Tag: Kate Green

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 171-2W, on children: maintenance, how much of the amount is written off in child maintenance arrears since November 2012; how much is attributable to (a) a request from the parent with care to write off the arrears, (b) the death of a non-resident parent, (c) the death of a parent with care, (d) an interim maintenance assessment between 1993 and 1995 and (e) a debt where the non-resident parent had been told that no further action would ever be taken.

Steve Webb

The amounts written off since November 2012 in the circumstances requested are as follows.

Reason	Year to March 13	Year to March 14
Parent with care request	£365,269	£9,922,726
Non-resident parent death	£683,378	£4,617,325
Parent with care death	£8,121	£24,240
Interim maintenance assessments 1993 – 1995	£35,796	£126,340
NRP advised debt will not be pursued	£11,648	£355,956
Total	£1,104,212	£15,046,587

Note:

The total does not equal that quoted in response to PQ/14/201287 because there are amounts recorded under categories which are not included in this response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 171W, on children: maintenance, on how many occasions where contingency measures had to be employed by the Department’s Child Maintenance Group (CMG) to support the work of the Child Maintenance Options Service it was the case that call demands exceeded forecasted volumes; how many CMG staff were deployed on each such occasion; and in which office or offices of the CMG these trained contingency staff were located.

Steve Webb

Child Maintenance Group (CMG) staff, based at Barnsley, were used on three, limited duration, occasions (November 2013, January 2014 and February 2014) when call demand exceeded forecasted volumes.

The number of CMG staff engaged in this activity, at any one time, varied between 5 and 20 colleagues for periods ranging from minutes to hours. Most of this activity took place in the CMG Barnsley office. Although, there was a short period, before telephony lines could be transferred, when CMG staff travelled to the Child Maintenance Options office.

CMG staff have been used as contingency only where demand is above the agreed contracted level. This planned approach ensures value for money as we are not paying for long term resource where the forecast shows a short term increase in demand.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to address the current geographical imbalance in Independent Living Fund (ILF) use by local authorities in the allocation of transitional funding as the ILF comes to an end.

Mike Penning

The funding that will be transferred to local authorities and to the devolved administrations when the Independent living Fund closes will be distributed in a way that reflects the patterns of expenditure at that time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many challenges to benefits sanctions have been overturned as a result of tribunal interventions where his Department has not made reasonable adjustments under disability equality law; how his Department takes into account information from social services or health service staff before imposing such sanctions; and what processes ensure that adjustments are made before such sanctions are imposed on disabled claimants.

Esther McVey

The exact information you request on tribunal Interventions is not available.

However, Decision Makers ensure that all relevant claimant circumstances are carefully considered before imposing any sanction. This may include information from social services and health service staff if it was relevant to the case. We do not sanction vulnerable claimants without making every effort to contact them or their carer/healthcare professional first. Clear and detailed guidance is used by Decision Makers to ensure that the necessary processes are followed in a consistent manner.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Government has loaned to the insurance industry to assist with the costs of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme in the first year of its operation.

Mr Mark Harper

The Government has not provided a loan to the insurance industry to assist with the costs of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value is of (a) awards under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme and (b) benefits recovered from payments made under that Scheme by the Compensation Recoveries Unit in the period from the commencement of that Scheme to 11 February 2015.

Mr Mark Harper

The information requested is not currently available. However, information from the commencement of the Scheme up to 31 January 2015 is available and is provided below.

a) The gross value of awards under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme between April 2014 and the end of January 2015 is approximately £24,700,000¹.

b) The value of benefits recovered from gross payments made under the Scheme by the Compensation Recovery Unit for the same period is approximately £5,300,000¹.

Notes:

¹ Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 February 2015, HCWS 269, on Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme, what the additional administrative safeguards referred to in that statement are.

Mr Mark Harper

The administrative safeguards are related to audit, management information and ongoing support of the Employers’ Liability Tracing Office. They provide additional insight into the live running of the Scheme for the insurance industry, but do not impact in any way upon the Scheme itself.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 February 2015, HCWS 269, on Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme, what estimate he has made of the (a) additional and (b) total cost of paying awards at 100 per cent of average civil damages in the first year of operation of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme.

Mr Mark Harper

Those diagnosed with diffuse mesothelioma on or after 10 February 2015 will be eligible for a payment at the increased tariff rate of 100% of average civil claims but no payments can be made at that rate until the regulations which will introduce this change come into effect. Given this timing, this means that there will only be a very small number of claims which will be paid at the increased rate within the first year of the Scheme’s operation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 February 2015, HCWS 269, on Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme, whether there will be any change in the amount of the levy on the insurance industry which was announced in the Written Statement of 28 November 2014, column 58WS, on Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme levy.

Mr Mark Harper

On 28 November 2014 the Government announced that the levy for the first year of the Scheme’s operation would be £32m. This was calculated using the estimated costs of the Scheme extrapolated from the first seven months of its operation. There are no plans to change the amount of the levy that was announced on 28 November as we believe it will still be sufficient to cover the costs of the Scheme in its first year.