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 plans he has to means test recipients of the winter fuel allowance.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There will be no change to the universal nature of the Winter Fuel Payment for the length of this Parliament.
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 assessment he has made of the effect of the Child Maintenance Service requiring victims of domestic violence to give their bank details to former partners on the victims' safety and peace of mind; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Child Maintenance Service understands how important it is to ensure that the system works for everyone, including victims of domestic violence and abuse. But we do not believe that a history of domestic violence and abuse has to be a barrier to using the Child Maintenance direct pay service.
When parents have a direct pay arrangement, caseworkers can act as an intermediary and pass information between parents, including bank details, so that the parents do not need to have any contact with each other.
They will also provide information about how to set up a bank account with a centralised sort code, which means that it gives no indication of the possible location of the account holder. Parents can also choose to have the money paid into someone else’s account.
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 discussions he has had with the Child Maintenance Service on the methods that it uses to ensure that payments are made.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Child Maintenance Service introduced collection and enforcement fees to encourage parents to make a collaborative arrangement and incentivise compliance.
If a paying parent fails to pay on time or in full, we aim to take immediate action to re-establish compliance. If necessary we can deduct on-going maintenance and arrears directly from earnings or from solely held bank accounts.
We also have a range of other strong civil enforcement powers including seizing property, removal of driving licences and commitment to prison.
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 the Government will implement the recommendations of the report of July 2016 from the Social Security Advisory Committee on introducing freephone numbers for the personal independent payment enquiry line.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Department’s current telephony numbering policy is that calls to claim benefit should be free, so it uses 0800 telephone numbers for these calls. The Department uses 0345 telephone numbers where customers call for other reasons. These are, typically, calls which take less time to resolve. If a customer raises concern over the cost of the call then we will offer to call them back.
At the moment, extending 0800 telephone numbers to other lines, including the Personal Independent Payment enquiry line, would be expensive.
That being said, DWP recognises that our numbering policy has been in place for some time and will be conducting a review. The Department will also be considering alternative contact channels for customers to transact with us.
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 calls have been made to the personal independence payment enquiry line in the last six months; and what the average waiting time was before those calls were answered.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The number of calls made to the Personal Independence Payment Enquiry line in the 6 month period from May 2016 to October 2016 was 1,455,474. The average speed of answer for calls received in the same period was 00:06:25.
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 people appointed to the taskforce to look at improving accessibility of apprenticeships for people with learning disabilities have learning difficulties.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The individuals invited to sit on the taskforce represent a range of organisations and specialisms, from employers and training providers to charities and educational experts. Organisations representing disabled people and those with learning disabilities have been invited to take part.
It would not be appropriate for DWP to disclose personal information about taskforce members.
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 contractual standards have been set for Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd for the number of completed work capability assessments.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Centre for Health Disability Assessments, a MAXIMUS Company, has a target of 1,170,000 completed assessments in 2016/17.
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 work capability assessments have been (a) completed and (b) cancelled by Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd in (i) total and (ii) each local authority area.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
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, 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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Department has a formal contractual requirement on CHDA to report on claimant engagement and perception of the service they receive.