Tag: Frank Field

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to update the Pension Service leaflet entitled, A detailed guide to State Pensions to include the introduction of the new State Pension from 6 April 2016.

Justin Tomlinson

“A detailed guide to State Pensions” (publication NP46) was a technical guide aimed primarily at third party advisers and stakeholders, not general members of the public. This guide has not been available since 2010.

We continue to work with stakeholders to supply detailed information on the new State Pension before April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) average and (b) contractually-specified maximum length of time is that a claimant has to wait for their complaint to be resolved by Concentrix.

Mr David Gauke

Concentrix are obliged under their contract with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to respond to complaints which relate to the quality of their handling of compliance interventions, as distinct from complaints on the substance of these investigations which are dealt with by HMRC.

Their contract requires them to respond 80% of these complaints within 15 working days; and to reply to 100% of complaints within 40 working days. So far during 2015/16, Concentrix have received eight complaints. They replied to six of these (75%) within 15 days and seven (87.5%) within 40 days.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of households in temporary accommodation which will be affected by the introduction of the lower benefit cap; and if he will estimate the average proportion of the income of such households that will be subject to that cap.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. A link to the impact assessment is included.

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people applying for personal independence payments have passed their medical in each of the most recent 24 months for which data is available.

Justin Tomlinson

The assessment for Personal Independence Payment considers the impact of conditions and impairments on individuals’ everyday lives. The assessment is not a medical one but is focussed on the claimant’s functional ability.

DWP decision-makers review the assessment report and the Claimant Questionnaire along with any other available evidence before making a decision about benefit entitlement.

Data on Personal Independence Payment registrations, clearances and award rates are available on Gov.UK and were most recently updated on 16 December: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims have been made for a Short Term Benefit Advance in the last six months for which data is available; and what the outcomes of those claims were.

Priti Patel

Please see table below for Short Term Benefit Advance (STBA) applications and the outcomes of those claims;

	Aug-15	Sep-15	Oct-15	Nov-15	Dec-15	Jan-16
STBA Requests Received	17,450	17,188	17,391	17,355	17,428	17,526
STBA Requests Primary Benefit Paid (where the primary benefit has been paid negating the need for an STBA)	3,420	3,984	3,890	3,688	3,971	3,699
STBA Requests Disallowed	5,691	5,398	4,973	4,749	4,938	5,375
STBAs Awarded	15,372	15,922	17,515	18,240	21,844	25,118

The data provided is for Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefits, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken is after a new (a) jobseeker’s allowance and (b) employment and support allowance claim has been processed to make a first payment to a claimant.

Priti Patel

The Department does not hold data on the time taken to make a payment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement of age discrimination legislation in respect of people seeking employment.

Caroline Dinenage

Age is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Where differential treatment because of age cannot be objectively justified, this will constitute unlawful age discrimination both in employment and in the provision of goods and services. Enforcement of the Act’s employment provisions is undertaken by Employment Tribunals, to which a person must make a claim if they feel that they have been discriminated against because of age.

Prior to an Employment Tribunal claim, conciliation services are provided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (Acas). According to the Employment tribunal statistics, 1,087 age discrimination claims were made to Employment Tribunals in 2014/15. 70% (761) of these claims were either withdrawn or successfully conciliated by Acas without the need for a full hearing. The Acas process is intended to enable employers and employees to resolve disputes without the need for a full Employment Tribunal hearing.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2006 apply to age discrimination as they do to other protected characteristics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions has the personal independence payment (PIP) telephone has been unobtainable to the public in 2016; and how many people calling to enquire about PIP have been affected by those incidents.

Justin Tomlinson

The total number of calls made to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Claims and Enquiry lines that were unable to access our services due to heavy demand at peak periods including customers receiving a busy or engaged tone are set out below, this covers the period 1 January to 30 April 2016:

	Calls Received	Calls not Connected	% Not connected
PIP Claims	411,147	168	0.04%
PIP Enquiries	1,113,803	18,949	1.70%

The department employs the following contingency arrangements to reduce the level of unanswered calls::

• assigning staff that are undertaking clerical work to take calls for busy periods,
• opening extra hours and ask for staff to volunteer to take additional calls
• postponing non-priority offline time (L+D, team meetings etc.) to meet the demands of the customers
• increasing the amount of open lines before a call is blocked by the network.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people working for his Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

Simon Kirby

No direct employees of HM Treasury, Office of Budget Responsibility, Government Internal Audit Agency and Debt Management Office are paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation as a living wage. No direct employees are employed on zero hours contracts.

The Government supports businesses that choose to pay the Living Wage however our prime policy is the National Minimum Wage for the low paid. This is independently set by the Low Pay Commission at a level that maximises their wages without reducing employment prospect. It is for workers and employers to decide the level of wages above the minimum wage based on current circumstances. This includes the Government as a procurer and an employer. Over 95%, around 20 million employees earn above the minimum wage and the majority of public sector workers currently earn above the Living Wage. Government will always award contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayers – which includes the low paid.

HM Treasury does not hold information on wages paid by our suppliers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people working for his Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

Joseph Johnson

As at 1 August 2016 (following the implementation of the 2016 pay award) there are no direct employees in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or former Department for Energy and Climate Change) paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

As at this date there are no agency staff in former DECC paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

There are 5 agency staff in former BIS paid less than the Living Wage Foundation’s definition. However, all 5 are paid more than the Government’s Living Wage rate of £7.20 per hour.

We do not centrally hold details of the pay levels of staff working for outsourced companies contracted by former BIS. Arm Length Bodies linked to former DECC have confirmed that they pay all their employees above the level set by the Living Wage Foundation.

There are no employees on zero hours contracts.

I have asked Chief Executives of the executive agencies of former BIS to respond directly to the Hon. Member.