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  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many war veterans have applied for personal independence payment.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Information on the number of claims to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) by war veterans is not available as details about current or previous occupations are not collected as part of the application or assessment process.

    Service personnel and veterans who are entitled to a Guaranteed Income Payment of 50% or higher through the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are eligible to apply for Armed Forces Independence Payment instead of PIP. There have been 873 applications for this payment to date.

  • Louise Ellman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Louise Ellman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make representations to his Danish counterpart on reopening the inquest into the death of commercial diver Stephen O’Malley in 2012.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Under powers in the Coroners Act 1988 (as amended) a new coroner investigation may be ordered by the High Court, with the authority of the Attorney General, where it is in the interests of justice to do so because of fraud, rejection of evidence, irregularity of proceedings or insufficiency of inquiry in the original inquest or new facts or evidence have come to light. It therefore falls outside the responsibility of the Secretary of State.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 13246 on digital technology, what support universal credit provides for people without digital skills to gain them.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Those people without digital skills will be offered support through Universal Credit (UC) to make and manage their claims on-line, and also to acquire and improve their digital skills.

    DWP is also working with Local Authorities to build claimants’ digital capability.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 13246, what payment is given to libraries to partner with the Department on digital inclusion.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department does not make any direct payments to libraries in relation to partnering on the delivery of digital inclusion.

    DWP is working with Local Authorities through ‘Universal Support’ to build claimants’ digital capability. Libraries are one potential route for delivering this support, where deemed appropriate by our Local Authority partners.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2015 to Question 11786 and the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10360, on universal credit, whether a box for universal credit exists on NHS charges claim forms.

    Alistair Burt

    Some NHS Help with Health Costs claim forms, for example HC5 refund claim forms, have been amended to include a specific tick box to enable Universal Credit recipients to claim entitlement.

    Form HC1 (NHS Low Income Scheme application form) has been amended to include a sentence about Universal Credit, to advise those applying that until 31 October 2015, anyone in receipt of Universal Credit does not need to complete the form, as they will already be entitled to Help with Health Costs.

    Other forms, including: NHS prescription forms (FP10); dental treatment claim forms (FP17) and claims for NHS funded sight tests (GOS 1) and for vouchers for glasses or contact lenses (GOS 3) will be amended to include a Universal Credit box in due course.

    A patient can make a claim for entitlement by ticking the “gets income based Jobseekers Allowance” on relevant forms. Guidance for both the public and healthcare practitioners (such as pharmacists, dentist and opticians) has been included on NHS Choices with links from the Universal Credit webpages on Gov.uk.

  • Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants in 2014-15 were not British citizens.

    Priti Patel

    The information as requested is not available.

  • Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the welfare budget was spent on child benefit in 2014-15.

    Damian Hinds

    The latest available estimates of Child Benefit expenditure in 2014-15 can be found in Table 4.19 of the publication ‘Economic and fiscal outlook – July 2015’ available here: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-july-2015/

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  • Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the welfare budget was spent on the state pension in 2014-15.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Total State Pension expenditure in 2014/15 was £86,516m.

    Detailed information on benefit expenditure is available in our Benefit Expenditure tables which can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2015

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  • Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the welfare budget was spent on employment and support allowance, incapacity benefit and income support claimants or universal credit claims with sickness or disability elements in 2014-15.

    Priti Patel

    The benefit expenditure for 2014/15 is in the table below:

    Benefit 2014/15 expenditure £m
    Employment & Support Allowance 12,827
    Incapacity Benefit 245
    Income Support incapacity 389
    Severe Disablement Allowance 735
    Total 14,196

    Severe Disablement Allowance is a non-contributory version of Incapacity Benefit and is included here for completeness. Information on the sickness or disability element of Universal Credit is currently unavailable.

    Detailed information on benefit expenditure is available in our Benefit Expenditure tables which can be found at:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2015

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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 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households who have claimed universal credit have also applied for an alternative payment arrangement for their housing costs; and how many such applications have been successful.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

    The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

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