numbers of claimant cases referred by MPs

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

On 11th January 2019, while being questioned about possible flaws in the administration of Universal Credit, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was reported by the Daily Mirror as saying,

"Some of the criticisms that have come from various publications have been based on ONE OR TWO particular individuals where the advice hasn't worked for them. But in the vast majority, and I would urge everybody who hasn't to take the opportunity to speak to work coaches, the sort of support that individuals get is a completely different approach to what they had previously. And it is delivered with professionalism and care and compassion."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/t...

In the House of Commons, when answering questions from MPs on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions, various ministers including the Secretary of State, Amber Rudd MP, Alok Sharma MP, Sarah Newton MP, Justin Tomlinson MP, and Guy Opperman MP, have repeatedly asked Members of Parliament to forward to them, details of such distressing cases which members have raised in the House by written or oral questions, on behalf of affected constituents.

1. I would like the Department of Work and Pensions to provide the total number of individual constituency benefit claim cases deemed sufficiently distressing by MPs, to be referred on by those MPs,to the Secretary of State and DWP Ministers, during the year 2018.

2. I would like this number broken down, to show which sort of benefit claim they refer to - Universal Credit, PIP, or legacy benefits.
No personal details are requested, merely the numbers and type of benefit involved.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

R Jones

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of MGSD FoI, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear R Jones,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 13th
January.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of MGSD FoI, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear R Jones,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 13th
January.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'numbers of claimant cases referred by MPs'.

You say that you do not have the information I requested, when I asked for "the total number of individual constituency benefit claim cases deemed sufficiently distressing by MPs, to be referred on by those MPs,to the Secretary of State and DWP Ministers, during the year 2018. "

yet you also say, "Members of Parliament raise THOUSANDS of benefit-related constituency issues with DWP Ministers each year. It is not possible to identify their motivation for raising cases. "

I believe that you DO have the information requested, in fact you have admitted it, in your reply to me.

Presumably MPs do not raise ALL cases submitted to them with Ministers. Some will clearly be resolved at a local level with the relevant DWP staff. As there are "thousands" of cases that ARE submitted to Ministers, on your own admission, I am happy to remain ignorant of the "motivation" for them being submitted, and, by omitting the words "deemed sufficiently distressing to be", simply have the exact numbers comprising the "thousands" that ARE submitted to Ministers by MPs, broken down as requested, according to benefit type, for the year 2018. You clearly DO have THAT information or you could not have told me that there were "thousands". I would also point out that I never actually asked for the "motivation" of the MPs, that was YOUR construct.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

R Jones

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

Your 20 working days has expired.
I have not heard from you about my request for an internal review.
Compliance with the law is not optional.
Please respond immediately.

Yours sincerely,

R Jones

no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of MGSD FoI, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear R Jones,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 11th
February.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

Dear [email address] on behalf of MGSD FoI,

I am very confused that the Secretary of State appears to have access to enough data to be able to say
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/t...
"Some of the criticisms that have come from various publications have been based on ONE OR TWO particular individuals where the advice hasn't worked for them."

and the official who replied above had access to enough data to be able to say to me in their reply
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/5...
"Members of Parliament raise THOUSANDS of benefit-related constituency issues with DWP Ministers each year. It is not possible to identify their motivation for raising cases. "

so I will try again with a further AMENDED request, refining my original request again, based on the data available to that official who made the above statement. forget the motivation, forget the type of welfare benefit concerned, lets just have the number of referrals made, relating to welfare benefits. I won't even ask for a breakdown according to benefit, or a breakdown between MPs, MSPs and AMs.

How many cases, in total, concerning welfare benefits paid by the UK government, to individual constituents, have MPs, MSP and AMs referred to DWP Ministers in the last full twelve month period, for which figures are available?

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

R Jones

PO-BUSINESS-SUPPORT DWP, Department for Work and Pensions

Thank you for e-mail.  We shall respond to your enquiry shortly.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

It is now three months since you said you would reply "shortly".
I await the fulfilment of your statutory duties.
Meanhile urgent and distressing, sometimes fatal, cases continue to be referred by MPs.
The number, according to official government statements lies somewhere between "one or two" and "thousands". I look forward to receiving the exact figure very very soon.
Best wishes,

Yours faithfully,

R Jones

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

You are long overdue in replying to this request.
You are in breach of the law.
Please comply ith the FOI law, and answer this request.

Yours sincerely,

R Jones

Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

While I wait for this "long overdue" reply, perhaps I could give you some assistance in finding this awkwardly unavailable data? Perhaps it might be contained in the number of cases brought to the Secretary of State in her "MP Surgery" sessions, held after each DWP question and referred to today by the Secretary of State here during her appearance before the Work and Pensions Select Committee, at around 11.26am:
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/48...

You have admitted above to MPs raising "thousands" of questions about claimants each year (not "just one or two cases" - so perhaps you can now (easily) tell me how many of those cases get raised in the surgeries that DWP hold for MPs? Same time period as original question - the last 12 months for which you have data - or shorter period if less than 12 months.

You remain in breach of FOI legislation by failing to answer my request.

Yours sincerely,

R Jones

Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

You are long overdue in replying to this request.
You are in breach of the law.
Please comply ith the FOI law, and answer this request.
this is now the second time I have reminded you of the overdue status of this request.

Yours sincerely,

R Jones

no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of MGSD FoI, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear R Jones,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 18th
June.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of MGSD FoI, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear R Jones,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 11th
March.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

Dear [email address] on behalf of MGSD FoI,
Ref: IR2019/23463 IRO FOI2019/23458
Thank you for eventually replying to my request for an internal review. I have read your response carefully, and IN LINE WITH YOUR ADVICE, I am revising my request to base it on information that the Secretary of State had available to her inform her public statement about the numbers of cases matching the criteria discussed by the press.

I wish to revise my request, IN LINE WITH YOUR ADVICE, as follows:

Please provide the data on which the Secretary of State Amber Rudd based her official statement that "Some of the criticisms that have come from various publications have been based on ONE OR TWO particular individuals where the advice hasn't worked for them."

and her follow up statement,

"But in the VAST MAJORITY and I would urge everybody who hasn't to take the opportunity to speak to work coaches, the sort of support that individuals get is a completely different approach to what they had previously. "And it is delivered with professionalism and care and compassion."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/t...

with particular reference to the statistical data available to the Secretary of State on which she based the phrases,

"...one or two cases..."
and
"But in the vast majority..."

(with appropriate redactions to remove any personally identifying data or commercially confidential information)

I note that the Secretary of State did URGE members of the public to pursue the truth as to this matter, with her statement,

"I would urge everybody who hasn't to take the opportunity to speak to work coaches".

and it is in compliance with the Secretary of State's expressed wish that I have contacted the Department of Work and Pensions with this query, as that seemed the best way to get hold of the information which the Secretary of State has urged "EVERYBODY" to obtain.

I look forward to your prompt reply. I would remind you that I made my original request on 13th January 2019, over 11 months ago.

Yours sincerely,

R Jones

PO-BUSINESS-SUPPORT DWP, Department for Work and Pensions

Thank you for e-mail.  We shall respond to your enquiry shortly.

no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of DWP Central FOI Team, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear R Jones,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 17th
November.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team