Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Litigant in Person portal will provide adequate protection to (a) minors and (b) vulnerable people.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government confirmed on 3 July 2019 to the Justice Select Committee that it will exempt, for the time being, children and protected parties from the increase in the small claims track limit to £5,000 for road traffic accident related personal injury claims. This will mean that children and protected parties will not be required to use the new IT Service and the Pre-Action Protocol. The Government believes this is a pragmatic way forward which will enable further testing of the new processes before considering further whether they are extended to this group of claimants.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take to support a Litigant in Person to manage a claim through the portal if the litigant does not have access to the internet.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that there may be some claimants who will be unable or unwilling to access the new IT Service. As a result, the new platform is being designed to include specific support from a bespoke contact centre service to support those claimants who do not have access to, or cannot use, the digital service.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse is of the (a) design, (b) construction and (c) annual operation of the Litigant in Person portal.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is working in partnership with its key delivery partner, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, in designing and developing a new IT Service to enable injured claimants to progress their own Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims under the new £5,000 small claims track limit.
The costs associated with this new service will be funded by the insurance industry. As such, there are no costs to the public purse arising from the design, build and annual operation of the new service.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fixed penalty notices have been issued to people crossing the Mersey Gateway bridge in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Mersey Gateway Bridge and its tolling operation are the responsibility of Halton Borough Council and its operational company the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board. It is contracted to Merseyflow.
The Department of Transport does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many unpaid fixed penalty notices for crossing the Mersey Gateway bridge resulted in action from a bailiff in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Mersey Gateway Bridge and its tolling operation are the responsibility of Halton Borough Council and its operational company the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board. It is contracted to Merseyflow.
The Department of Transport does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people applying for an advance claim for universal credit receive the payment (a) on the same day as their application, (b) on the following day, (c) within two days, (d) within three days, (e) within four days and (f) after four days.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The data requested is not held. We aim to pay advances on Universal Credit within 72 hours. However, an advance can be paid on the same day to the claimant, where necessary.
Applications for a Universal Credit advance can be made in a number of ways: in person, by telephone and also online. To identify and collate the total number of applications made would incur disproportionate cost. Consequently, we do not hold the information requested.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for universal credit have been closed due to the claimant not responding to an email or online request broken down by length of time in each year since its introduction.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not held by the Department.
The following table shows the number of claims closed and reason for closure for both new claims prior to payment and claims that were in payment:
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for universal credit from prison leavers have been (a) turned down and (b) delayed due to lack of ID in each year since its introduction.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Currently, we cannot identify and collate data on prison leavers on the Universal Credit platform in a systematic way. Due to this, we do not hold the information requested.
We are committed to gathering better data to support claimants with complex needs and have prioritised this as part of the wider work programme for Universal Credit, anything we do will be introduced incrementally and would be broad across complex needs rather than focusing on one particular group.
DWP and MoJ are working closely to deliver an improved Universal Credit claim process for prison leavers. We continue to work collaboratively with MoJ to explore options to overcome a number of issues, including the use of prison documentation as proof of identity for Universal Credit claims. We also continue to explore options for claims to be made via telephony channels.
At present, there are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity for Universal Credit purposes: online using the gov.uk verify service; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions, for those who do not have identity documents.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people leaving prison had ID verification interviews in JobCentre Plus centres for universal credit applications in 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Currently, we cannot identify and collate data on prison leavers on the Universal Credit platform in a systematic way. Due to this, we do not hold the information requested.
We are committed to gathering better data to support claimants with complex needs and have prioritised this as part of the wider work programme for Universal Credit, anything we do will be introduced incrementally and would be broad across complex needs rather than focusing on one particular group.
DWP and MoJ are working closely to deliver an improved Universal Credit claim process for prison leavers. We continue to work collaboratively with MoJ to explore options to overcome a number of issues, including the use of prison documentation as proof of identity for Universal Credit claims. We also continue to explore options for claims to be made via telephony channels.
At present, there are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity for Universal Credit purposes: online using the gov.uk verify service; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions, for those who do not have identity documents.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of prison leavers who applied for universal credit through a work coach have received an advance payment on the day of release in each year since its introduction.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Currently, we cannot identify and collate data on prison leavers on the Universal Credit platform in a systematic way. Due to this, we do not hold the information requested.
We are committed to gathering better data to support claimants with complex needs and have prioritised this as part of the wider work programme for Universal Credit, anything we do will be introduced incrementally and would be broad across complex needs rather than focusing on one particular group.
DWP and MoJ are working closely to deliver an improved Universal Credit claim process for prison leavers. We continue to work collaboratively with MoJ to explore options to overcome a number of issues, including the use of prison documentation as proof of identity for Universal Credit claims. We also continue to explore options for claims to be made via telephony channels.
At present, there are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity for Universal Credit purposes: online using the gov.uk verify service; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions, for those who do not have identity documents.