Tag: Frank Field

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work capability assessments have been cancelled or rearranged in each of the last five years; and what the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest period of time was before such an appointment was rearranged.

Priti Patel

Around 55% of all cancelled appointments are customer instigated cancellations.

On 1 March 2015, a new provider took over the Work Capability Assessment contract in which the Department had set a far higher target for face-to-face assessments than that for the previous contract holder. In order to achieve its target the new provider increased the number of assessments undertaken by 29% over that undertaken in the previous year. This led to more people being seen more quickly but with a subsequent rise in the number of cancellations.

Cancelled/Re-arranged Work Capability Assessments in the last five years are shown in the table below:

Period	Number of Cancelled Appointments
1 May 2011 to 30 Apr 2012	377,122
1 May 2012 to 30 Apr 2013	509,653
1 May 2013 to 30 Apr 2014	398,133
1 May 2014 to 30 Apr 2015	333,990
1 May 2015 to 30 Apr 2016	505,950

(Source: Centre for Health Disability Assessments)

Information on the shortest, average and longest period of time before appointments are re-arranged is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what the budget was for the out-of-hours taxi service for armed police officers working in the House in each of the last five years; and on how many occasions that service was used in each of those years.

Tom Brake

Prior to 1 April 2016 the House paid for all Metropolitan Police Staff (MPS) required by business to stay until 11pm or later. This included police officers, armed police and civilian security officers. Data is not held according to job role and, therefore, it is not possible to provide the data in the format requested.

Following a change that the MPS put in place to the police officer rosters as well as the new police contract which came into effect on 1 April 2016, police officers, including armed officers, no longer use late night transport paid for by the two Houses.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many people working for her 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.

Rory Stewart

Direct employees

There are no staff directly employed by DFID who are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Workers in agencies which report to DFID

There are no workers in agencies which report to DFID who are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Outsourced workers

We encourage outsource partners to pay the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. None of our contracted workers are paid less than the National Living Wage and London Living Wage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans her Department has for civilian enforcement officers within the context of its plans to outsource work to the private sector.

Dr Phillip Lee

HMCTS are considering a range of options about how best to deliver this service. The tender process will allow HMCTS to make informed decisions about what is in the best interests of the service and the taxpayer. No decision on the way forward for the Civilian Enforcement Office role has been made at the current time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households who have claimed universal credit have also applied for an alternative payment arrangement for their housing costs; and how many such applications have been successful.

Justin Tomlinson

The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department last audited the amount of unused space within each Jobcentre Plus.

Priti Patel

The Department for Work and Pensions occupies the majority of its estate under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract. Under this PFI, the Department leases fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. The Department pays an inclusive unitary price for the space occupied. The Department does not own any of the buildings that it occupies. As such, we continually review our space and utilisation within Jobcentre Plus.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to meet Premier League supporters clubs before his next meeting with the Executive Chair of the Premier League to discuss the living wage.

Tracey Crouch

We welcome the commitment that clubs in the Premier League have made to paying the living wage to their full-time employees, and we see no reason why this cannot be extended to include all employees. That is the message I will put across to the Executive Chair of the League when we next meet.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications for mandatory reconsideration of a tax credits decision have been made to Concentrix in each month since April 2014.

Mr David Gauke

The number of requests for mandatory reconsideration of a decision about a tax credits award that Concentrix have received since the commencement of their contract with HM Revenue and Customs in November 2014 is as follows:

Month	Number of MRs
November 2014	0
December 2014	2
January 2015	6
February 2015	38
March 2015	29
April 2015	137
May 2015	100
June 2015	45
July 2015	71
August 2015	108
September 2015	1221
October 2015	925
November 2015	871
December 2015	2371

The total is about 1.6% of all decisions Concentrix made in the same period.

As of 15 January 2016, there are 566 mandatory reconsiderations in progress that have been opened and Concentrix are waiting for customers to provide further evidence. Concentrix have 30 further mandatory reconsiderations that are awaiting determination.

The average length of time taken between Concentrix starting to work a mandatory reconsideration and making a decision is 24 days. This includes the time needed for customers to provide any further evidence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the size was of Concentrix’s backlog of tax credit claims in December 2015.

Mr David Gauke

I refer the right honourable gentleman to the answer I gave on 3 February [22572, 22658 &22668].

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of new claims for universal credit were paid within 42 days of a claim being made in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.

Priti Patel

The information you have requested is currently not available.

The department does not hold information on time taken to make a payment for jobseeker’s allowance, or employment and support allowance.

Additional breakdowns will be included in the Universal Credit official statistics as quality assurance of data from the Universal Credit systems progresses during 2016.