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  • Angela Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Angela Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Crawley on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a scheme based on the actuarial pension model to increase the speed at which women born in the 1950s qualify for state pension.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The State Pension is funded through the National Insurance scheme which does not bear comparison with a commercially operated one.

    Although eligibility for the State Pension is dependent in part on the payment of National Insurance, the National Insurance system is not an individual pension fund. National Insurance credits are available for many people to help them build entitlement towards the State Pension. National Insurance contributions also give entitlement to a range of other benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Carer’s Allowance.

    Future entitlement to benefits is a matter for the Government and Parliament to decide, and the changes to the State Pension age have been made in conjunction with introducing the triple-lock protection of the basic State Pension, the introduction of the new State Pension, and the protection of other pensioner benefits.

  • Meg Hillier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Meg Hillier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to enable special circumstances to be taken into account when making the decision to withhold pension credit to people who are away from their homes for a period of more than four weeks.

    Justin Tomlinson

    It is the intention to amend the Pension Credit temporary absence from Great Britain rules from April 2016. The temporary absence rules allow entitlement to Pension Credit to continue where under normal conditions it would not do so.

    We are planning for a general rule which will allow Pension Credit to remain payable for absences not exceeding four weeks. We intend to have exceptions to the general rule to cater for bereavement or medical treatment. Where the absence from Great Britain is in connection with a bereavement concerning a partner or close relative then entitlement to Pension Credit may continue for absences not exceeding eight weeks. Where the absence from Great Britain is in order to receive medical treatment then entitlement to Pension Credit may continue for absences not exceeding 26 weeks.

    These changes do not affect the Pension Credit rules covering absences from home within Great Britain.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that parents who are the sole carer for disabled children aged over 18 will not lose out on vital income as a result of the reforms of tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    As announced at Summer Budget, families will no longer be able to claim additional support through Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for third or subsequent children in a family where the child is born after April 2017.

    Third or subsequent disabled children born after April 2017 will still receive the disabled child element and the severely disabled child element in Child Tax Credit and the disabled child addition in Universal Credit, but not the child element.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment and support allowance claimants with (a) Parkinson’s disease, (b) rheumatoid arthritis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) cystic fibrosis have been (i) placed in support groups, (ii) placed in the work-related activity group and (iii) found fit for work since 2008; and if he will make a statement.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is shown in the table below.

    Cystic Fibrosis

    Spinal Muscular Atrophy

    Parkinson’s Disease

    Multiple Sclerosis

    Other Rheumatoid Arthritis

    Initial

    SG

    900

    1,100

    1,700

    7,600

    3,400

    WRAG

    100

    100

    700

    2,600

    3,500

    FFW

    100

    –

    600

    1,800

    4,100

    Repeat

    SG

    500

    300

    1,100

    7,300

    4,500

    WRAG

    100

    –

    500

    2,200

    3,900

    FFW

    –

    –

    100

    400

    1,200

    IBR

    SG

    600

    200

    1,300

    15,400

    6,100

    WRAG

    100

    –

    300

    2,600

    5,000

    FFW

    –

    –

    –

    300

    1,100
  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of the new technology required to deliver universal credit has been completed to date.

    Priti Patel

    I again refer my Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 11 January 2016

    UIN21335

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls to his Department’s helpline in 2015 related to universal credit; and what proportion such calls were of the total number of calls.

    Priti Patel

    There is no single Departmental helpline. The latest available figures showed that 47 million calls were answered across all DWP telephony service lines during 2015. In the same period, 400k calls were answered by Universal Credit Agents, equating to 0.9% of total calls.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22115, why information on the number and value of cold weather payments has not been (a) collected and (b) made available for each constituency in each year since their introduction.

    Justin Tomlinson

    We have provided the data at constituency level in the Social Fund Annual Report since 2011/12. Prior to this the information was only collected, and then published annually, at Met Office Weather Station level. To go back and recalculate the figures based on each constituency since the scheme began could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons different criteria apply in the assessment of risk of self-harm or suicide to men and women in his Department’s guidance on work capability assessments.

    Priti Patel

    The guidance on work capability assessments no longer makes a distinction between men and women.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of whether paragraph 20 of Schedule 9 of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 accurately reflects the real costs borne by a claimant who takes a boarder into their home.

    Priti Patel

    There has been no such assessment.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time taken was to resolve enquiries from hon. Members about tax credit cases; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that time.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Tax Credit Office aims to prioritise and respond to representations from hon. Members as soon as possible. HMRC do not routinely record and collate performance against specific timescales for such representations.