Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking post-legislative scrutiny of the Fraud Act 2006 and its potential impact on female welfare claimants.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made as this is not a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Ministry of Justice carried out a post-implementation review on the Fraud Act 2006: Post-legislative Assessment of the Fraud Act 2006 (publishing.service.gov.uk) and the Home Office have confirmed that on 12 October 2023 the Government launched the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences. Part two of the Review will evaluate the operation of the Fraud Act: Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).’
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
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 potential merits of introducing (a) periods of amnesty and (b) lower repayment plans to help tackle fraud in the welfare system.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Fraud and error is £8.3bn and the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and recover overpayments when they occur.
The Department’s priority is to negotiate affordable and sustainable repayment plans that do not cause undue financial hardship. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and encourage customers to contact DWP Debt Management. Debt Management will work with individuals to review their financial circumstances and, in most instances, a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment can also be agreed.
No assessment has been carried out on the potential merits of introducing amnesties.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new staff have been recruited to work on the Access to Work programme in each of the last six months for which data is available; and whether her Department plans to recruit more staff to work on this programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Please find figures for new staff that have been recruited to work on the Access to Work programme for the last 6 months.
Month | Number of new staff |
November 2023 | 14 |
December 2023 | 1 |
January 2024 | 1 |
February 2024 | 30 |
March 2024 | 4 |
April (at 23/4/24) | 7 |
An additional 95 staff will be redeployed to Access to Work in May/June 2024 and another 13 are expected through recruitment in May 2024.
Month | Number of staff |
May / June 2024 | 108 |
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the staff turnover rate for his Department is as of 25 April 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The departments turnover figures are only available at the end of each month. The DWP turnover rate as of 31st March 2024 is 7.3%.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on meeting its Greening Government Commitment targets.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP’s 2023/24 GGC performance is currently being collated and will be submitted to DEFRA at the end of May 2024. Therefore, 2022/23 is the latest full year of GGC data that is available and a summary of DWP’s performance (including our ALBs) against each of the headline GGC targets from 2022/23 is provided below. Further details of DWP’s performance (excluding ALBs) is available in DWP’s 2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts.
Target A: Mitigating climate change: working towards net zero by 2050
DWP reduced our total greenhouse gas emissions by 32% compared to the 17/18 baseline, which is on track to meet the target to reduce by 45% by 2024/25.
DWP reduced our direct greenhouse gas emissions by 1% compared to the 17/18 baseline. During the pandemic DWP took on c.200 additional properties to respond to national requirements. These buildings were still part of the estate in 2022/23 which impacted the direct greenhouse gas emissions performance; however, significant estate rationalisation has occurred during 2023/24 and we forecast we will meet the 2024/25 target to reduce by 17%.
Target B: Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency
DWP reduced our total waste generated by 31% compared to the 2017/18 baseline, exceeding the target to reduce by 15% by 2024/25.
Target C: Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency
DWP reduced our water consumption by 19% compared to the 2017/18 baseline, exceeding the target to reduce by 8% by 2024/25.
Target D: Procuring sustainable products and services
DWP has a sustainable procurement policy and ensures all procurement activities comply with the Government Buying Standards, meeting the target requirements.
Target E: Nature Recovery – making space for thriving plants and wildlife
DWP has developed a draft nature recovery plan and intend to finalise this before 2024/25 to meet the target requirements.
Target F: Adapting to climate change
DWP has developed a climate change adaptation strategy which includes a climate change risk assessment and climate change adaptation plan for its estates and operations, meeting the target requirements.
Target G: Reducing environmental impacts from information communication technology (ICT) and digital
DWP provide annual reporting data against the ICT & digital services strategy and provide membership to the sustainable technology advice and reporting team, meeting the target requirements.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the increase in Access to Work applications between September 2023 and March 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
AtW is one of a suite of policies aimed at helping disabled people to enter and thrive in work. Access to Work (AtW) remains in high demand. We have increased the number of staff processing AtW claims and are prioritising renewal applications and those with a job start within four weeks. We are improving the service through increased digitisation to improve the time from application through to decision.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, who the specialist work and health professionals are that will be responsible for issuing fit notes; and whether his Department plans to provide training to those professionals on the range of health conditions relevant to the issuing of fit notes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The trailblazers announced at Autumn Statement 2023 will recruit clinical and non-clinical professionals into roles where they will be provided with additional training and support to conduct robust and in-depth work and health conversations with people, who in turn will be provided with advice and guidance on how they might be able to stay in, or return to, work with the support of their employer.
Our ambition is to co-develop a new fit note process delivered through multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together the issuing of fit notes with health and work advice to support people who are at risk of falling out of work or who have already fallen out of work due to ill health.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department held discussions with organisations representing disabled people on the announcements made in the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State, and ministers, regularly meet with organisations representing disabled people, regarding a range of issues, including welfare. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on gov.uk in line with transparency data releases and can be found here: DWP ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, - GOV.UK
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 potential impact of the levels of benefits on economic inactivity due to ill health.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for split payments of Universal Credit his Department (a) received and (b) granted in each year from 2016.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.