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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22645, what estimate he has made of the potential cost of answering that question for each of the resources that would be so required.

Justin Tomlinson

We estimate that it would require a departmental analyst to spend 4.5 working days to research, collate and analyse the data and around 0.5 further days of oversight and checking of methodology from a senior analyst. This would result in a total cost of around £1,500, which is significantly in excess of the limit for disproportionate costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s arrangements with French authorities for processing reimbursement claims from UK citizens for state-funded health treatment received in France.

Justin Tomlinson

European Union Regulations on the coordination of social security systems include provisions on how citizens may obtain healthcare in other EEA states. These are longstanding legislative arrangements which include the use of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), as well as how the resulting bills are settled between states. The European Commission and the member states are jointly responsible for assessing the effectiveness of the regulations on an on-going basis and where necessary the Commission will recommend any proposed changes for consideration and agreement with the member states.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for which countries that the UK has reimbursement arrangements with under the European Health Insurance Card regulations his Department has identified as not having staff with relevant language skills.

Justin Tomlinson

There is no requirement for DWP staff to have foreign language skills when dealing with EEA Member States in relation to the reimbursement process under the EHIC regulations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what arrangements are in place to enable UK citizens to submit reimbursement claims under the European Health Insurance Card regulations; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of those arrangements.

Justin Tomlinson

In the UK, the NHS Choices website provides comprehensive information on the arrangements that are in place to enable UK citizens to submit reimbursement claims under the EU regulations. Such claims are dealt with by a dedicated team in the Department for Work and Pensions – the DWP Overseas Healthcare Team. Contact details for the DWP Overseas Healthcare Team are provided on the NHS Choices website and may also be found on the EHIC itself.

The reimbursement processes to which all member states adhere have been in place for many years and work in much the same way across Europe. The European Commission and the member states are jointly responsible for assessing the effectiveness of the regulations on an on-going basis and where necessary the Commission will recommend any proposed changes for consideration and agreement with the member states.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what languages his Department’s overseas health team is trained to speak.

Justin Tomlinson

There is no requirement for DWP staff to have foreign language skills when dealing with EEA Member States in relation to the reimbursement process under the EHIC regulations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidelines are in place on the amount of time that should be taken to process reimbursement claims from UK citizens for health treatment in other European countries; and what data his Department holds on the average amount of time taken to process such claims.

Justin Tomlinson

The EU regulations do not provide set timescales for the processing of reimbursement claims. The DWP Overseas Healthcare Team work proactively with colleagues in the other EEA states to progress reimbursement claims on behalf of UK citizens. When all the appropriate information is received from the relevant EEA state, such claims are normally cleared for reimbursement within 10 days.