Tag: Baroness Manzoor

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what definitions of social mobility are used by the new Social Mobility Commission, and whether they refer to changes in income.

Lord Freud

Provisions to reform the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission as the Social Mobility Commission are currently under consideration by Parliament as part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill. Until these receive Royal Assent, the Commission will continue to operate under its existing statutory framework. Operating arrangements for the reformed Commission will be set in due course, subject to Royal Assent.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) whether the proposed new, lower benefit cap has a gendered effect, and (2) whether any such effect would be mitigated by excluding certain child benefits from that cap.

Lord Freud

Her Majesty’s Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July, a copy of which is attached.

Like other welfare benefits, child related benefits are taken into account when applying the cap. Removing them from the cap would effectively mean that there would be no upper limit on the amount of benefit that out of work households could receive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what case material was examined as part of the review of 105 Personal Independence Payments (PIP) claims referenced in the DWP’s consultation on PIP aids and appliances (Cm 9171).

Baroness Altmann

DWP are currently running a consultation to seek views on how support can best be provided to help meet the costs of disability faced by people who are currently awarded points due to aids and appliances. The department is keen to hear views from all interested parties, especially disabled people and disability organisations.

As part of the consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of PIP, the Department reviewed a sample of 105 cases where claimants scored all, or the majority, of their points from aids and appliances. These were randomly selected.

DWP doctors, who reviewed these cases, looked at all the relevant information held on departmental systems relating to each case. This included the application form, the results of any face-to-face assessment and any additional supporting evidence provided by the claimant.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people with multiple sclerosis have scored a minimum of half their points for (1) standard rate, and (2) enhanced rate, of Personal Independence Payments daily living through aids and appliances descriptors.

Baroness Altmann

For Multiple Sclerosis:

3,500 individuals were awarded Standard Daily Living, of which 3,050 (87%) scored at least half of their daily living points from aids and appliance descriptors.

3,110 individuals were awarded Enhanced Daily Living, of which 790 (25%) scored at least half of their daily living points from aids and appliance descriptors.

These figures relate to PIP normal rules awards made during the period April 2013 to 30th September 2015.

DWP are currently running a consultation to seek views on the way that aids and appliances are taken into account when determining entitlement to the daily living component of PIP. The department wants to make sure that the policy on this is meeting the intent of focusing support on those with the greatest needs and is keen to hear views from all interested parties, especially disabled people and disability organisations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Carer’s Allowance claimants have a claim linked to a Personal Independence Payments daily living award.

Baroness Altmann

The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-04-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, how many times official errors have resulted in (1) underpayment, or (2) non-payment, of (a) Jobseekers’ Allowance, (b) Employment and Support Allowance, (c) Universal Credit, (d) Housing Benefit, and (e) Income Support, in each local authority in the UK.

Lord Freud

DWP is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of official errors at the Local Authority level. This is because the estimation of the rate and monetary value of official errors in a particular benefit is based on a sample of cases rather than the entire caseload for that benefit, and this sample is not large enough to split at the Local Authority level.

DWP does not gather information on the number of children in a household when evaluating the rate of fraud and error in any particular benefit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-04-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, how many households containing children had an underpayment or non-payment of benefit as a result of official error.

Lord Freud

DWP is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of official errors at the Local Authority level. This is because the estimation of the rate and monetary value of official errors in a particular benefit is based on a sample of cases rather than the entire caseload for that benefit, and this sample is not large enough to split at the Local Authority level.

DWP does not gather information on the number of children in a household when evaluating the rate of fraud and error in any particular benefit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, had jobs paid below £10,000 per annum in (a) 2013–14, and (b) 2014–15.

Lord Bridges of Headley

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, worked in part-time jobs in (a) 2013–14, and (b) 2014–15.

Lord Bridges of Headley

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants involved in the delivery of Universal Credit have left the Department for Works and Pensions in each of the last five years; how large is the team working on Universal Credit delivery; and how many people involved in the delivery team when it was originally created remain within the department.

Lord Freud

Universal Credit rollout started in April 2013. At the same time the Universal Credit Directorate was established within Operations, to deliver Universal Credit with 80 paid employees.

AT 31^st March 2016, the Universal Credit Directorate consisted of 4,295 paid employees.

The numbers of Universal Credit Directorate employees who have left DWP since April 2013 are as follows:

Leaving Period	Number of Employees who left DWP
April 2013 to March 2014	5
April 2014 to March 2015	46
April 2015 to March 2016	357

Of the original 80 employees who were part of Universal Credit Directorate in April 2013, 67 are still employed by DWP.