Contributions
238 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Social Security and Employment Support for Disabled PeopleI thank my hon. Friend for raising video recording, because our hope is that that will bring a lot of transparency, trust and confidence to the assessments. We are reviewing the…06 Mar 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsWe anticipate completing the exercise this year.25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsLet me provide some clarification to the hon. Gentleman. What we are talking about today is people who were underpaid benefits. As they came across from IB on to ESA, they were…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsLet me reassure the hon. Gentleman and other Members that if anyone makes an assertion to the DWP that in some way the treatment of someone’s benefits contributed to them taking…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsIf people have not got any money and are destitute in the way that the hon. Gentleman describes, they need to go to their jobcentre and speak to their work coach. They can be…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, but it does not sound as though that particular case relates to what we are discussing today. Clearly anyone who needs support should…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsOn the question about accountability, of course the National Audit Office has undertaken an inquiry into this issue and so has the Public Accounts Committee. There has been a lot…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI reassure the hon. Gentleman that people would have been on benefits, so it is not fair to say that—or to characterise the situation as one in which—people would not have had any…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsOf course, we will be contacting people who are concerned, but I reassure everyone in the House that the Department has taken this issue extremely seriously and has undertaken a…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI assure the hon. Gentleman that we are absolutely focused on making the right decision the first time, but we do not force anyone to an appeal. It is up to them whether they…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI reassure the hon. Lady that we are spending record levels of money to support people with disabilities and health conditions. I am absolutely determined to make sure that we are…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI am happy to provide the hon. Lady with that clarification. The onus is on the Department. The Department is working really hard to find the family members of anyone who is…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI thank the hon. Gentleman for a question that goes way beyond what we are discussing today. He makes a very good point about when children are growing up and move from childhood…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsOf course I am willing to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss that particular case. I assure him that we are absolutely committed to improvements to the work capability assessment,…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsOur focus has been to make sure that people receive their back payments as soon as possible, so we have not looked at the particular conditions for which people were applying to…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI am absolutely delighted that he has got off the streets and into a substance misuse programme. That will enable him to really turn his life around. There will be lots and lots…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsIf people were eligible for additional disability premium, then absolutely they would be backdated and going forward they would have those. Other Government Departments have other…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsAs I have said, we have repeatedly come to the House and discussed with hon. Members what is happening. It is really important, as I have said, that we do the right thing as…25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsWe published ad hoc statistics last week so that we could very clearly respond to the question that the hon. Lady raised.25 Feb 2019HANSARDEmployment and Support Allowance: UnderpaymentsI thank my hon. Friend for raising that question. This was an official error, so the income disregards do apply and his constituents should not be disadvantaged in the way he…25 Feb 2019