The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for reconsideration or appeal of a sanction decision were submitted in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.
Priti Patel
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-05-26.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that disabled people are not disproportionately affected by reductions in government expenditure.
Damian Hinds
The Government has protected the value of disability benefits, exempting these payments from the uprating freeze and exempting those in receipt of them from the benefit cap.
Disability spending will be higher in every year to 2020 relative to both 2010 and to today.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the introduction of the cost collection process within the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Richard Harrington
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether there are differences in the (a) definition and (b) recording of secondary breast cancer in ICD-10 compared with the Cancer Registry.
Jane Ellison
The National Cancer Registration Services (NCRS) code their data using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 03 in which the data is mapped back to ICD-10 for analysis purposes. ICD-10 does not distinguish between a primary breast tumour or secondary breast tumour. They are coded the same. It is the additional data that the Registry collects across the patient pathway, such as those recurrence data items in the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset that allows NCRS to detect whether a tumour is a primary or a secondary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend the deadline for submissions on his Department’s Consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of personal independence payment.
Justin Tomlinson
The Department’s consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of PIP began on 10 December 2015 and is scheduled to run until 29 January 2015, a period of 7 weeks and one day.
The time period for the consultation was decided in line with the Government’s consultation principles guidance. This advises that consultations should typically run for between 2 and 12 weeks, but that “the timing and length of a consultation should be decided on a case-by-case basis”.
As we are consulting on the specific and discrete issue of how aids and appliances are accounted for when determining eligibility to the daily living component, we feel 6 weeks is an appropriate length. The last PIP consultation, on the Moving Around activity, also lasted for 6 weeks. As the consultation is running over the Christmas period this was extended by 8 days.
The Department therefore believes that the existing consultation deadline allows reasonable time in which to respond.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many six-month notice letters of CSA case closure have been issued in each month since July 2014 for cases in (a) segment 1, (b) segment 2, (c) segment 3 and (d) segment 4.
Priti Patel
We do not currently collate this data on a monthly basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many stroke survivors are in (a) receipt of employment and support allowance and (b) the work-related activity group.
Priti Patel
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many care leavers aged 18 to 25 have had sanctions overturned or reduced on reconsideration or appeal in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.
Priti Patel
The information requested in respect of care leavers is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on GP services of increasing medical indemnity costs for GPs.
Alistair Burt
The Department and NHS England committed in the recently published General Practice Forward View to review the current arrangements for indemnity cover for general practitioners. To take this review forward, a General Practice Indemnity Steering Group has been established by the Department with NHS England to look at the rising cost of indemnity, and to bring forward proposals for discussion by the end of July 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his estimate is of the number of people in receipt of universal credit in regular employment and paid monthly whose pay date will fluctuate with their universal credit assessment period resulting in two sets of earnings in one assessment period and no earnings in the following assessment period since the roll-out of the digital service.
Damian Hinds
The specific information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Unlike tax credits which meant that claimants received demands for repayments and could never be sure they were receiving the correct entitlement, Universal Credit assesses monthly earnings and income in that month. That lessens the burden on claimants who have fluctuating incomes or irregular payments so they can budget with greater confidence and without the anxiety they will be hit with a demand for repayment.
We are currently implementing a test and learn approach to understand the interaction of Universal Credit and employer pay cycles and its effect on awards. This work will include discussions with employers.