Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the provision of universal credit as a primarily digital service will affect the job security of Jobcentre staff.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Jobcentre staff are a core part of the support provided for those in receipt of Universal Credit and other benefits.
The Universal Credit digital service provides an interactive and accessible system for claimants to manage their own data and account online at a time which is convenient for them. This means that many administrative tasks are now automated, giving Work Coaches more time to add value in their community. Work Coaches are able to focus on providing tailored support to claimants; helping them in to work, to progress in work, or bringing them closer to the labour market by removing barriers to employment.
It is important that all claimants can benefit from a dedicated Work Coach, no matter what their circumstances. This is why we continue to ensure that claimants can access face-to-face support in a Jobcentre, as well as enabling claimants to interact with their Work Coach online, such as through their digital journal.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of carer's allowance.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested on the number of individuals in receipt of Carer’s Allowance is published and available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are receiving the state pension in the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Statistics on State Pension recipients are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistical-summaries-2018
With further detail given in the supporting data tables and also on Stat-Xplore here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
The latest figures for August 2017 show 11.7 million people were receiving the UK State Pension in Great Britain.
UK State Pensions in Northern Ireland are administered by the Department for Communities. Benefit statistics for Northern Ireland can be accessed at: https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/benefits-statistics
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of housing benefit in the UK.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Figures on the number of claimants receiving Housing Benefit (HB) in Great Britain are publically available through the DWP Stat-Xplore website:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Communities. Northern Ireland statistics can be found at:
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/benefits-statistics
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to take steps to tackle housing benefit (a) fraud and (b) overpayments in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department for Work and Pensions is not responsible for investigating benefit fraud in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Department for Communities has the responsibility for detecting and investigating benefit fraud in Northern Ireland. They also have their own Debt Management team responsible for the recovery of any benefit overpayments in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to help people who have learning difficulties find work.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government is strongly committed to increasing opportunities for people with a learning difficulty or disability. Taking a life course approach, we are working across Government and with local authorities, voluntary organisations and employers in the public and private sectors to achieve this.
On Thursday 30 November 2017 we published ‘Improving Lives the Future of Work, Health and Disability’, which sets out details of our life course approach to improving employment opportunities for disabled people and people with a health condition. Whilst the initiatives are not all aimed exclusively at people with a learning difficulty or disability, we expect that many will benefit from them. Our plans include:
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to include a section on mental health in the personal independence payment form.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) considers the overall impact of a claimant’s health condition or impairment on their functional ability, rather than focusing on a particular diagnosis. Therefore the PIP assessment takes account of the impact of mental health conditions as well as physical disabilities. Equally, the PIP assessment forms that underpin the assessment include provision to consider mental health issues as well as physical issues.
66% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate daily living component, compared with 22% who received the highest DLA care component, and 31% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate mobility rate, compared with just 10% of DLA recipients.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 ensure that mental health conditions are adequately accounted for in personal independence payment assessments.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) considers the overall impact of a claimant’s health condition or impairment on their functional ability, rather than focusing on a particular diagnosis. Therefore the PIP assessment takes account of the impact of mental health conditions as well as physical disabilities. Equally, the PIP assessment forms that underpin the assessment include provision to consider mental health issues as well as physical issues.
66% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate daily living component, compared with 22% who received the highest DLA care component, and 31% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate mobility rate, compared with just 10% of DLA recipients.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants' claims have been rejected when transferring from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The latest available data on claimants that have been disallowed when transferring from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
These statistics provide breakdowns of the number of claims cleared by type (e.g. awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) for both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims (filter on “reassessment” indicator) for each month since PIP was introduced in April 2013 for GB only.