Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women born in the 1950s and affected by the change of the state pension age received less than five years notice of that change.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Pensions Acts of 1995, 2007 and 2011 were fully debated in Parliament. The government undertook wide public consultation before the passage of the Acts. This included publishing Green and White Papers. The passage of the Acts and the changes they brought in were widely reported in the media throughout this period.
The changes to State Pension age that the Pensions Act 1995 brought in started to come into effect from April 2010 giving a notice period of at least 15 years for those changes.
In addition, the DWP and others took extensive steps in the years following the 1995 Act to further communicate the changes to women born in the 1950s, as well as all others affected, by means such as leaflets, State Pension forecasts, media articles and personal letters.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) male and (b) female lone parent university students have been affected by the requirement to move from claiming tax credits to universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the hon. Member to my answer to Question 163623 on 20 July 2018.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of claimants of universal credit that are paid every (a) four weeks, (b) two weeks and (c) every week.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the hon Member to question 151086 anwered on 12 June 2018.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance have not been contacted by her Department when they have reached state pension age and qualify for pension credit in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work & Pensions is unable to provide this information as the data is not collected and would only be available at disproportionate cost to the Department.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the number of (a) claims for employment support allowance, (b) mandatory re-considerations, (c) mandatory re-considerations that went to appeal and (d) successful appeals of mandatory re-considerations in (i) the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA): Outcomes of Work Capability Assessments (WCA) which include figures in tables 12 and 13 on mandatory reconsiderations and appeals of WCA decisions. These statistics are not currently available to Country or parliamentary constituency level but DWP statisticians are investigating how to extend the geography information provided. The statistics can be found at the following link:
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: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has estimated the cost of (a) audio and (b) video recording assessments for personal independence payment and employment support allowance; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
As part of our commitment to improving the PIP assessment process we are exploring options to record PIP assessments, but do not yet have any estimated costs for this activity. Audio recording of Work Capability Assessments is already available to Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit claimants. Since Centre for Health and Disability Assessments took over the contract to deliver Work Capability Assessments there has not been a need to purchase new recording units so an up-to-date cost estimate cannot be provided.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who had an earnings deduction order for child maintenance subsequently lost their jobs and claimed job seeker's allowance in 2016 -17.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department does not readily collate information on the number of people paying child maintenance via a deduction from earnings order who subsequently lost their job and claimed Job Seekers allowance within the year 2016-17. Obtaining the information to answer this question could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress he has made on plans to include Dupuytren's disease in the list of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit diseases.
Answered by Sarah Newton
After considering the recommendation made by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, we have decided not to add Dupuytren’s contracture to the list of prescribed diseases.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the interest rate will be set, following support for mortgage interest changes in April 2018.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
A Standard Interest Rate (SIR) based on the Bank of England’s published monthly average mortgage interest rate is used to calculate the amount paid towards the interest on a claimant’s mortgage and / or loan. This rate is based on information from banks and building societies and reflects an average of current mortgage interest rates on UK loans. The current rate (from June 2017) is 2.61%.
Interest will be charged on SMI loans based upon the cost of gilts as published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). This rate reflects the cost of Government borrowing. The Gilt Rate Forecast for 2017-18 is 1.5% as specified in the latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook published on the 8th March 2017 by the OBR and the current forecast for 2018-19 is 1.7%.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who will be administering the support for mortgage interest changes due to take place in April 2018.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The registration of charges on a claimant’s property and loan arrangements will be managed by the Department for Work and Pensions.