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Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Thursday 14th July 2016

Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of disability living allowance have had their payments downgraded or removed following their transfer to personal independence payments in the last three years.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA)) are published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics.

In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards, and reassessment claims by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn), can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/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.

The Department does not have verified data on the number of DLA claimants who have had their benefit payments changed as a result of the move to PIP. We intend to provide more detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.

Written Question
Employment and Support Allowance
Tuesday 8th September 2015

Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on whether employment and support allowance claimants who are unable to continue with a Work Related Activity Group for health reasons will be awarded their previous level of benefit or be reassessed.

Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Claimants can request a reassessment if they feel that their condition has deteriorated.

Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Tuesday 30th June 2015

Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment assessment appointments failed to take place as a result of double booking of appointments between 2010 and 2015.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

Since Personal Independence Payment was rolled out from April 2013, 2,134 claimants have been sent home because the number of claimants attending scheduled appointments exceeds expectations. This represents 0.4% of the total number of claimants seen. This information is sourced from Atos and Capita Management Information records and has not been quality assured.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 05 Sep 2014
Affordable Homes Bill

"I rise only to put the hon. Gentleman’s mind at rest. I have had an inordinate amount of correspondence from my constituents asking me to come and support this private Member’s Bill. I have not had a single item of correspondence asking me to come and stifle a European referendum …..."
Ian Mearns - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 17 Mar 2014
Payment Scheme (Mesothelioma)

"The measure is not perfect, but we are greatly relieved that at last something is happening on behalf of sufferers all over the country. Has the Minister made any special provision for legal costs in the scheme?..."
Ian Mearns - View Speech

View all Ian Mearns (Lab - Gateshead) contributions to the debate on: Payment Scheme (Mesothelioma)
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 17 Mar 2014
Payment Scheme (Mesothelioma)

"I agree with my right hon. Friend that proving that one has been susceptible to exposure to asbestos during a long and sometimes diverse career can be very tough. I know that a number of people who have succumbed to mesothelioma have not worked in heavy industry but have, for …..."
Ian Mearns - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Feb 2014
Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)

"I am grateful to my hon. Friends the Members for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and for Easington (Grahame M. Morris) for securing this debate via the Backbench Business Committee and for bringing to our attention the fact that the WOW campaign has gathered 104,000 signatures on its petition on …..."
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View all Ian Mearns (Lab - Gateshead) contributions to the debate on: Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Feb 2014
Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)

"I will not give way for the moment.

How else can we explain the fact that of the £63.4 billion of public expenditure cuts forecast by 2015, 29% of them fall on disabled people who make up only 8% of the population? Even worse, how else can we explain the …..."
Ian Mearns - View Speech

View all Ian Mearns (Lab - Gateshead) contributions to the debate on: Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Feb 2014
Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)

"I am about to discuss that, and I could not agree with my hon. Friend more.

Put bluntly, this Government, the Department for Work and Pensions and their agencies are telling us, repeatedly, that people who are dying are fit for work. Between January 2011 and November 2011, some 10,600 …..."
Ian Mearns - View Speech

View all Ian Mearns (Lab - Gateshead) contributions to the debate on: Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Feb 2014
Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)

"Does my hon. Friend share my massive concern that the company that has been delivering the flawed—as we have heard many times today—work capability assessment, has now been given the job by the Government of harvesting the whole population’s health data from their GP practices?..."
Ian Mearns - View Speech

View all Ian Mearns (Lab - Gateshead) contributions to the debate on: Welfare Reform (Sick and Disabled People)