Written questions by Olney.

Whether her Department uses artificial intelligence to automate decision making about access to public services.

The Department uses automated decision-making in some areas, as described in our Personal Information Charter, but AI is not used to automate decision-making about access to our services. Customers are told when an automated decision has been made in relation to their case, along with information on the steps they would need to take if they want to exercise their right to ask for a human to review that decision.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that Jobcentre Plus services meet the needs of disabled refugees.

DWP works with partners and services to meet the needs of disabled refugees. This includes working with Migrant Help, the Refugee Employment Network; Home Office refugee liaison officers; referring to alternative provisions including English language provision; and sign posting to the Home Office Refugee Employability Programme. The Department is committed to promoting a just, equal, and inclusive society, ensuring independence and control for all customers, including disabled individuals and those with complex needs. DWP provides a range of support to help refugees and those on Afghan and Ukraine Schemes to settle in the community and find work, including access to mainstream Jobcentre services which provide individually tailored benefit and work support. Jobcentres also work locally with partners and employers to support this group into work. Connect to Work, part of the Government’s Get Britain Working strategy, will provide support to disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment, including refugees and those on resettlement schemes, to get into work. The Government is dedicated to championing the rights of disabled people and involving them in designing our reforms. All new Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisors receive training to support all claimants, with specialist support available from Disability Employment Advisers to tailor assistance for disabled customers. These advisers also offer direct support to those with long-term health conditions needing bespoke assistance In addition, the Department will launch a new coaching academy to enhance the skills of Work Coaches and provide further support to customers, including those with disabilities. This initiative will be evaluated and reviewed regularly to ensure training remains relevant and effective. Additional Work Coach Support provides disabled people and people with health conditions, with increased one-to-one personalised support from their work coach to help them move towards, and into work. Support is now available in all Jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales. This personalised support from Work Coaches aims to enable disabled people to access employment, wider support including our employment programmes earlier.

What steps she is taking to increase (a) translation and (b) levels of information support on the benefits system for disabled refugees.

Under the Equality Act 2010, DWP must make suitable provision to communicate with claimants where English is not their first language or who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. DWP provide Telephone Interpreting, Face-to-face interpreting, BSL interpreting service, Video Remote Services, and written translation to meet this requirement. The Language Service Provision is on-demand, and our supplier is suitably resourced to meet our various language demands against our Performance Expectations. We have a designated Language Services team that work closely with our supplier to ensure current service delivery is met and accounted for, and to ensure future demand is anticipated and planned for accordingly.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposed welfare reforms on people with bipolar disorder.

As I made clear in my statement to the House, Hansard, 1 July, col 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, which I am leading, and which will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future. The review is expected to conclude in autumn 2026. In relation to Universal Credit changes, existing claimants at the point of change in April 2026 will continue to receive at least the same amount of benefit as under the current rules, if there are no changes in their circumstances. For future claimants we are not able to assess the impact of the changes at this level as the readily available data on health conditions is not sufficiently detailed.

What proportion of claims for Disability Living Allowance were processed within the 50 working day target between April 2024 and April 2025.

The most recent information on processing times for Disability Living Allowance for children was published in the DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 3.5% of Disability Living Allowance for children claims within the planned 40 working day timescale. The next publication of the ARA will include the percentage of claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer. Although, DWP has seen improvements in processing times across many service lines during 2023-24, continued high demand has meant that the Department’s ability to process claims consistently in a timely manner across all its services has come under considerable pressure, with performance remaining below standard in some areas including in Child DLA where demand has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes. During 2020-21 DWP deferred reviewing existing cases to focus on processing new claims. Since then, the high volumes of both new claims and the deferred renewal work has resulted in longer processing times. Additional resources have been deployed and cases are being cleared in date order to ensure fair customer service.

What the average waiting time was for a Personal Independence Payment reassessment after a claimant has reported improved health in the latest period for which data is available.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. PIP clearance times for New Claims and Reassessments can be found in the latest Personal Independence Payment statistics to January 2025 - GOV.UK.

What the average wait time is for a PIP reassessment when a claimant reports improved health in South West London.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. PIP clearance times for New Claims and Reassessments can be found in the latest Personal Independence Payment statistics to January 2025 - GOV.UK. Figures are broken down by region and they are available for London.

What the average wait time is for a Work Capability Assessment reassessment when a claimant reports improved health.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. ESA clearance times for initial claims only are reported via Stat-Xplore and UC WCA clearance times are planned to be released under Phase 4 of the Universal Credit WCA statistics: release strategy - GOV.UK

What the average wait time is for a Work Capability Assessment reassessment when a claimant reports improved health in South West London.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. ESA clearance times for initial claims only are reported via Stat-Xplore and UC WCA clearance times are planned to be released under Phase 4 of the UC WCA Release Strategy.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) benefit cap and (b) two-child limit on single parents.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change. The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

How frequently deaf awareness training is provided to (a) decision-makers, (b) people in customer-facing roles and (c) other staff in her Department.

Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is mandatory learning completed by all staff as part of their induction into the department and can then be revisited at any time. Within the learning there is a scenario-based activity around deaf awareness. In addition, all staff new to DWP complete customer service delivery learning which includes a module for deaf or hearing loss and the support DWP offers, including when and how to use interpreters for interviews. The learning explains the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 and how it relates to customers who are deaf or have hearing loss, which can also be revisited at any time.

How many claims for pension credit there were from 28t October 2024 to 4 November 2024.

Data on how many Pension Credit applications made between 1 April 2024 and 22 September 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK. On 28 October 2024, The Department announcedupdated Pension Credit applications and award statistics will be published on 28 November 2024. This publication will provide application volumes after 22 September 2024.

How many pension credit claims were processed within her Department’s planned timescale in 2024.

As per the publication of the DWP Annual Report and Accounts (ARA), 77.7% of Pension Credit claims were processed within the Department’s planned timescales in the Financial Year 2023 to 2024. The next publication of the ARA will include claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025.

How many claims for pension credit there were in each week from 23 September to 28 October 2024.

As per Gov.uk, the Department has announced it will publish updated Pension Credit application and award statistics on 28 November 2024. Releases will be quarterly, including Pension Credit application, clearance, and award/non-award volumes data from 1 April 2024, up to the most recent data available before each publication.

How many people were waiting to be assessed for pension credit on 29 July 2024.

As of 29th July, there were 33,883 claims outstanding and as of 28th October, there were 76,569 claims outstanding. Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by around five hundred more staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. This is in line with the overall resourcing plan for Pension Credit claims and Winter Fuel payments. Please note, the claims outstanding figures do not include Advanced claims. This data is sourced from the Pension Credit system and for internal departmental use only. As such, they have not been quality assured to the same extent as Official Statistics.

How many people were waiting to be assessed for pension credit on 28 October 2024.

As of 29th July, there were 33,883 claims outstanding and as of 28th October, there were 76,569 claims outstanding. Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by around five hundred more staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. This is in line with the overall resourcing plan for Pension Credit claims and Winter Fuel payments. Please note, the claims outstanding figures do not include Advanced claims. This data is sourced from the Pension Credit system and for internal departmental use only. As such, they have not been quality assured to the same extent as Official Statistics.

For what reason the average number of pension credit applications processed within 50 working days dropped between (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2022-23.

The department supports customers to claim Pension Credit through a range of take up campaigns. In June 2019, the BBC announced its intention to limit free TV licenses to people 75+ and in receipt of Pension Credit from June 2020. The subsequent mass mailing to existing free licence holders contributed to a significant spike in calls to the Pension Service, and in 2022-23, the department continued to provide vital financial support to pensioners on a low income through Pension Credit. DWP launched a comprehensive communications campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and encourage pensioners to apply for it. The campaign included advertising in national and regional newspapers and on broadcast radio and television as well as promotion of Pension Credit via internet search engines and on social media. This, together with success of the Help for Household campaign, led to more than double the level in Pension Credit applications compared to the previous year.

For what reason the rate of disability living allowance claims processed dropped between (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2023-24.

DWP has seen a substantial increase in claims for Disability Living Allowance (Children) since Covid-19, and this upward trajectory continues. This has resulted in increased pressures on early years services for children with additional needs and neurodiverse conditions, with gathering evidence from educational institutions and the NHS taking longer. We are maximising our resources wherever possible and have ongoing recruitment efforts to mitigate these challenges.

How many pension credit applications made between 29 July and 9 August 2024 are waiting to be processed.

Data on how many pension credit applications have been made between 29 July and 9 August 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Because of how we capture our operational data, information on how many claims we received over that period which are still outstanding is not available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. However, we are actively seeking to develop the data sets to provide that level of information.

How many children are waiting for over the 50 working day target for their disability living allowance claim to be processed in the latest period for which data is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not have a target timeframe, but we aim to process Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims for children within 40 working days, not 50. As published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2023 to 2024, which covers April 2023 to March 2024, of the 186,200 claims DLA claims for children processed over that period, 6,500 (3.5%) met the planned processing timescales. DWP has seen a substantial increase in claims since Covid-19, and this upward trajectory continues. This has resulted in increased pressures on early years services for children with additional needs and neurodiverse conditions, with gathering evidence from educational institutions and the NHS taking longer. We are maximising our resources wherever possible and have ongoing recruitment efforts to mitigate these challenges. For further details, please refer to the DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 (HTML) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) available on the GOV.UK website.