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 a disabled young person will be able to make a claim under the Access to Work scheme if required to undergo a traineeship or unpaid work experience under the Earn or Learn policy.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Access to Work is available to individuals aged 16 or over whose disability or health condition affects the way they undertake employment or some pre-employment related activities. This would include a supported traineeship or a Jobcentre Plus Work Trial.
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, pursuant to the Answers of 30 June 2015 to Questions 4382 and 4385, what his Department's planning assumptions are on (a) the CSA case closure process and the numbers and rate at which cases will be closed and (b) the proportion of former CSA cases by segment expected to apply to the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme in the case of proactive case closures cases and reactive case closure cases.
Answered by Priti Patel
a) The closure of CSA cases is being progressed in accordance with “The Ending Liability Scheme”. The CSA cases currently being selected for closure are those in segment 4; having completed the planned selection of segments 1, 2 and 3. Cases that newly meet segment 1, 2 or 3 criteria (due to changes to the compliance status or the maintenance calculation value of the case) are identified and selected for closure alongside the current segment.
Approximately 7,900 cases per week are selected for case closure, at which time those clients are notified that their CSA liability will end in 6 months time and are signposted to Child Maintenance Options to discuss and consider their future child maintenance arrangements.
b) The information is in the table.
The proportion of CSA clients expected to apply to the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme | ||
Proactive case closure | Segment 1 | 24% |
Segment 2 | 45% | |
Segment 3 and 4 | 50% | |
Segment 5 | 50% | |
Reactive case closure | 63% | |
Notes:
1. The child support scheme for timing and related matters to ending liability in existing cases (“the ending liability scheme”) can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-maintenance-ending-liability-scheme
2. Assumptions are monitored and reviewed based on actual behaviours and findings as the CSA programme of case closure progresses.
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, pursuant to the contribution by the Prime Minister of 24 June 2015, Official Report, column 886, when the data on public spending referred to in that contribution will be published.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Department intends to publish out-of-work benefits mortality statistics and the publication date will be pre-announced at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/list-of-scheduled-upcoming-ad-hoc-statistical-releases
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 applications to the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme made since January 2015 have been from parents whose previous Child Support Agency (CSA) case was shut down as part of the phased CSA case closure programme.
Answered by Priti Patel
Approximately 3,800 applications made to the 2012 child maintenance scheme between the 01 January 2015 and 31 May 2015 were made by parents who previously had a case with the Child Support Agency, which was closed as part of the case closure programme. This is broadly in line with our current planning assumptions at this early stage of the case closure process.
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 Child Support Agency cases reviewed as part of the ongoing closure programme have been closed by his Department to date.
Answered by Priti Patel
As at 31 May 2015, 24,100 cases have been closed as part of the Child Support Agency case closure programme.
Notes:
Figure rounded to the nearest 100.
The figure is made up from cases proactively selected for case closure, and those where an application has been made to the 2012 scheme and a case exists on the 93/03 scheme which is then reactively closed down.
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, when he plans to publish the recommendations from the peer reviews of deaths which occurred during benefit sanctions.
Answered by Priti Patel
Peer Reviews are used to examine whether processes have been followed correctly, and are not used to seek out or apportion blame. Where opportunities for improvement are found, recommendations are made. It is important to appreciate that these reviews do not examine the underlying benefit policy or legislation. DWP has no plans to publish these reports.
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 citizens of other EU member states receive (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not collect information on the EU citizenship status of claimants for Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment.
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 citizens of other EU member states with Parkinson's disease receive disability living allowance or personal independence payments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not collect information on the EU citizenship status of claimants for Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 223811, what progress has been made in completing the new Data Warehouse required by his Department to provide full IT functionality to support the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme.
Answered by Priti Patel
Data warehouse capability has been delivered that provides automated support for new applications to the 2012 Scheme. Work is also underway to deliver additional capability to support the automated movement of relevant Child Support Agency arrears information to the 2012 system.
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 systems and procedures exist between the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the Child Support Agency (CSA) to ensure that where, following a six-month warning notice of CSA case closure, a parent with care applies in advance to the CMS, the new application is not processed prematurely and a case opened by the CMS, prior to the CSA case being closed.
Answered by Priti Patel
Central to the arrangements for identifying and controlling the steps taken on 2012 scheme applications received from parents with care is the Data Warehouse. The Data Warehouse holds records of all Child Support Agency cases and there is an automatic interface between the Warehouse and the new Child Maintenance Service system.