Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to review the uplift to universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
On 20 March the Government announced a temporary increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance of £20 per week. Legislation allows this measure to continue for the 20/21 tax year.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to review the suspension of the requirement to attend Jobcentre appointments during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We made the decision to temporarily suspend the requirement for face-to-face Jobcentre Plus appointments for all claimants in Universal Credit, New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), old-style JSA and ESA, and Income Support.
Arrangements after the 30th June will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to review the suspension of face-to-face (a) work capability and (b) personal independence payment assessments during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our priority throughout this health emergency continues to be to protect the public and staff, while ensuring people get the benefits they are entitled to quickly and safely. Face to face assessments remain suspended while we review what activity we can gradually start reintroducing in line with the latest public health advice. We will confirm next steps as soon as possible.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work capability assessments have been completed in each month since 1 February 2020.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Statistics on Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment (WCA) outcomes are published quarterly. The latest figures covering the number and outcome of completed initial and repeat WCAs, by month of completed assessment up to December 2019, can be found at:
Additional breakdowns of the ESA WCA figures can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
The statistics for completed assessments to March 2020 and June 2020 will be published in September and December 2020 respectively.
Statistics on Work Capability Assessments for Universal Credit claimants are intended for publication in the near future as Official Statistics.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to introduce an escalation route for complex benefits cases referred to her Department by Macmillan Cancer Support and other advice services so that urgent benefits cases can be resolved more swiftly.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We already have escalation routes in place. We have had assurance from Area Directors that escalation routes are open and working and have sufficient capacity. We are exploring alternatives to further refine the process.
We have previously advised Macmillan if they could provide specific examples of where a Jobcentre has not been able to support them or has not had capacity, that these could be shared with their National Account Manager within National Employer & Partnership Team in DWP.
In addition, we have now mobilised 10 senior safeguarding leaders who between them will cover all our regions, these roles are temporary and will be reviewed in 3 months. These leaders don’t replace any of our existing routes into DWP where there is a concern about a customer, but they are there to be the region’s escalation point if a solution cannot be found locally, or it is a serious and complex case. These leaders will also be active members of multi-agency boards in their geography.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged 100 years old and over receive the state pension in each country outside the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below provides how many people aged 100 years old and over, who receive the State Pension in each country outside the UK.
| Caseload |
Abroad not known | 20 |
Alderney | - |
Australia | 340 |
Austria | - |
Bangladesh | - |
Barbados | 10 |
Belgium | - |
Benin | - |
Bermuda | - |
Brazil | - |
Canada | 190 |
Cayman Islands | - |
Chile | - |
Cyprus | 10 |
Denmark | - |
Djibouti | - |
Equatorial Guinea | - |
France | 30 |
Germany | 10 |
Greece | - |
Guernsey | 10 |
Hong Kong | - |
India | - |
Israel | 10 |
Italy | 20 |
Jamaica | 70 |
Jersey | 10 |
Kenya | - |
Latvia | - |
Lithuania | - |
Luxembourg | - |
Monaco | - |
Montserrat | - |
New Zealand | 150 |
Norway | - |
Not known | 20 |
Pakistan | 20 |
Poland | - |
Portugal | - |
Republic of Ireland | 100 |
Republic of Yemen | 10 |
Sierra Leone | - |
Somalia | - |
South Africa | 30 |
Spain | 50 |
St Kitts and Nevis | - |
St Lucia | - |
St Vincent and The Grenadines | - |
Sweden | - |
Switzerland | - |
Thailand | - |
The Netherlands | - |
Trinidad and Tobago | - |
United Arab Emirates | - |
USA | 210 |
Zimbabwe | - |
|
|
Total | 1,390 |
Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, August 2019.
Caseload figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Caseloads identified with ‘-‘ are negligible, but non-zero.
Caseloads exclude suspended cases.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will meet with the WASPI campaign group once the Court of Appeal proceedings are over.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government won on all grounds in the High Court action of this matter - defending the actions of the Coalition government 2010-2015, the labour government 1997-2010 and the Conservative government 1992-1997; the department does not comment on live litigation.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to mark International Men's Day on 19 November 2019.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No one should suffer unfair treatment because of their gender. Every year International Men’s Day offers an opportunity to highlight how outcomes for men and boys can be improved and to talk about some of the important work going on every day across Government to do this.
The work ranges from the introduction of shared parental leave, which allows men to take time away from the workplace and bond with their new children, benefitting that crucial long-term relationship for both parent and child, to our programme tackling LGBT bullying in schools which seeks to protect those who may be victimised by outdated and stereotypical ideas of what it means to be a ‘real man’.
Government is also working with local authorities to ensure their suicide prevention plans support more men, and in the Domestic Abuse Bill we propose to create a statutory definition of domestic abuse that makes clear men also can be victims of this abhorrent crime.
In DWP we have a series of national events taking place over the coming weeks to mark International Men’s Day. DWP have partnered with external organisations (The Good Lad initiative and Springboard Consultancy) to give a platform to raise awareness of the challenges that men face in life and raising awareness of men’s wellbeing. We have also invited DWP senior positive role models to talk about their journey, DWP User Researchers to talk about the issues that impact on men at work and the DWP Women’s Network to lead a session on allies and how allies benefit us all.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) officials in her Department have met with representatives from #BackTo60, the One Voice movement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State, Ministers in her Department, nor any officials in the Department for Work and Pensions, have met with such representatives.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Shipley constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as of August 2019:
In the Shipley constituency, since 2012, approximately 9,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,590 employers have met their duties.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests
The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink:https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests.