Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have (a) applied for and (b) received employment and support allowance for inflammatory bowel disease in each of the last three years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Inflammatory bowel disease is a term commonly used to refer either Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative Colitis. The available information is shown in the following tables:
Table 1: Number of individuals making an initial claim to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) whose main disabling condition was recorded as Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis, Great Britain, 2014 - 2016
Year of ESA claim start | Initial ESA |
2014 | 2,800 |
2015 | 2,600 |
2016 (Jan - Sep) | 1,800 |
Table 2: Number of individuals assigned to the ESA Support Group or the ESA Work Capability Group following their Work Capability Assessment (for initial, repeat or IB reassessment claims), whose main disabling condition was recorded as Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis, Great Britain, 2014 - 2016
Year of ESA claim start | Initial ESA | Repeat ESA | IB |
2014 | 1,200 | 400 | 200 |
2015 | 1,200 | 300 | 100 |
2016 (Jan - Sep) | 700 | - | - |
Source for Tables 1 and 2: Application data is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by the Healthcare Provider.
Notes for Tables 1 and 2:
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of applications for employment and support allowance which are rejected are overturned at the appeals stage.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The available information on overturned Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) appeals can be found in the ESA Outcomes of Work Capability Assessments quarterly statistics published here - see Table 3 (Latest Release) :
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what adjustments his Department makes to ensure that people with (a) a history of suicide or self-harm and (b) other mental health conditions are treated with appropriate care and caution during benefits assessments.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
If an individual has a mental health condition or there is any indication that a claimant has suicidal thoughts or intentions, assessors are trained to explore the person’s circumstances carefully. Assessors approach this issue with sensitivity and ask questions in a structured way that is appropriate to the individual, based on their knowledge of the claimant’s clinical history and their judgement on the claimant’s current mental state
If the assessor has concerns that a claimant is at substantial and imminent risk with regard to self-harm or suicide, they have a professional responsibility to act quickly in order to safeguard the claimant’s welfare; this might include speaking to the claimant’s GP, and/or calling an ambulance.
Companions are encouraged to accompany the claimant to a face to face consultation and can play an active role. This is helpful for claimants with mental, cognitive or intellectual impairments, who cannot provide an accurate account of their condition due to a lack of understanding, or unrealistic expectations of their ability.
Further information on Work Capability Assessments can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535065/wca-handbook-july-2016.pdf.
Further information on Personal Independence Payment Assessments can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210722/pip-assessment-guide.pdf
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to improve access to sick pay for the self-employed.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Matthew Taylor’s Independent Review of Modern Employment Practices will look at the impact of non-standard forms of employment on security, pay and rights such as sick pay and the Government will consider any recommendations his report may make with regards to sick pay entitlement.
The Government is supporting self-employed people by extending, from April 2017, the New Enterprise Allowance to include an offer of mentoring support for self-employed Universal Credit (UC) claimants to help them grow their existing business.
This Department is also working closely with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to ensure it delivers a joined up service and identifies local and national provision available to support those in existing self-employment or those who wish to start a new business.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many fit notes were issued to people as a result of musculoskeletal conditions in (a) England and (b) Leeds in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
At present we do not hold any data relating to fit notes so are unable to provide the information requested. We are working with NHS Digital towards making anonymised fit note statistics available. These statistics will include information on the main diagnosed condition (ICD-10) and the location of the Clinical Commissioning Group which will allow the number of fit notes issued for both England and Leeds to be identified.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) England and (b) Leeds are in receipt of employment and support allowance as a result of disability related to a musculoskeletal condition.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The information available for the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants by disability is published and can be found at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users is available at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) England and (b) Leeds have been signed off work permanently as a result of disability related to a musculoskeletal condition in the last three years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
This information is not available.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will set out a timetable for the automatic enrolment review.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
On 12 December 2016, I set out the scope of the 2017 review of automatic enrolment. On 8 February 2017 I set out further detail on the review, including its terms of reference and the membership of the external advisory group. We will publish a report to Parliament towards the end of 2017.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people excluded from auto-enrolment as a result of changes to the earnings trigger in the Pensions Act 2011 and reviews subsequent to that Act.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We do not hold the information in the format you have requested.
The 2011 Pensions Act implemented workplace pension reform measures from the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work Review. This sought to simplify the automatic enrolment process where possible, balancing the needs of employers and individual savers.
The Act set out a requirement for the automatic enrolment earnings trigger level to be reviewed every tax year. This provides the opportunity to keep the automatic enrolment thresholds up to date and relevant in light of changing economic circumstances and ensures it continues to strike the right balance between maximising the savings incentives for individuals and minimising costs for employers. In doing this, it pays particular attention to the impact of this on groups currently under-represented in pension saving such as women and low earners. Analysis of the impact on the automatic enrolment target group resulting from each of the annual reviews of the earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band can be found at;
I announced the decision to freeze the automatic enrolment earnings trigger for 2017/2018 at £10,000 on 12 December 2016. This is estimated to result in an additional 70,000 individuals being brought into automatic enrolment, of which around 50,000 (75 per cent) per are women.