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  • Mr Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mr Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Gareth Thomas on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of disability living allowance claims took longer than 40 days to process in each of the last three years for which data is available.

    Mike Penning

    Please see the table below showing the percentage of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) new claims, for Normal Rules (NR), that took longer than 40 days to process. Claims not yet processed within 40 days, include cases where we are awaiting additional information from the claimant and/or medical evidence.

    2012/13

    Volume of Claims Cleared

    402,861

    Volume of claims cleared after 40 working days

    89,678

    % of DLA New Claims (NR)
    cleared after 40 working days

    22.3%

    Prior to 2012/13 the measure reported against was an Actual Average Clearance Time (AACT). This is the cumulative clearance days divided by the number of cleared events within the reporting period.

    Please see the table below for 2010/11 and 2011/12:

    2010/11

    2011/12

    Volume of Claims Cleared

    431,572

    412,556

    AACT (Level 37.7 days)

    30.3

    27.2

    Notes:

    The reported figure only relates to DLA (NR) new claims. NR claims are those where the claimant is not terminally ill and the normal rules of entitlement therefore apply.

    The figures above cover the period from 1st April to 31st March and shows the national position including working age and child claimants.

    The AACT level (37.7 days) shown in the above table is a measure based on a prior year’s performance.

    We have not provided data for 2013/14 due to not having a full financial year available at this time.

    Source:

    Source: Department for Work and Pensions – RDA 80123 report – DLA Management Information Statistics

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was paid in jobseeker’s allowance to recipients in (a) Scotland and (b) Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency in the last 12 months.

    Esther McVey

    The amount paid in Jobseeker’s Allowance in 2012/13 can be found in the table below.

    2012/13
    £m

    JSA

    Scotland

    478

    Kilmarnock & Loudoun

    12

    Source: DWP statistical data

    Note: Expenditure is shown for the last complete financial year. The benefit expenditure for Jobseeker’s Allowance can be found in the Parliamentary Constituency tables as per link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/266825/pc-tables-201213.xls

    “

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides to assist deaf people in seeking employment.

    Mike Penning

    We do not target our employment support exclusively at individuals with particular impairments. Instead, through a range of programmes, we aim to identify and meet the needs of the individual, including the needs of deaf people.

    The Work Programme is the biggest single Welfare to Work programme, which provides personalised back-to-work support for unemployed people, including disabled people. For those that have more complex needs, we have a range of specialist disability employment programmes, including Access to Work, Work Choice and Residential Training Colleges, all of which support deaf people to take up and remain in employment. In particular, Access to Work can provide funding towards tailored support for deaf people such as specialist aids and equipment and British Sign Language Interpreters.

    Jobcentre Plus Disability Employment Advisers can provide support and advice for disabled people who need help finding and retaining employment.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people and what proportion of the working age population have been in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance for over (a) two and (b) five years in (i) Scotland and (ii) Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency.

    Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent meetings he has had with representatives of the deaf community.

    Mike Penning

    I met representatives from the Deaf Community (Sir Malcolm Bruce MP, David Buxton British Deaf Association, Jim Edwards Signature and Susan Daniels National Deaf Children’s Society) on 23 October 2013. As part of the continuing commitment from that meeting to consider Government services for deaf people, officials have recently met and have remained in contact with representatives of the deaf community, including BDA and Action on Hearing Loss. Action on Hearing Loss is a member of the Disability Charities Consortium who I met on 26 February 2014.

  • Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the maximum grants for funding support workers under the Access to Work scheme were determined.

    Mike Penning

    There is no maximum grant level set for the funding of support workers under the Access to Work programme. Our aim is to use the programme budget to assist the maximum possible number of disabled workers across all industry sectors.

  • Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which organisations for deaf people his Department consulted before the Access to Work guidance on support workers was amended.

    Mike Penning

    There have been no recent amendments to Access to Work guidance on support workers.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of work capability assessments appeals that were found in favour of the claimant heard by January 2014, were awarded zero points at the initial decision; and what proportion of such decisions were awarded to (a) the WRAG and (b) the Support Group.

    Mike Penning

    The information requested for all Work Capability Assessments is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Mr John Leech – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mr John Leech – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr John Leech on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to take steps to ensure that employers with employees who earn less than £10,000 per year will be legally obliged to provide those employees with an auto-enrolment pension scheme.

    Steve Webb

    Jobholders who earn less than the automatic enrolment earnings trigger of £10,000 and who are not eligible for automatic enrolment may opt in to pension saving. Employers are legally obliged to enrol anyone who opts into an automatic enrolment qualifying scheme and to pay the required employer contribution.

  • Alison McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alison McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken from an application for reconsideration of an employment and support allowance decision to a decision being made on the case was in each month since October 2013.

    Mike Penning

    Mandatory reconsideration was introduced for Employment and Support Allowance for decisions notified from 28 October 2013. The Department is collecting information to understand how it is operating from the point of its introduction, including the time taken from an application for reconsideration of an ESA decision to a decision being made on the case.

    At present, this data is not sufficiently robust and reliable to make available.