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Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to my correspondence of 5 June and 26 July on behalf of my constituent Lucy Foot.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The honourable Member can expect a response to be issued by Friday 8 September 2023. This case has been extremely complex, and we apologise for the delay.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Wednesday 12th July 2023

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to reply to the letters of 31 May and 21 June from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare on behalf of his constituent Howard Coles.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

A reply to the correspondence from the hon. Member was sent on 7 July 2023 by the Director for Retirement Services.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Thursday 6th July 2023

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to correspondence of (a) 2 and (b) 31 May 2023 from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare on behalf of constituents Lynda and Ian Wynne.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

A written reply was sent by the Complaint Resolution Team via email on 15/5/23, and a further copy was emailed on 2/6/23. We have also sent a further copy of this letter in the post to the House of Commons on 4/7/23.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he will reply to the letters of 8 September and 9 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare on behalf of constituent Rebecca Neale on maternity and the cost of living.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

A reply was sent to the hon. Member of Weston-super-Mare by the Minister for Work and Pensions (Lords), on behalf of the Secretary of State, on 2 December 2022.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Thursday 10th November 2022

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department will respond to the letters of 13 September and 7 October from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare on behalf of his constituent David Chadwick.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

A reply was sent to the hon. Member of Weston-super-Mare by the Department for Work and Pensions’ Director for Retirement Services, on behalf of the Secretary of State, on 7 November 2022.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Thursday 29th September 2022

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she will reply to my correspondence of 8 June and 22 August 2022 from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare on behalf of constituent Mr Gray.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

This correspondence was replied to by the department on 26 August 2022.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 25th April 2022

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she will reply to the letters from the Member for Weston-super-Mare of 14 January and 24 February 2022 on behalf of my constituent David Walsh on the state pension.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

A full response was sent to the hon member on the 11 April 2022.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2021 to Question 10306 and with reference to the response to part A of that Question, if she will publish the statistical information requested in response to a Parliamentary Question or via a Ministerial Statement; with reference to the response to part B of Question 10306, what costs are involved in publishing the statistical information held by her Department and not yet in the public domain as referenced in response to part A; and if she will respond to part D of Question 10306.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The number of claimants whose award has ended and were waiting for their new claim to be processed is not in the public domain.

New statistical information cannot be released via a Ministerial Statement. Under the Code of Practice for Statistics, statistics must be published so that they are equally available to all, not given to some people before others.

The statistics cannot be provided in response to a parliamentary question because the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. For PQs, there is a requirement to produce information to the same quality standard as Official Statistics. To assess the completeness of recording and quality assure the figures requested to this standard would take in excess of the time permitted to respond to a PQ and therefore incurs disproportionate cost.

In response to part (d) of question 10306, we always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible and are treating as a priority advance claims, where a person’s previous fixed term award has ended. We are working with Assessment Providers to arrange assessment appointments as soon as possible. Where a person is found to still be eligible for PIP their award is backdated to the point they claimed, so no one loses out financially.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Friday 11th June 2021

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, further to the reply of 14 May 2021 to the letter from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare on behalf of North Somerset Citizens' Advice Bureau, (a) for what reason his Department was unable to provide figures of the number of claimants whose award has ended and were waiting for their new claim to be processed, (b) when he will provide them, (c) what estimate he has made of the number of claimants in this position; and (d) what steps he is taking to resolve the issue.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible and are treating as a priority advance claims, where a person’s previous fixed term award has ended. Where a person is found to still be eligible for Personal Independence Payment their award is backdated to the point they claimed or when their previous award ended, so no one loses out financially.

In relation to part (a) of your question, the information requested in respect of the numbers of claimants whose award has ended and were waiting for their new claim to be processed is not in the public domain; new statistical information is not released via Ministerial Correspondence.

In relation to parts (b) and (c) the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Thursday 2nd November 2017

Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Weston-Super-Mare, of 11 August 2017, on behalf of Somerset Savings & Loans on the Credit Union Expansion Project.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

I responded to your letter on 30 October. As explained in the reply there have been good reasons for the delay.