Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether participants in the Work Programme are required to attend meetings at jobcentres during their work placement.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Throughout a participant’s time with their Work Programme provider, Jobcentre Plus will continue to see them to check they are meeting their conditions for claiming benefits, if applicable. It is the provider’s responsibility to ensure that nothing they require of participants prevents them from attending these appointments.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to reduce the number of personal independence payment mandatory reconsiderations.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
As part of on-going review and improvement analysis of PIP, we are continuing to make efforts to ensure that our initial decisions are as well informed as they can be and of the highest standard. For example, the department is running a series of trials which looks at the end to end PIP decision making process with a particular focus on MR and explores the different ways we can improve the quality of our decision making.
However, it is important that claimants can request a Mandatory Reconsideration if they are unhappy with the initial decision. Moreover, a request for a Mandatory Reconsideration does not mean the initial decision was not right. Claimants often provide new, relevant evidence at the tribunal stage.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the proportion of personal independence payment cases which are appealed at a tribunal.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Only a small proportion, 7%, of all PIP decisions have been appealed.
As part of on-going review and improvement analysis of PIP, we are continuing to make efforts to ensure that all decisions, whether made initially or at Mandatory Reconsideration, are the best informed decisions. For example, the department is running a series of trials which looks at the end to end PIP decision making process with a particular focus on MR and explores the different ways we can improve the quality of our decision making.
However, it is important that claimants can appeal their award decision if they are unhappy with it. Moreover, a request for an appeal does not mean that the decisions taken initially and as part of Mandatory Reconsideration were not right. Claimants often provide new, relevant evidence at the tribunal stage.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has a system for monitoring whether its written correspondence to claimants has been successfully delivered.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a system in place to monitor whether written correspondence is successfully delivered. However, the Department regularly checks with its customers that their addresses are current and takes immediate action to amend any records when notified of changes.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Motability Operations teams are notified of a personal independence payment claimant's award status before the claimant themself is notified.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
During normal processing, Motability Operations are notified the day after the notification is issued to the claimant. There is a process in place to ensure the claimant is not contacted before they receive the decision notification.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants who have been transferred from disability living allowance to personal independence payment (PIP) have had their eligibility for the Motability scheme removed as a result of reassessment using the new PIP guidelines.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
This information is published online and can be found at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-october-2016
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications of the company Hewden going into administration for the security of pensions for employees of that company.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
This is a matter for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). The PPF is an independent body established to pay compensation to members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes where the sponsoring employer becomes insolvent and the scheme is unable to cover the accrued pension liabilities. The three sections of the Hewden pension scheme entered the PPF assessment period on 23 November and there is no further detail available at this early stage of the process.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2016 to Question 47959, whether his Department plans to regulate the way public money is spent by private companies who are contracted by the Government with respect to members of staff being paid financial bonuses in addition to a salary.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There are currently no plans for the Department to prescribe providers with criteria on how they should pay salary or bonuses to their staff. That is purely a commercial decision for the assessment providers. All health assessment contracts with DWP are awarded on an overall value for money basis.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations for personal independence payment claims have been (a) submitted and (b) successful in each year from April 2013 to October 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
These figures are published online and the latest version can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-july-2016. Table 7A in “Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to July 2016” gives the number of requests for a reconsideration submitted; Table 7B includes the number where the original decision was changed.
These figures run until July 2016. However, they are published on a regular basis and statistics for August to October will become available in due course.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment applications were received between April 2015 and October 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Data on the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims received, on a monthly basis since PIP was introduced in April 2013, is regularly published and is available using Stat-Xplore: www.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk. The latest available data is to the end of July 2016. The PIP statistics will next be updated on 14 December with data to the end of October 2016.