Tag: Eilidh Whiteford

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) job seeker’s allowance have been sanctioned since 2012; and how many such claimants (i) remained on the relevant benefit, (ii) gained employment and (iii) dropped off the system following the sanction period.

Priti Patel

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

The information that is available, on the number of sanction referrals and adverse sanction decisions, in respect of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), is published and available at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/:

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability employment advisers are employed by Jobcentre Plus.

Damian Hinds

The number of Disability Employment Advisers employed by the Department for Work and Pensions is 263 at July 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to increase awareness of the Disability Confident campaign; and how his Department plans to measure the effectiveness of that campaign.

Penny Mordaunt

We have developed a new Disability Confident employer accreditation scheme. This went live in July.

This will be core to our engagement with employers to raise awareness, improve performance and drive up engagement on the disability employment agenda.

We are developing plans to formally launch the scheme in the Autumn and more information on take up and effectiveness measures will be available from then.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on women with a mental function problem of the different assessment recommended for them in its Work Capability Assessment handbook on risk of self-harm, suicide or other risk.

Priti Patel

The Department took its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 into account when making changes to the WCA handbook and recognises it has an on-going equality duty under the Act and is committed to complying with this duty.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations for personal independence payments have resulted in a revised decision as a result of further evidence in each of the last three years.

Penny Mordaunt

The information requested is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides on the minimum number of days between benefit payments for a person ending an employment and support allowance claim and beginning a jobseeker’s allowance claim; and what the average time between such benefit payments was in the last 12 months.

Damian Hinds

The department does not specifically hold data in relation to claimants who transition from ESA to JSA and the time taken to award JSA following the closure of an ESA claim. As a department we strive to process all new claims made to JSA as quickly and efficiently as possible with a minimum expected level of 90% processed within 10 days. We are currently achieving 90.7% as of July 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people receive employment and support allowance in the work-related activity group on grounds of mental or behavioural disorders.

Priti Patel

The information available is in the table below:

As at May 2015	Work Related Activity Group
Caseload (Thousands)
Mental and Behavioural Disorders	240.64

Notes:

The extract is as at May 2015 which is the latest data available.

Source:

DWP Tabulation Tool http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the introduction of personal independence payments on future rates of claims for attendance allowance.

Penny Mordaunt

Individuals in receipt of PIP before the age of 65 will continue to receive PIP as long as they continue to meet the eligibility criteria. This mirrors Disability Living Allowance, the benefit that preceded PIP. Anyone that becomes disabled after the age of 65 will be able to claim Attendance Allowance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants in each constituency in Scotland have been in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance for (a) one year, (b) two years and (c) five years.

Damian Hinds

The information available for the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants by Parliamentary Constituency and duration is published and can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users is available at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides to health care professionals on applying the power in regulation 35 of the Employment Allowance Regulations 2008 to award employment and support allowance to claimants in the support group in exceptional circumstances.

Priti Patel

Healthcare professionals who carry out the Work Capability Assessment are trained in all aspects of their role including the application of Regulation 35. They are also issued with written guidance on all aspects of the Work Capability Assessment including the application of Regulation 35.