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 - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
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 - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
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 - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
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 Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received on the reasons for the recent collapse of Hewden; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
We have received no representations on the reasons for Hewden entering administration.
But we recognise this is a very uncertain time for Hewden employees and their families; and it is positive that some business units have been sold and jobs secured. The Department for Work and Pensions are in contact with the administrators, the redundancy factsheet has been issued to all those affected and Job Centre Plus will help those affected move into new jobs as quickly as possible.
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 Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Ofgem on customers of GB Energy Supply who will be given a new energy supplier due to that company ceasing trading.
Answered by Jesse Norman
On 30 November Ofgem appointed Co-operative Energy to take on GB Energy Supply’s customers. Co-operative Energy is honouring the current contracts and prices of GB Energy Supply’s customers. This applies to customers on fixed deals and on standard variable tariffs. Co-operative Energy will also honour all outstanding credit balances for households who are owed money by GB Energy Supply.
The appointment of Co-operative Energy follows a competitive process run by Ofgem to get the best deal possible for customers. The Government will continue to work closely with Ofgem to ensure that consumers’ interests are being protected.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to assess (a) trends in the incidence of people purchasing insurance coverage and (b) levels of insurance coverage purchased after the rise in insurance premium tax announced in the Autumn Statement 2016.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government does not have any plans to carry out such an assessment. Trends and the levels of insurance purchased are subject to a number of influences. These include the price of insurance. Price is set by insurers and is subject to a wide range of factors, of which tax is just one part. Other factors include inflation, changing assessment of risk, the performance of insurers’ investments and costs. It is therefore difficult to isolate and then analyse the impact of any one of these factors.
The Government has no evidence to suggest that this level of change to Insurance Premium Tax will lead to changes in the number of uninsured vehicles. The estimated number of uninsured vehicles in the UK has fallen from 2 million in 2005 to 1 million today.
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the rise in insurance premium tax on lower-income individuals.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Insurance Premium Tax is a tax on insurers so any impact on individuals depends on how and whether insurers pass on the rate increase in the form of higher premiums.
A Tax Information and Impact Note has been published and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insurance-premium-tax-increase-of-standard-rate. If insurers pass on the full rate increase, this would cost households in the bottom income decile 19p per week (£9.63 per year).
Asked by: Philip Boswell (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has any financial arrangements with Wells Fargo.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The Department does not have any financial arrangements with Wells Fargo.