Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons appointments were cancelled by Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd in each local authority area in each month of that organisation's contract with his Department.
Answered by Priti Patel
Work capability assessments are delivered by Centre for Health Disability Assessments (CHDA is a MAXIMUS company).
Nationally, in the quarter from January 2016 to March 2016, the number of completed assessments was 417,143 and the number of cancellations was 10,143.
Information is not available by local authority area.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 gather the views of and comments from claimants regarding their experiences with Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Department has a formal contractual requirement on CHDA to report on claimant engagement and perception of the service they receive.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 amount his Department has spent on re-assessing incapacity benefit claimants who successfully appeal against a finding of non-qualification in each year since 2010.
Answered by Priti Patel
We do not hold specific information on the cost of Incapacity Benefit reassessments (IBR) overturned at appeal, as assessment contracts cover all types of assessment, not just IBRs.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many companies have signed up to the Veterans Guaranteed Interview scheme in each year since its inception.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Veterans Interview Programme was launched in November 2012 as a non-political, cross party initiative. It was purposefully set up with light governance arrangements to ensure the focus is on support for veterans and not on completing paperwork. Although DWP provides support for the scheme on this basis, employers are not required to let the Department know once they have decided to take part in the programme. As a result we do not have the information available to answer this question.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to provide support to people diagnosed with cancer in the work-related activity group of employment and support allowance who will be affected by the proposed reductions in benefits for people in that group.
Answered by Priti Patel
No current claimants, including those diagnosed with cancer, will be affected by the change to the work-related activity component and we have already committed to providing up £100m in new, practical support for claimants with limited capability for work to help them move closer to the labour market and, when they are ready, into work.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2015 to Question 1696, what his timetable is for changing automatic entitlement to housing benefit for people aged 18 to 21.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As set out in the 8th July’s budget, this policy will be introduced for certain new Universal Credit claims from April 2017. All claimants that are receiving Housing Benefit will not be affected by this policy.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will develop a single and clear set of guidelines for micro-businesses who will be required to automatically enrol their employees with a pension scheme for the first time to ensure that they can access the information they require cost-effectively.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department continues to work with The Pensions Regulator to support micro employers in meeting their automatic enrolment duties as simply and cost effectively as possible. This includes working with accountants, bookkeepers, payroll bureaus and other intermediaries to ensure they are ready to support smaller employers effectively.
The first cohort of the smallest employers began to comply with their automatic enrolment duties from 1 June this year. We continue to receive feedback about the experience of employers. We are learning all the time and have adapted and improved the process and the support available.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department plans to offer micro-businesses in adapting to new automatic enrolment pension provisions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department continues to work with The Pensions Regulator to support micro employers in meeting their automatic enrolment duties as simply and cost effectively as possible. This includes working with accountants, bookkeepers, payroll bureaus and other intermediaries to ensure they are ready to support smaller employers effectively.
The first cohort of the smallest employers began to comply with their automatic enrolment duties from 1 June this year. We continue to receive feedback about the experience of employers. We are learning all the time and have adapted and improved the process and the support available.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received on the potential risk of pensions auto-enrolment packages and products being mis-sold to micro-businesses.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department continues to work with The Pensions Regulator to support the smallest employers in meeting their automatic enrolment duties as simply and cost effectively as possible. The Regulator has provided guidance for employers on choosing a pension scheme and is continuing to consider how best to support employers in this important decision.
The Government introduced a package of measures in April to strengthen governance in schemes used for automatic enrolment and protect members from high or inappropriate charges. This includes the introduction of a 0.75 per cent cap on charges in the default funds of schemes used for automatic enrolment.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker's allowance claimants have received an (a) second, (b) third and (c) fourth sanction in each quarter since January 2010.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Sanctions only occur as a last resort, where supportive and co-operative work has failed to encourage the claimant to engage. The vast majority of claimants do not get sanctioned and of those who are sanctioned most receive just one sanction during their claim.
The information we have on the number of individuals receiving more than one sanction is published at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/