Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
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 email of 9 November 2021, reference ZA54061, from the hon. Member for Tottenham regarding the waiting time for National Insurance number applications.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The email in question was dated 5 November 2021 and a response was sent on 9 November 2021.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the processing time for National Insurance number applications is 16 weeks; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce that processing time.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The National Insurance Number (NINo) interviewing service was suspended from 17th of March 2020 as a result of COVID-19. Since fully re-opening on 28th April 2021, we have been experiencing high demand for the NINo Service.
Additional staff have been recruited and trained in the NINo process to reduce backlogs.
Whilst we are advising applicants it may take up to 16 weeks to process their application, the majority are being dealt with in around 4-6 weeks, however some may take longer if additional checks are required.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many officials in her Department have been seconded away from their normal duties to work on the UK's withdrawal from the EU; and what effect that secondment of staff has had on the effectiveness of her Department.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department for Work and Pensions have transferred/assigned 127 volunteers to other departments to support EU Exit related work, to date 125 have returned. The remaining 2 volunteers will continue to support another department with EU Policy related activity until June/July 2019.
All assignments are carefully planned and as such there has been no impact on the Department’s effectiveness.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many representations his Department has received on disallowed pension contributions for the Windrush generation in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department is working closely with the Home Office to help and support Windrush generation claimants who present themselves to us but who are unable to provide proof of their immigration status. DWP is not aware of any cases reported to the Department specifically regarding disallowed pension contributions in 2017 or 2018.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what limit there is on the amount of money awarded to people of the Windrush generation in backdated benefits claims.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
DWP officials are working with the Home Office and other Government bodies to help individuals affected and ensure that they are able to access the benefits and services to which they are entitled.
Each case is considered on its merits. Where evidence shows that a decision was reached without knowledge of a material fact or based on incorrect information, then the law provides that such decisions can be revised without limit.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit sanctions were imposed on benefit claimants in the (a) London Borough of Haringey and (b) Tottenham constituency for a period of (i) one month, (ii) three months and (iii) any other length of time in each year since 2013.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested by local authority and parliamentary constituency is not currently available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department will be making changes to the geographical information available for the next release of the sanctions statistics on 21 February 2018.
The available information on sanction durations for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) can be found in the official experimental statistics as part of the published official statistics on sanctions. These statistics can be found on pages 11-13 of the pdf document and tables 2.7 and 3.1 available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-sanctions-statistics-2017
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants in the (a) London Borough of Haringey and (b) Tottenham constituency were eligible for universal credit on 1 January 2018.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit by parliamentary constituency and local authority is published and can be accessed at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
These statistics count the number of individuals who were eligible for Universal Credit and on an active claim at the time of the count. They include individuals on claims with a nil award but do not include those who are eligible to receive Universal Credit but have not made a claim.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has targets for staff carrying out personal independence payment mandatory reassessments on the proportion of such reassessments that are to be refused; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
There are no targets for refusing applications for Mandatory Reconsideration. Each application is considered on its merits.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received on allegations of dishonesty and malpractice by assessors in the disability benefit system.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We are committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality, fair and accurate assessments. We expect the highest professional standards from our Assessment Providers and closely monitor assessment quality through independent audit.
Allegations of dishonesty or malpractice by assessors are rare but whenever such claims are made, these are thoroughly investigated.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the roll-out of universal credit on the health and wellbeing of disabled claimants who are currently claiming enhanced disability premium and severe disability premium.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The core design of Universal Credit for claimants with limited capability for work and work related activity has remained as intended since its introduction in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the impacts were analysed then.
We continue to evaluate the policy as it is delivered. The Universal Credit Evaluation is a comprehensive and multi-dimensional programme of analysis designed to assess economic, social and behavioural impacts of the Universal Credit experience. Research and analysis is conducted to provide continuous tracking and inform the evaluation and the expansion of Universal Credit, focusing specifically on the effects of Universal Credit on all claimants’ behaviours and outcomes.
We have always said that there will be transitional protection for those with existing premiums who move over to Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process, whose overall Universal Credit entitlement would be less than under the old system, provided that their circumstances remain the same.
Claimants who naturally move to Universal Credit will do so because they have had a change of circumstances. In such cases claimants will continue to have their new welfare support entitlement calculated based on the Universal Credit rules of their new benefit.