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  • Jon Trickett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jon Trickett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that disabled people are given appropriate support to lead an active and independent lifestyle.

    Justin Tomlinson

    This Government has an ambitious vision for disabled people, which is set out in our cross-government disability strategy: Fulfilling Potential which we published in 2013.

    Fulfilling Potential aims to remove the barriers that disabled people face to enable them to fulfil their potential, live independently and have equal opportunities to play a full and active role in society.

    We developed our approach with disabled people and it reflects what they have said is important to bring about the changes that will have a real and lasting impact on their day-to-day lives.

    As part of our approach we are committed to continuing to provide support for those disabled people who need it, whilst enabling those who can work to do so. We continue to spend around £50 billion on services and benefits for disabled people. We are committed to halving the disability employment gap and over the last year, we have seen disability employment increase by over 226,000.

  • Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives of (i) the Taxpayers’ Alliance, (ii) the Confederation of British Industry, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) the Adam Smith Institute, (v) the Freedom Association, (vi) the Politics and Economics Research Trust and (vii) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications

    Further publications of Ministerial meetings will be published in due course.

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  • Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 2.115 of the Summer Budget 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effects of a four-year freeze on employment and support allowance on people with long-term disabilities; and if he will make a statement.

    Priti Patel

    The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. These are available on the Parliament website.

    http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/welfarereformandwork/documents.html

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  • Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 2.115 of the Summer Budget 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of freezing local housing allowance on the availability of private rented accommodation for claimants in London.

    Justin Tomlinson

    No assessment has been made of the effect of freezing rates on the availability or affordability of accommodation for claimants in London. There will be measures in place to help support people who may be impacted. Each year, 30 per cent of the savings from this measure will be used to create Targeted Affordability Funding to help areas where rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation. In addition the Government has enhanced its package of Discretionary Housing Payment funding – £800 million over 5 years- which is designed to enable local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants and support households adjusting to Welfare Reform changes, including the freeze to LHA rates.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that deafblind people unable to use a telephone or complete paper forms are able to submit claims for personal independence payments.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The claim process for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has been developed involving claimants and people who support disabled people. This includes organisations which represent individuals with sensory impairments, including Sense, the deafblind charity, and Deafblind UK.

    The current process allows for someone else to start the application for PIP over the telephone with the claimant present when the call is made. If a face-to-face visit and a specialist interpreter is required we would seek to provide one.

    For the remainder of the process the claim forms, paper guidance and general information are available in a range of formats including large print, Braille, audio and British Sign Language.

    We are working with Sense and RNIB in the development of the PIP Digital Claim. This will involve deafblind people testing the design and giving us feedback which we will use to make improvements to the online journey.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the merits of providing concessions to ease the cost of automatic-enrolment pensions for small businesses.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.

    DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.

    NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.

    The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of Child Support Agency enforcement rates for payment of child maintenance.

    Priti Patel

    The latest published figures show 88% of cases on the 1993 and 2003 schemes and 88% of case groups on the 2012 scheme contributing towards their current maintenance liability.

    Where a non-resident parent fails to meet their liabilities, the Child Support Agency has a range of enforcement powers. For example, child maintenance can be taken directly from bank accounts and wages; and the Government has also introduced a new power to disclose non-compliance to credit reference agencies.

    The total number of enforcement actions taken by the Agency can be found on page 41 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics June 2015 available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics–2.

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  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the costs of automatic-enrolment of pensions on small businesses.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.

    DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.

    NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.

    The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance he has issued to the Child Support Agency on reporting allegations of fraudulent tax claims to HM Revenue and Customs.

    Priti Patel

    For any suspected issues of fraud, including those relating to HM Revenue and Customs, the Child Support Agency’s Online Business Procedures (OLBPs) advise caseworkers to complete a referral on the Fraud Referral and Intervention Management System (FRAIMS), which is a single, nationally networked IT system.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders issued by the Child Support Agency (CSA) for the non-payment of child maintenance resulted in (a) bailiffs acting on the CSA’s behalf, (b) a county court third-party debt order, (c) an order of disqualification and (d) a warrant of commitment.

    Priti Patel

    The Department records statistics on the number of instances of different types of enforcement actions and publishes these in the Quarterly Summary Statistics. This information is set out on Page 41 of the Child Support Agency quarterly summary of statistics which can be accessed online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2015.

    Note:

    A County Court third-party debt order was the enforcement action used prior to the introduction of Regular and Lump Sum Deduction Orders.

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