Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people making a claim for employment and support allowance have waited over one year for a medical assessment in (a) Scotland and (b) Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The specific information requested is not collated and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the number of people in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency who have been eligible for cold weather payments since the beginning of 2018.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than any other standard GB geography such as constituency level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold Weather Payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days.
The estimated numbers of Cold Weather Payments are produced at a weather station level and cannot be broken down further. As a result, the estimate given below is subject to a margin of error when matching to the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.
The postcode areas within Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency are covered by the Edinburgh Gogarbank, Leuchars, and Strathallan weather stations. Since 1st January 2018, an estimated 86,000 eligible recipients in coverage of these weather stations have received at least one Cold Weather Payment. Not all of these eligible recipients will live within the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many support for mortgage interest claimants in Scotland have been contacted by (a) letter and (b) telephone.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
At 15th March 2018, DWP has sent an estimated 460,000 individual items of correspondence to SMI claimants and made 370,000 telephone calls to claimants regarding the conversion of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) into a loan. Data is not broken down by region so is not available specifically for Scotland.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had in respect of staff at her Department's office in Kirkcaldy; and what the outcome of those discussions has been.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
There have been no such discussions.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the number of people in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency who have applied for cold weather payments in 2018.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
You do not need to apply for a Cold Weather Payment, if you are eligible you will usually be paid automatically. Therefore, my Department doesn’t hold any information on the number of people in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency who have applied for a cold weather payment.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of grandparents in Scotland who (a) who are eligible for adult specified childcare credit and (b) are eligible for that credit but are not claiming it.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Specified Adult Childcare credits were introduced in April 2011. These effectively allow an individual who successfully claims Child Benefit and already has a qualifying year, for example through paying Class 1 NI contributions to transfer their credits to grandparents and other specified adults under State Pension age who care for children aged under 12 whilst they are at work.
No information is held on the number of people in Scotland who are eligible for Specified Adult Childcare credits, or who may be eligible but are not claiming it.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to allow claimants of universal credit in Scotland to request to receive payments twice a month at the point of their initial claim instead of after their first payment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Universal Credit Scottish Flexibilities are a matter for the Scottish Government as part of the Scotland Act 2016 and this is their policy.
The Universal Credit Scottish Flexibilities, now also known as “Universal Credit Scottish choices”, have been made available from 4 October 2017 to people living in Scotland making a new Universal Credit claim, in areas where the full service is available. They allow for claimants to choose to be paid twice monthly, effectively delaying their full benefit payment by 15 days, and to choose to have the relevant housing costs in their award paid to their landlord. New claimants from 4th October have the ability to request the Scottish Choices at any point in their claim.
Claimants retain the ability to have their payments made monthly and keep control of their finances by paying their landlord themselves which we believe more effectively mirrors work, and supports claimants back into work.
It is the responsibility of the Scottish government to publicise the payment options for Universal Credit in Scotland.
Nationally, Universal Credit allows where appropriate for rent to be paid direct to landlords and for payments to be split, or for payments to be made more frequently each month.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to allow claimants of universal credit in Scotland to request having the housing element paid directly to a social and private sector landlord at the point of their initial claim instead of after their first payment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Universal Credit Scottish Flexibilities are a matter for the Scottish Government as part of the Scotland Act 2016 and this is their policy.
The Universal Credit Scottish Flexibilities, now also known as “Universal Credit Scottish choices”, have been made available from 4 October 2017 to people living in Scotland making a new Universal Credit claim, in areas where the full service is available. They allow for claimants to choose to be paid twice monthly, effectively delaying their full benefit payment by 15 days, and to choose to have the relevant housing costs in their award paid to their landlord. New claimants from 4th October have the ability to request the Scottish Choices at any point in their claim.
Claimants retain the ability to have their payments made monthly and keep control of their finances by paying their landlord themselves which we believe more effectively mirrors work, and supports claimants back into work.
It is the responsibility of the Scottish government to publicise the payment options for Universal Credit in Scotland.
Nationally, Universal Credit allows where appropriate for rent to be paid direct to landlords and for payments to be split, or for payments to be made more frequently each month.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps have been taken by his Department to advertise the flexible payment options for universal credit in Scotland.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Universal Credit Scottish Flexibilities are a matter for the Scottish Government as part of the Scotland Act 2016 and this is their policy.
The Universal Credit Scottish Flexibilities, now also known as “Universal Credit Scottish choices”, have been made available from 4 October 2017 to people living in Scotland making a new Universal Credit claim, in areas where the full service is available. They allow for claimants to choose to be paid twice monthly, effectively delaying their full benefit payment by 15 days, and to choose to have the relevant housing costs in their award paid to their landlord. New claimants from 4th October have the ability to request the Scottish Choices at any point in their claim.
Claimants retain the ability to have their payments made monthly and keep control of their finances by paying their landlord themselves which we believe more effectively mirrors work, and supports claimants back into work.
It is the responsibility of the Scottish government to publicise the payment options for Universal Credit in Scotland.
Nationally, Universal Credit allows where appropriate for rent to be paid direct to landlords and for payments to be split, or for payments to be made more frequently each month.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how and when claimants will be advised of changes to their benefits when universal credit full service is rolled out to different claimant groups.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Unless there is a relevant change of circumstance that would previously have prompted a new claim to another legacy benefit or Tax Credit, claimants will remain on their existing arrangements until we begin transferring claimants to Universal Credit from July 2019.