Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of proposals for a lower benefit cap on carers.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. A link to the impact assessment is included.
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006.pdf
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will increase the frequency of the publication of statistics on sanctions for (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance claimants.
Answered by Priti Patel
We release them every 3 months. The Department has no plans to increase the frequency of the publication of statistics on sanctions for (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance claimants.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to commence the review of the work capability assessment process.
Answered by Priti Patel
Work on reviewing how assessments can be better geared towards helping to get people prepared for and into work, if and when they are ready for that, has already begun following the Secretary of State’s speech on 24 August.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mental health champions are employed by Maximus in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK as part of the employment and support allowance work capability assessment process.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA), a MAXIMUS UK subsidiary, currently employs 28 mental health function champions. A telephone service is provided by these mental health function champions due to the large number, and varying size of Assessments Centres across England, Scotland and Wales. These staff provide the service across all parts of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether, on the enactment and coming into force of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, the Government plans for people with an existing condition who are reassessed for the employment and support allowance work-related activity group to be classified as new applicants.
Answered by Priti Patel
There are no plans to treat existing ESA claimants as new applicants when they are reassessed for employment and support allowance following the enactment of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what evaluation he has made of the effectiveness of the role played by mental health champions in the work capability assessment process.
Answered by Priti Patel
There are no formal performance measures around the role of the mental health champion.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many assessors employed by Maximus under their contract to conduct work capability assessments in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK have a mental health qualification.
Answered by Priti Patel
The holding of specific mental health qualifications is not a DWP requirement for healthcare professionals conducting assessments. The information requested is therefore not readily available. However, the comprehensive training provided to all healthcare professionals includes the functional effects of a wide range of mental health conditions.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's document, Suicide and Self Harm Declarations - Appendix 2 (Six Point Plan), when that document was first issued to staff of his Department based in Glasgow and Bolton who are directly involved in the rollout of universal credit; how many times since that document was issued such staff contacted emergency services about a claimant according to the procedure set out in that plan; and how many times since that document was issued managers have conducted a review of an incident with such staff as stipulated by the Six Point Plan.
Answered by Priti Patel
Operational Staff are specially trained to assist vulnerable individuals, including those with mental health issues; they are trained to look for signs of mental health issues and can refer individuals to our specialist staff and offer more information on available support on request. Staff are periodically reminded of the Suicide and Self-Harm policy that has been in place since April 2011 for all staff across the Department, including those Universal Credit staff at Glasgow and Bolton.
Bolton Service Centre has contacted the emergency services twice with regards to Universal Credit claimants. Glasgow has contacted the emergency services zero times.
As per the guidance, both Bolton incidents were reviewed and recorded appropriately.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the statistics his Department holds on sanctions applied to claimants of (a) job seeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance where the claimant is also in receipt of carer's allowance.
Answered by Priti Patel
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to commission an independent review of his Department's benefit sanctioning procedures.
Answered by Priti Patel
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 June 2015 to Question UIN 170.