Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the Independent Case Examiner’s Annual Report for 2018-19 only includes data on the number of weeks taken for a full investigation to be completed from the date of commencement and not from the date on which the complaint was made.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) is an Office Holder, appointed under contract to review complaints about DWP and its contracted service providers. In addition to adjudicating on escalated complaints and making case specific findings and recommendations for redress, the ICE looks to identify wider systemic issues associated with service failures: one of their contractual requirements is to report annually on their work to the Permanent Secretary. DWP provides an Office to support the ICE discharge their contractual obligations, but they have no role in the management of that Office or its resources. Their Annual Report therefore has its focus on findings associated with case examinations and outcomes, rather than the wider administration of the ICE Office.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time taken was by the Independent Case Examiner to (a) begin and (b) complete an investigation into a complaint against her Department in the first six months of 2019.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the first six months of 2019 (January to June 2019) it took the Independent Case Examiner’s Office an average of: 59 weeks to commence an investigation (from the point at which the complaint was accepted for examination); and 23 weeks to complete an investigation (from the point at which it was allocated to an investigation case manager).
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints regarding quality of service were received by the Independent Case Examiner in 2018-19; and how many of those complaints related to delays in commencing or completing an investigation.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
During the 2018/19 reporting year the Independent Case Examiner’s Office received 418 complaints about the service it provided; of which 289 concerned delays in commencing or completing an investigation (of those 164 took the form of a standard letter, from those complaining about communications associated with changes to women’s State Pension age).
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sanctions on universal credit claimants were successfully appealed at independent tribunals in 2018-19.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the volume and outcomes of Universal Credit sanction appeal decisions for Live Service claimants are published and 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 numbers for full service claimants are not readily available and we anticipate this would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much unpaid child maintenance has been written off since the implementation of Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of cases and the amount of unpaid child maintenance that have been written off from cases on Child Support Agency systems are published in Tables 8.1 and 8.2 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics:
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of unpaid child maintenance have been written off since the implementation of Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of cases and the amount of unpaid child maintenance that have been written off from cases on Child Support Agency systems are published in Tables 8.1 and 8.2 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics:
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many errors there were in the processing of universal credit applications in (a) the UK, (b) London and (c) Bethnal Green and Bow in 2018-19.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is committed to ensuring we are paying the right people the right amount of Universal Credit. We published a ‘Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2018 to 2019 estimates’ report in May 2019 and this includes information and data across benefit types, including Universal Credit. It can be accessed online using the link below.
Nationally, our latest published data shows that consistently around 85 per cent of new Universal Credit claimants are being paid in full and on time.
In the vast majority of cases, where full payment is not made on time, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. Verification is a necessary part of any benefits system, and taxpayers expect these measures to be in place.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 266836 on Shared Housing: Utilities, if she will place in the Library the Valuation Office Agency’s guidance for Rent Officers in making deductions for services and facilities from the local rents used to determine the 30th percentile of the Shared Accommodation Rate.
Answered by Will Quince
There is no current plan to place the guidance in the House of Commons library as The Rent Officer Handbook is already available online via www.gov.uk.
Specific guidance for Rent officers in relation to these deductions is accessible under the heading ‘Ineligible services’ in the following location:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rent-officer-handbook-lettings-research/lettings-research-recording.
The full Rent Officer Handbook can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/valuation-office-agency-rent-officer-handbook.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2019 to Question 250471, what information her Department has provided to London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the (a) number and (b) contact details of those people whose claims were wrongly recorded on the ATLAS system.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As part of the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) underpayment exercise we are informing Local Authorities of any new and past awards of income-related ESA where Local Authorities have registered an interest via the relevant system, in line with our business as usual procedures.
We are in the process of developing additional guidance to support Local Authorities to consider further any possible impacts on individuals of the ESA underpayment exercise.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 266836 on Shared Accommodation Rate, what standard deduction rent officers make for fuel from the advertised rents for rooms in shared accommodation in the (a) Central London, (b) Inner East London, (c) Inner North London, (d) Inner South East London, (e) Inner South West London and (f) Inner West London Broad Rental Market Areas.
Answered by Will Quince
There are no standard deductions for ineligible services for the specific Broad Rental Market Areas listed. In order to ensure a consistent approach, Rent Officers have a national guide to service deductions which has been arrived at following research of utility company pricing. The Rent Officer refers to the standard deductions and decides whether it is appropriate to apply them, however ultimately each case will be looked at on an individual basis.