Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect on staffing levels at each tier of employment in her Department of the appointment of Interserve as the contractor for facilities management.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Interserve does not provide any services which are provided, or were previously provided, by DWP staff. It is unlikely, therefore, that DWP staffing levels would be affected.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh 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 quality of services delivered by Interserve since it was contracted to provide facilities management services to his Department.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Since contract commencement DWP has assessed the quality of services as per the terms of the agreed contract delivered by Interserve and this is via a performance management system which measures service delivery against agreed contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This performance management is monitored on a monthly basis by DWP Integrator (Sodexo).
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the criteria are for determining which WASPI cases submitted to the Independent Case Examiner are referred to the Parliamentary Ombudsman; and who makes the final decision on which cases are referred.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Independent Case Examiner is independent. All final investigation reports issued by the Independent Case Examiner explain that if the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation into their complaint, they can ask their Member of Parliament to escalate the matter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Decisions on whether a referral is made to the Parliamentary Ombudsman rest with the relevant Member of Parliament.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases relating to her Department have been considered by the (a) Independent Case Examiner and (b) Parliamentary Ombudsman in each month since January 2017.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The table below details the number of complaint examinations concluded by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office in relation to the Department for Work and Pensions and its service providers, in each month since January 2017.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has agreed to write to the Hon. Member with the information requested.
Month | Complaint Examinations Concluded by Independent Case Examiner’s Office |
January 2017 | 73 |
February 2017 | 71 |
March 2017 | 115 |
April 2017 | 57 |
May 2017 | 84 |
June 2017 | 85 |
July 2017 | 83 |
August 2017 | 69 |
September 2017 | 71 |
October 2017 | 81 |
November 2017 | 76 |
December 2017 | 65 |
January 2018 | 85 |
February 2018 | 82 |
March 2018 | 83 |
April 2018 | 74 |
May 2018 | 87 |
June 2018 | 108 |
July 2018 | 91 |
August 2018 | 104 |
September 2018 | 91 |
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which fruitless payments in excess of £30,000 her Department has made by (a) recipient of each such payment, (b) purpose of each such payment, (c) value of each such payment and (d) reason that payment was classified as fruitless in the 2017-18 financial year to date.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
For 2017/18 that information is not yet available but will be disclosed when the Department publishes its 2017/18 Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what age group his Department's advertising campaign to encourage people to check the value of their State Pension is intended to target.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The ‘Get to know your State Pension’ campaign encourages people of working age to use the Check your State Pension service for a forecast of their entitlement and their State Pension age. More than 6 million forecasts have now been issued by the service.
Whilst the campaign is primarily aimed at those aged 40 to State Pension age, advertising through most channels will reach all age groups.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of decisions on whether employment and support allowance claimants will not have to undergo further work capability assessments as a result of a lifelong, progressive, degenerative or incurable condition will be made as a result of a paper-based assessment.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
This information is not available.
Only Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit equivalent claimants, with the most severe and lifelong health condition or disabilities, who are unlikely to ever be able to move in to work, will fall within this criteria. We expect the majority of these claimants will be assessed on paper, and will not need a face to face assessment