Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints her Department has received in relation to the effect on the calculation of child maintenance payments of annual bonus payments.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The department does not collate information on complaints received specifically in relation to the effect on the calculations of child maintenance payments due to annual bonus payments. Obtaining such information to answer this question could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of how annual bonuses affect the payments recipients of such bonuses are required to make through Child Maintenance Service arrangements.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
A central principle of the statutory child maintenance scheme is that parents should support children in line with the money they have earned. Bonus payments as well as any other earned income subject to tax are taken into account by the Child Maintenance Service to assess the amount of maintenance due. No estimate has been made on the difference such payments make to liabilities created.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
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 implications for his policies of the finding in the report by the National Audit Office, The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme, published in September 2016, that lack of access by resettled Syrians to personal independence payments and carer's allowance may cause difficulties to some refugees and have a negative impact on their experiences.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The UK is a world leader in supporting vulnerable people fleeing conflicts around the world and, as such, we have established an effective system to accommodate and shelter resettled people.
Refugees and those who have humanitarian protection status, such as persons resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme, are entitled to work and have access to some benefits upon arrival.
DWP has decided that the application of the Past Presence Test (PPT) should not apply to refugees for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and are currently considering how best to implement that change, including the impact to other benefits which use a similar PPT.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department plans to issue to its staff on the application of residency tests to refugees applying for disability living allowance.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Refugees and people in Great Britain with humanitarian protection status who are disabled and in need of financial support are entitled to claim Disability Living Allowance, providing they meet all the necessary conditions of entitlement set out in regulations.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to update the list of medical conditions covered by industrial injuries disablement benefit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) is the scientific body with the statutory role of advising Ministers on the list of prescribed diseases under the Industrial Injures Disablement Benefit scheme. In particular, which diseases and occupations should be prescribed for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit purposes.
IIAC continually reviews the scientific literature to ascertain whether the necessary level of proof may have become available with regard to diseases and occupations not currently included or if further consideration is required in respect of those already listed.
IIAC will revisit any subject if new, sound and consistent scientific evidence becomes available. The Government will then give careful consideration to any advice the Council may provide, and consider legislative proposals in the light of that advice.