Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Maintenance Service takes account of a person's lifestyle as well as income in determining liabilities for paying maintenance.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) does not take into account a person’s “lifestyle” in calculating a maintenance liability.
The CMS has access to income information held by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), allowing us to capture a much wider range of income types received by Paying Parents. The definition of income within the 2012 scheme includes almost all additional sources of gross income captured by self-assessment. We refer to this as “unearned income” and it includes incomes from property, savings and investments (including dividends) and other miscellaneous incomes.
This provides a more effective route to taking these kinds of income into account than the “lifestyle” ground which existed for the previous schemes of maintenance.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason annual increases to state pensions are made with reference to the inflation figures from October of the previous year.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Department uses prices and earnings indices published in October of the previous year to ensure that it has sufficient time to complete the legislative and operational changes required before new rates can be introduced at the start of the new financial year.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support the parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities to enable them to find employment.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Where parents of disabled children would like to go out to work, DWP wants to make it easier for them to do so. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches provide personalised support, tailored to meet the needs and requirements of the claimant, helping them to find work that fits with their individual circumstances. Work Coaches will also endeavour to support the claimant to overcome barriers that might make finding a job more difficult and will work with the individual to identify the most appropriate help available.
Under Universal Credit, extra financial support is available to parents for each dependent child who is disabled. Universal Credit also provides working parents with help with childcare costs. In April 2016, we extended this support to cover up to 85% of the eligible costs of childcare.
Parents of disabled children also receive help with childcare through the free childcare entitlements. All three and four year olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare per week, and we are extending this free entitlement to 30 hours per week for working parents of three and four year olds. In addition, two year olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare if they have a current statement of special educational need or an education, health and care plan, or receive Disability Living Allowance.
The Department for Education is consulting on additional funding for children with special education needs and disabilities as part of its consultation on early years funding which closes on 22 September 2016.
Working parents of disabled children will also benefit from extra support under Tax-Free Childcare which will be introduced from early 2017. This will provide Government support with childcare costs of up to £4,000 per year for a disabled child up to the age of 17.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of people with a (a) physical disability, (b) mental disability and (c) physical and mental disability in (i) the UK and (ii) Twickenham constituency.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
a) and b) Based on the latest available figures from the Department’s Family Resources Survey 2013/2014, an estimated 11.9 million people in the UK reported a disability. The table below provides more detailed information about the types of impairment that disabled people reported.
Table 1: Disability prevalence disaggregated by impairment type UK, 2013/14
| Millions of individuals |
Impairment type | 2013/14 |
Vision | 1.5 |
Hearing | 1.7 |
Mobility | 6.5 |
Dexterity | 3.4 |
Learning | 1.5 |
Memory | 1.9 |
Mental health | 2.1 |
Stamina/breathing/fatigue | 4.5 |
Social/behavioural | 0.8 |
Other | 1.8 |
All with at least one impairment | 11.9 |
Source: Family Resources Survey 2013/14
Respondents can report, and be affected by, more than one type of impairment.
c) Using the FRS an estimated 2.7 million people in the UK reported both a physical and mental disability. This estimate includes all individuals currently living in private households. It does not include individuals living in communal establishments (e.g. care homes).
For the purposes of this analysis, the following categories have been classified as physical disabilities;
Vision, Hearing, Mobility, Dexterity, and Stamina/Breathing/Fatigue.
The following categories have been classified as mental disabilities;
Learning, Memory, Mental Health, and Social/Behavioural
Note that disabilities classified as "other" have not been included in part c).
The department cannot provide figures in the format requested for Twickenham.
Aggregate level estimates of people with disability aged 16-64 in Twickenham can be found on the Nomis website based on the Annual Population Survey: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/select/getdatasetbytheme.asp?opt=3&theme=&subgrp=
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people (a) of working age, (b) of retirement age and (c) younger than working age are in receipt of (i) disability living allowance and (ii) personal independence payments in (A) the UK and (B) Twickenham constituency.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will be introduced in Northern Ireland later this year. Information regarding Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Office.
The number of people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance by geography and age is published and available at: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/dla/tabtool_dla.html. Guidance for users is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance.
Information on the number of claimants in receipt of PIP, by geography and age, is available from Stat-Xplore. https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value is of a personal independence payment in (a) the UK and (b) Twickenham constituency.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Information on average weekly payments of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is not published but can be calculated from the available claimant data extractable from Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/) and the amount of benefit paid by component combination. At the end of January 2016 the average amount payable to PIP recipients in Great Britain was £88.70 per week and £88.14 per week in the Twickenham parliamentary constituency.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will be introduced in Northern Ireland later this year and will be a matter for the Northern Ireland Office.