Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the freezing of the rate of local housing allowance on the rate at which housing benefit recipients (a) fall into rent arrears and (b) become homeless.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The effect of the local housing allowance freeze on the rate at which housing benefit recipients fall into arrears and become homeless has not been assessed. There is currently no clear evidence to suggest that the LHA freeze is contributing to increased arrears or homelessness.
The latest statistics show that the number of homelessness acceptances in England has decreased slightly over the past year and the figures are very similar to the homelessness acceptances when the freeze commenced.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in what proportion of disability benefit claims his Department asks a claimant's doctor for medical evidence directly rather than seeking that evidence through the claimant.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The gathering of medical evidence is a key part of the claim process and the information is gathered from a range of sources. However, the information as requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people with mental or physical health problems living in supported housing will be exempt from the local housing allowance rate cap for housing benefit.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The application of the Local Housing Allowance rate to supported housing will be deferred until 2019/20. Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. We will set out further details on our plans as soon as possible.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2017 to Question 1470, if he will publish the response to the Freedom of Information request referred to in that Answer.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I am depositing a copy of the Freedom of Information reply in the House library. I will also publish it as soon as possible on GOV.UK, here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords=&publication_filter_option=foi-releases&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=all&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B%5D=all&from_date=&to_date=&commit=Refresh+results “
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department took legal advice on the target of upholding original decisions in 80 per cent of mandatory benefit reconsideration requests.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Further to my reply to PQs 1469 & 1470, the department does not have a Mandatory Reconsideration target for upholding original decisions. The 80 per cent figure is used to track and monitor Mandatory Reconsiderations to assess the quality of our initial decision making and to help understand and improve our processes. Therefore there was not a requirement to obtain legal advice.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to which benefits in the target of upholding the original decision in 80 per cent of mandatory reconsideration requests applies.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The department does not have a Mandatory Reconsideration target for upholding original decisions. The 80 per cent figure, which was used in the answer to a recent Freedom of Information request, is used to assess the accuracy of benefit decisions. In order to ensure we have consistently accurate decisions we track and monitor Mandatory Reconsiderations to assess the quality of our initial decision making and to help understand and improve our processes.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the target of upholding the original decision in 80 per cent of mandatory reconsideration requests was introduced; who made the decision to introduce that target; and for what reasons that target was introduced.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The department does not have a Mandatory Reconsideration target for upholding original decisions. The 80 per cent figure, which was used in the answer to a recent Freedom of Information request, is used to assess the accuracy of benefit decisions. In order to ensure we have consistently accurate decisions we track and monitor Mandatory Reconsiderations to assess the quality of our initial decision making and to help understand and improve our processes.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2017 to Question 71554, which experts on how to deal sensitively with women who have conceived a child as a result of rape he plans to make available to advise officials of his Department on applying the two-child limit policy.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It’s important to note that a claimant will never be questioned about any such incident by a member of DWP staff. Part of the rationale for the third party model is that a claimant who has given birth to a child as a result of rape will, normally apply for an exception through engaging with an approved third party before attending the Jobcentre.
If a work coach were to need expert support, they are trained to be aware of the specialist help available within their area to support vulnerable claimants.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides to contractors who carry out disability benefits assessments on how to raise the issue of suicidal thoughts with claimants without causing distress.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Department issues guidance on how to conduct face to face assessments and interview skills. Contracted assessment providers then provide more detailed guidance to healthcare professionals carrying out assessments on how to raise issues on suicidal thoughts during the assessment.
Alongside this guidance, healthcare professionals are given specific training in assessing individuals with mental health conditions. If there is any indication that a claimant has suicidal thoughts or intentions, healthcare professionals are trained to explore the person’s circumstances carefully. The Department also issues guidance that explains if the assessment provider has concerns that a claimant is at risk with regard to self-harm or suicide, they have a responsibility to act in order to safeguard the claimant’s welfare.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any training (a) has taken place and (b) has been planned for officials of his Department on how to deal sensitively with women whose third or subsequent child was conceived as a result of rape.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Universal Credit Work Coaches undertake comprehensive learning to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service to all claimants. All DWP staff undertaking customer-facing roles go through a programme of learning and development to equip them to support vulnerable people who access our services.
This includes a learning product called “Supporting Customers with a Vulnerability”, and which staff undertake as part of their foundation learning for a role where they interact directly with DWP customers. We have worked with external bodies, including organisations that provide support to vulnerable customers, on a number of our technical learning products.
For the most sensitive cases the training emphasises that Work Coaches should not make judgements alone on how to handle, and they should listen to the advice of experts in the area on how to handle.
As we expand Universal Credit, we continually review and develop the vulnerable claimant journey. This includes looking at how we identify vulnerable people, how we support them and how we refer them to local services delivered in partnership activity.