The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the contracts for personal independence payments assessments were awarded to Atos and Capita; and how many applications they were forecast to have processed by (a) March 2014 and (b) March 2015.
Mike Penning
The start date for both ATOS and Capita contracts was the 31st July 2012.
No forecast figures are available for numbers of applications processed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many outstanding cases of social fund loan repayments his Department is curretnly pursuing; in what year each such loan was issued; what estimate he has made of the total value of such outstanding repayments; and how much his Department is paying a debt management service to pursue such repayments.
Steve Webb
At March 2013, there were 10,118,298 loans outstanding relating to 2,940,087 customers. The table below indicates the age of loans and their volumes and values.
|
Age of loan |
Loans |
Value £000 |
|
Five years and over |
1,837,896 |
218,840 |
|
Between one and five years |
5,898,911 |
595,737 |
|
Less than one year |
2,381,491 |
373,729 |
|
Total |
10,118,298 |
1,188,306 |
The Department pursues all debts available for recovery. Where we have difficulty with locating a customer and obtaining payment from them we will employ a private sector company to do this for us; for year ending March 2013 we paid £880,000 and recovered £6.1m.
Data has been included for the financial year 2012-13, the latest year for which the audited Social Fund White Paper Account is available. The 2013-14 Account will be publicly available from July 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-05-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the performance of the School Food Plan in increasing healthy breakfast provision in more deprived areas; and how much had been spent on this programme by April 2014.
Mr David Laws
As part of the school food plan, Magic Breakfast started work in March 2014 to set up breakfast clubs in schools where over 35% of pupils are eligible for free school meals and where there is currently no breakfast provision.
We are currently tendering for a contract to evaluate the effectiveness of the breakfast clubs. The successful bidder will be announced shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of housing benefit claims processed within (a) 10, (b) 20, (c) 30, (d) 40, (e) 60 and (f) more than 60 working days.
Steve Webb
None. The average speed of processing statistics for Housing Benefit are not broken down in this way. Published statistics are at the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-benefit-and-council-tax-benefit-statistics-on-speed-of-processing–2
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average duration has been of the assessment period for each claim for personal independence payment from a person diagnosed with a terminal illness in each of the three months to June 2014.
Mike Penning
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave him on 18 June, Official Report, column 629W. Information on clearance times is not currently available. Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will issue updated advice on the care of pets to address the issues of the welfare and abandonment of domestic rabbits.
George Eustice
The poor welfare and abandonment of any animal is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 or 6 months’ imprisonment or both. The Government has no plans to issue specific advice on keeping pet rabbits but such advice is available from animal welfare organisations and some pet shops.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-05-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was spent on the Universal Jobmatch programme between (a) April and September 2012, (b) October 2012 and March 2013, (c) April and September 2013, (d) October 2013 and March 2014 and (e) April and September 2014.
Esther McVey
The Programme expenditure for Universal Jobmatch over the period April 12 to September 14 includes contractual costs as well as internal costs. Any reporting therefore risks being in breach of commercial in confidence agreement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of employment and support allowance claims processed within (a) 10, (b) 20, (c) 30, (d) 40, (e) 60 and (f) more than 60 working days.
Esther McVey
The information requested is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether jobseekers must declare casual income earned during a sanction period once their jobseeker’s allowance claim is resumed; and whether that amount is then deducted from subsequent benefit payments.
Esther McVey
When a Jobseeker’s Allowance Claimant is subject to a sanction, the award continues even if no actual payments are being made. As such the claimant should continue to notify changes of circumstances, including casual work. The normal JSA rules apply, whereby if the hours worked exceed 16 hours or the earnings are higher than the rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance, the award will end.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the appropriate age at which people must renew their driving licence; and what evidence his Department took into account when so doing.
Stephen Hammond
Increasing the driving licence renewal age was proposed as part of the recent review of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
No detailed assessment has yet been made about this proposal. Any such decision would not be taken until a full consultation had been carried out and supporting evidence considered.