a wide range of new welfare provisions.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
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 a modifying the Child Maintenance Service variation process in relation to mileage to ensure that the paying parent is able to claim mileage and travel costs without specifying distance to avoid the risk of the receiving parent becoming aware, through disputed mileage claim distances, of the area the paying parent resides in.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In order for a Paying Parent to claim mileage and travel costs through a variation, they must provide the Child Maintenance Service with the total distance in order for the Service to calculate the costs correctly. This ensures the calculation is a fair reflection of the additional costs incurred by the Paying Parent and meets the requirements set out in legislation. This also ensures transparency in decision making so that both parents are able challenge any decision that affects the child maintenance liability.
The safety of all customers is a priority for the Service and it will never share sensitive personal details that could reveal the location of either parent.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will work with (a) Australian, (b) Canadian and (c) other relevant overseas governments to establish a reciprocal social security agreement in order to end frozen pension policy.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The UK has no plans to change its longstanding policy position.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Angus of 14 December 2020, 28 January 2021 and 18 February 2021 on the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department responded by email to Dave Doogan MP, Scottish National Partly Angus, on 26 March 2021.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend personal independence payment claims by six months in line with the extension granted for the universal credit uplift.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, we have been committed to making sure people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment in a timely manner. To ensure continuity of payments to our customers, in the early stage of the pandemic we extended existing awards with a review date 9 months to ensure that a review could take place before the end of the award. Reviews are an integral part of PIP to ensure that our customers are receiving the correct level of award.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the processing time of applications to the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We have recently streamlined and improved the assessment process, to take a more nuanced view of applications while maintaining a high standard for Kickstart jobs. These changes mean that more applications are likely to be successful. We have also continued to improve and expand our guidance to help employers understand what we are looking for when assessing applications.
We aim to process all applications within four weeks, we recognise this may not always have been possible. We have reprioritised staff resources to deliver the DWP’s Kickstart Scheme to meet the demand from the large number of supportive employers.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to work with Gateway submissions for the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The department has worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including gateway organisations since the scheme was announced and will continue to do so.
We have recently improved the assessment process to allow us to consider an application in full to make a decision. We have also continued to improve and expand our guidance to make sure employers know what we are looking for when assessing applications. Whilst maintaining a high standard for Kickstart jobs, these changes will mean that more applications are likely to be successful.
We aim to make a decision on an application within four weeks of receiving it, although this can take longer if more information needs to be gathered. Approved Gateways can get in touch with their local or national Kickstart scheme contact for information about how to add job placements or employers to their existing grant agreements.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to work with organisations such as Gateway to agree a maximum time between submission and approval of applications for the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The department has worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including gateway organisations since the scheme was announced and will continue to do so.
We have recently improved the assessment process to allow us to consider an application in full to make a decision. We have also continued to improve and expand our guidance to make sure employers know what we are looking for when assessing applications. Whilst maintaining a high standard for Kickstart jobs, these changes will mean that more applications are likely to be successful.
We aim to make a decision on an application within four weeks of receiving it, although this can take longer if more information needs to be gathered. Approved Gateways can get in touch with their local or national Kickstart scheme contact for information about how to add job placements or employers to their existing grant agreements.