Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claims for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits which are refused following medical assessment but are subsequently overturned at Tribunal are fully backdated and paid out in full to the claimant.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
All Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) claims overturned at Tribunal will be paid full arrears for the appropriate period in line with the Tribunal’s decision, unless the Tribunal’s decision is overturned in any subsequent appeal to the Upper Tribunal or a Higher Court.
Information on appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, including IIDB appeals, is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Specifically, information on the number of appeal receipts, disposals and outcomes of IIDB appeals, can be found in the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tables: SSCS_1, SSCS_2 and SSCS_3 of the Main Tables.
The information requested on the proportion of IIDB claims which are refused following medical assessment, but are subsequently overturned at Tribunal that are fully backdated and paid out in full to the claimant, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of early salary payments paid via bank credits on working recipients of Universal Credit and their benefit assessment period and level of entitlement to UC payments.
Answered by Guy Opperman
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the numbers of people using foodbanks.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
This Government is committed to understanding and addressing poverty which is why we have published official estimates of foodbank use for the first time. National statistics on food bank use for 2021/22 are available here. We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.
The latest statistics show that in 2021/22, 93% of individuals were food secure.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any paying parents were placed on deduction of earnings orders incorrectly due to backlogs in the Child Maintenance Service linking payments to cases in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Child Maintenance Service apply the Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO) process when a missed payment is identified. There is no data held identifying the number of occasions where an application of a DEO has been made in error due when a Paying Parent has in fact made a payment to the service but that payment has not been identified at the time of placing the DEO.
To encourage contact and dialogue from Paying Parents when a missed payment is identified the Child Maintenance Service attempts to make contact with Paying Parents prior to considering a DEO. These include sending an automated SMS text message and a warning letter highlighting the missed payment to the Paying Parent. The warning letter explains the consequences of non-payment including enforcement action.
If the Paying Parent does not make contact the Child Maintenance Service automatically search for a current employer link via the HM Revenue and Customs database. A call is then made to the employer to confirm the Paying Parent is still employed with them and payroll information is obtained. Once the DEO is issued Child Maintenance Service contact the employer once again to confirm safe receipt and to advise on how to implement the order. Throughout this period the Paying Parent has the opportunity to contact Child Maintenance Service to discuss the missed payment.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people in receipt of Carer's Allowance in Lewisham East constituency.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The most recent caseload statistics for Carer’s Allowance refer to August 2022 and are available on DWP Stat-Xplore. In August 2022, the Carer’s Allowance in payment caseload in Lewisham East constituency was 1,481 claimants.
The link to access Stat-Xplore is https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for using Stat-Xplore is available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 removing qualifying days in the context of the eligibility criteria for Statutory Sick Pay.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
In the Health is Everyone’s Business consultation, the Government set out proposals for limited reforms to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), including consideration of the role qualifying days have.
In response to the consultation (2021), the Government maintained that SSP provides an important link between the employee and employer but that this was not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system. The Government is continuing to keep the SSP system under review.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January to Question 131286 on Disability: Government Assistance, what recent progress his Department has made on launching the consultation on the Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We are planning to consult on the Disability Action Plan this summer and to publish the final plan once we have fully considered the consultation responses. This consultation in the summer will be an opportunity for everyone - disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, other interested parties - to have their say on the Disability Action Plan. It will be fully accessible to ensure that disabled people can take part. We will consider all responses to the consultation carefully before publishing the final Disability Action Plan.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2023 to Question 148651 on the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, if he will list the stakeholders that his Department have consulted on those regulations.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Officials from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regularly engage with a wide range of stakeholders as part of their day-to-day business, covering many matters on both a formal and informal basis. HSE has good working knowledge to inform any decisions they need to make in relation to their approach with the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. If required, HSE has various established channels of communication with stakeholders to obtain supplementary information.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
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 adequacy of the system of payment enforcement used by the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMS compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours. CMS applies a Continuous Improvement focus to Enforcement strategy and processes.
Total child maintenance collected using Enforcement Actions amounted to £36.1 million in the quarter to December 2022 compared with £33.6 in December 2021 and £30.8 in December 2020. This rise in collections is linked directly to increased collections through Deductions from Earnings Orders, lump sum and regular deductions taken directly from paying parents’ bank accounts, Liability Order and Bailiff actions and making full use of all available sanctions.
(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 7.1 ‘Enforcement Actions’, April 2015 to December 2022).
As a result of a focussed effort to increase enforcement activity £49.1 million was paid through the Collect & Pay service in the quarter ending December 2022 compared to £46.6. million in the quarter ending December 2021.
(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 5 ‘Money Due and Paid each quarter’ January 2015 to December 2022).
There has been a consistent downward trend in the proportion of unpaid maintenance as a proportion of maintenance arranged since 2017, falling from 12.5% in 2017 to 8% in December 2022.
(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables - table 6 ‘ how much maintenance CMS has arranged March 2015 to December 2022).
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Independent Case Examiner is taking steps to reduce the time between a complaint being accepted and the allocation of that complaint to an investigator.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The ICE process has several stages. When a referral is received the team initially considers whether, without undertaking a detailed examination of the evidence, a resolution can be brokered with the relevant department or its supplier. If resolution cannot be achieved, and the complaint is accepted, the case awaits allocation to an investigator who, following a review of the evidence, will first consider if settlement is appropriate. This requires the relevant department or its supplier to agree action with the complainant. Full investigation reports of detailed findings and any recommendations for redress are based on a thorough examination of case evidence.
The ICE office continues to review its internal processes and structures to make the most efficient use of its investigative resource. Between 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023, the office has recruited an additional 18 Investigators and is seeking to recruit up to its agreed headcount.