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  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to update the Pension Service leaflet entitled, A detailed guide to State Pensions to include the introduction of the new State Pension from 6 April 2016.

    Justin Tomlinson

    “A detailed guide to State Pensions” (publication NP46) was a technical guide aimed primarily at third party advisers and stakeholders, not general members of the public. This guide has not been available since 2010.

    We continue to work with stakeholders to supply detailed information on the new State Pension before April 2016.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new state pension statements have been returned due to being sent to the wrong address since May 2014.

    Justin Tomlinson

    We do not have the information requested. I can confirm we have a robust process in place to review all incorrect address returns and properly scrutinise and update customer account details when address is confirmed.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of (a) the extent to which UK pension funds are investing in fossil fuel and high carbon industries and (b) the potential effect of climate change on the stability of the UK pension sector; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Investment of UK pension funds is a matter for the trustees of the scheme. Trustees are required to take advice on investment from a suitably qualified person to ensure they are appropriate. Trustees make investments according to a statement of investment principles they prepare after taking advice. The statement will set out the extent to which the trustees take into account environmental considerations when making investments.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases qualifying information on child maintenance non-compliance has been supplied to a credit reference agency, pursuant to section 40 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, since the commencement of that provision.

    Priti Patel

    The Child Maintenance Group (CMG) has shared case information with credit reference agencies on cases where there has been child maintenance non-compliance. These cases were solely for sampling purposes as part of a pilot to test the potential gains from sharing such information and to assure our business processes. The information supplied to the credit reference agencies during the pilot was not recorded on any of their live systems and following the pilot was destroyed in accordance with DWP security procedures.

    On 30 November 2015 CMG will begin to issue the 21 day written warning of intention to disclose non-compliance information on all cases where the debt accrued has been recognised and a Liability Order to support this granted in the Magistrates / Sheriffs court. Where payment is still not received, the intention is to commence supplying this information to credit reference agencies in early 2016 for their use.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of cleansing the arrears balances of all existing Child Support Agency cases and establishing those costs on the 2012 statutory scheme.

    Priti Patel

    The Department is committed to closing the old child maintenance case management system. In the process of doing this the Department will bring cases up to date, correct obvious inaccuracies, and write off arrears where appropriate, for which there will be a temporary cost within the £236m outlined in the impact assessment that the Department published in 2013.

    The cost of caseworker activity to review and update arrears on the existing systems for the 1.2m CSA cases expected to have an arrears balance is estimated to be £75m. This comprises: bringing all outstanding actions on the case up to date; reviewing the outstanding balance to incorporate those actions and eliminate obvious errors; establish whether the receiving parent wishes to write off any or all of the balance and take write off action if appropriate; and take the control actions to mark the case as closed.

    Establishing those arrears on the new Child Maintenance system is estimated to cost £25m. This comprises: action to add the arrears to the schedule of amounts due produced by the 2012 system; and ensuring that where more than one receiving parent is due maintenance from the same paying parent, outstanding balances from the 1993 and 2003 schemes are correctly allocated.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2015 to Question 228147, by when his Department plans to complete its detailed consideration of the policy and processes for validating the arrears accrued on all existing Child Support Agency cases, including arrears accrued from Interim Maintenance Assessments; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that the final policy and processes arising from that consideration and the timetable for implementation are fully transparent.

    Priti Patel

    As part of the case closure process expected to run until 2017, all existing Child Support Agency (1993/2003) cases with outstanding arrears will go through a series of checks to validate their arrears balance.

    We have already started closing Child Support Agency cases by segments based on case characteristics, prioritising those with on-going liability before closing arrears only cases.

    Where the arrears balance has been validated and the receiving parent has not indicated that they want their arrears written off, the stable balance will then be transferred to the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme. Our approach to other historical debt, including Interim Maintenance Assessments remains under consideration.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nusrat Ghani – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the implementation of the National Living Wage on (a) the financial position of employers in the care sector and (b) the level of employment in that sector.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government has engaged with the care sector, including care providers, to understand the impact on the market arising from amongst other things, local authority commissioning behaviour and the introduction of the National Living Wage. This has included a number of deep dive sessions held with both care home businesses and providers of home care services.

    As part of its spending plans for the next four years the Government is giving local authorities access to £3.5 billion of new support for adult social care by 2019/20. Local authorities will be able to introduce a new Social Care Precept, allowing them to increase council tax by 2% above the existing threshold. The Government estimates this could raise nearly £2 billion a year for adult social care by 2019/20.

    Councils will need to increase the price they pay for care to cover costs for care providers such as the National Living Wage. To support this, the Social Care Precept puts money raising powers into the hands of local authorities which are best placed to target resources based on their understanding of their local care market.

    In terms of the levels of employment in the sector, the Department believes that effective recruitment and retention of a caring and skilled adult social care workforce has a central role to play in delivering high quality care and support to people who need it.

    Our challenge is to ensure the workforce has the right number of people to meet the demands of the future, with the right skills, knowledge and behaviours to deliver quality, compassionate care.

    DH will continue to work in partnership with delivery partners and key stakeholders to support effective recruitment practices and improved retention of the adult social care workforce.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the level of staff turnover in his Department was in each of the last five years; and what steps he is taking to reduce such turnover.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Departmental turnover rates at the end of the last 5 financial years are summarised in the table below:

    Year End

    Annual Turnover (%)

    March 11

    6.1

    March 12

    5.2

    March 13

    4.4

    March 14

    5.2

    March 15

    6.1

    Turnover is an important lever in enabling the Department to achieve the overall efficiencies required over the last and current parliaments whilst continuing to deliver and transform the services the Department provides. DWP’s turnover rate is assessed to be manageable and sustainable, and is consistent with current planning assumptions.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Deduction from Earnings Orders (a) have been issued and (b) are in place in respect of cases using the 2012 statutory maintenance scheme.

    Priti Patel

    This information is not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases using the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme are being dealt with by the legal enforcement team.

    Priti Patel

    The information you have requested is not currently available for publication.

    The Department published its strategy for releasing experimental statistics on the 2012 scheme on 26 February 2014, and this was updated on 30 September 2015.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/publication-strategy-for-the-2012-scheme-administered-by-the-child-maintenance-service

    “