This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament
Petition To debate a vote of no confidence in DWP secretary Ian Duncan Smith
For denying the existence of, and refusing to publish data on the deaths of claimants of incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance between November 2011 and May 2014. This is despite the rulings of the Information Commissioner and public pressure resulting in a 200,000 strong petition.
More details
More information can be found in the links below:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/24/benefit-related-deaths-david-cameron-dwp
http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/reign-of-terror-iain-duncan-smith.html
http://www.bigissue.com/features/3637/atos-deaths-and-welfare-cuts
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/28/man-starved-to-death-after-benefits-cut
This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months
Government responded
This response was given on 12 August 2015
Out-of-work benefits mortality statistics need to meet the high standards expected of official statistics. Once we have completed that important work, the Department intends to publish them.
The Department for Work and Pensions intends to publish out-of-work benefits mortality statistics and the publication date will be pre-announced on the Government website via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/list-of-scheduled-upcoming-ad-hoc-statistical-releases
However, before doing so they need to meet the high standards expected of official statistics. Once we have completed that important work, we will publish them.
Department for Work and Pensions
Related activity
DWP publishes statistics on deaths of claimants of ESA and Incapacity Benefit
Because you signed this petition, we thought that you would be interested to know that the Department for Work and Pensions has today published statistics on people who died after claiming Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance.
You can find the statistics online here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortality-statistics-esa-ib-and-sda-claimants