Here’s how Homebase view the workfare programme:

they obviously need the taxpayer subsidy:

Just to note: David ‘Fat Dave’ Cameron, George ‘Towel Boy’ Osborne and Boris ‘no social cleansing of London’ Johnson were all members of this coke-snorting, restaurant smashing, misogynist organisation which goes a long way towards explaining their lack of humanity, hubris and real stupidity.

Bullingdon Club hasn’t changed since Cameron’s days

Here is a DWP response to a request for Internal review, the details are self-explanatory and I intend to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner

Thank you for your email of 4 December 2012 requesting a review of the handling of the response to your Freedom of Information request of 8 November 2012.

I can confirm that I was unconnected with the earlier reply to your initial request under FoI and that I have considered your request afresh.

In your request of 8 November 2012 you asked for:-

“1/ Could you provide the legal advice that states that if the DWP say someone is for for work and the claimant’s medical advisors say they are not for for work that the prospective employer’s insurance will cover them and the potential employee should they employ that person.

2/ If you are unable to provide the actual advice could you confirm that DWP has asked for, and received, such advice and the date upon which such advice was received.”

My review decision

Your request for internal review asked:

“Please could you carry out an internal review of your response to FOI request VTR 4418/12 as frankly it is unbelievable that it would cost more than £600 just to confirm whether or not legal advice on such an important point has been received”.

I have reviewed the information provided in the DWP reply of 4 December 2012 and can confirm that the information provided to you was correct and as full a reply as possible to your request. I therefore uphold the original reply sent to you by DWP.If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely, DWP Central FoI Team

Here’s a response in parliament to a similar question:

Parliamentary Question | who’s legally liable for wellbeing of claimants found fit for work? | 19 December 2012

 

by Tony Britton on December 20, 2012

Well, apparently, no one!

The Countess of Mar tabled a written question that asked the Government: “What person or organisation is legally liable for the wellbeing of benefits claimants who are found to be fit for work under the work capability assessment and who are then made to work?”

In his written reply on 19 December 2012, the Minister for Welfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud) replied:

The purpose of the work capability assessment (WCA) is to assist DWP decision-makers in assessing eligibility for benefit, or levels of benefit. The WCA is not a medical diagnosis and the decision affects benefit only; it does not oblige anyone to work.

Whilst the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is legally responsible for all benefit decisions made by officials of the department on his behalf, there is no legal responsibility held by the Secretary of State for the well-being of benefit claimants.

Therefore, neither DWP nor WCA healthcare professionals are liable for any adverse consequence suffered by a claimant following a decision that the claimant is fit for work or for work-related activity.

 

This is what the law says:

The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008

No. 794

PART 5Exceptional circumstances

29.—(1) A claimant who does not have limited capability for work as determined in accordance with the limited capability for work assessment is to be treated as having limited capability for work if paragraph (2) applies to the claimant.
(2) This paragraph applies if—
(a)the claimant is suffering from a life threatening disease in relation to which—
(i)there is medical evidence that the disease is uncontrollable, or uncontrolled, by a recognised therapeutic procedure; and
(ii)in the case of a disease that is uncontrolled, there is a reasonable cause for it not to be controlled by a recognised therapeutic procedure; or
(b)the claimant suffers from some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement and, by reasons of such disease or disablement, there would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person if the claimant were found not to have limited capability for work.

additionally

Certain claimants to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity

35.—(1) A claimant is to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity if—
(a)the claimant is terminally ill;
(b)the claimant is—
(i)receiving treatment by way of intravenous, intraperitoneal or intrathecal chemotherapy; or
(ii)recovering from that treatment and the Secretary of State is satisfied that the claimant should be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity; or
(c)in the case of a woman, she is pregnant and there is a serious risk of damage to her health or to the health of her unborn child if she does not refrain from work-related activity.
(2) A claimant who does not have limited capability for work-related activity as determined in accordance with regulation 34(1) is to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity if—
(a)the claimant suffers from some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement; and
(b)by reasons of such disease or disablement, there would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person if the claimant were found not to have limited capability for work-related activity.

So that would seem to knock the whole shebang into the realms of Kafkaesque gibberish.

The question:

I would like to know if I vote for independence for Scotland (Scotland independent from the UK) will I keep my rights as a EU-citizen? or Will I be considered as an Ex-EU citizen?

The response:

European Union (EU) citizenship is a consequence of citizenship of a Member State of the EU. One cannot be an EU citizen without being a citizen of a Member State. It is additional to, but does not replace the latter. Relevant background information is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/index_en.htm

Furthermore, please note that in the hypothetical scenario of a part of a European Union Member State wishing to leave that Member State, it is first and foremost an internal matter within that Member State to define the arrangements. There are several theoretical scenarios envisageable [sic] under international law. The Commission cannot speculate on which choices would be retained. – For the same reason, the Commission is not able to speculate on any potential consequences under EU law. – Furthermore, the Commission would like to recall that the terms of the EU treaties are decided by Member States acting by unanimity.

We hope you find this information useful. Please contact us again if you have other questions.

With kind regards,
EUROPE DIRECT Contact Centre 

http://europa.eu – your shortcut to the EU!

Disclaimer
Please note that the information provided by EUROPE DIRECT is not legally binding.

So I ask a fairly straightforward question as an EU citizen and get a faceful of caveats but Baroso can give a categorical answer; how does that work then is it bend-over-and-appease-the-Tories month in Brussels?

From the Daily Mail accounts:

So much for that bullshit from the world’s leading purveyors of bigotry.

Treasury Figures from http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/as2012_distributional_analysis_impact_on_households%281%29.pdf

FRANKLY INCREDIBLE THAT THEY EXPECT ANYONE TO BELIEVE THIS RUBBISH
2nd Floor
Caxton House
Tothill Street
SW1H 9NA

04 December 2012
Our Reference VTR 4418/12

By email:###################

Dear ###########,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 08 November 2012

You asked:

“1/ Could you provide the legal advice that states that if the DWP say someone is for for work and the claimant’s medical advisors say they are not for for work that the prospective employer’s insurance will cover them and the potential employee should they employ that person.

2/ If you are unable to provide the actual advice could you confirm that DWP has asked for, and received, such advice and the date upon which such advice was received.”

We are unable to confirm or deny that the Department holds legal advice received in relation to your question;

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit of £600. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for central Government it is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the Department is not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing your request further.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

——————————————————————————————————

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing freedom-of-information-request@dwp.gsi.gov.uk or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, 4thh Floor , Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF http://www.ico.gov.uk

Here is some of the correspondence regarding an official complaint about the failure of MEP’s to conform to their own code of conduct. It is reproduced here because of the disgust and contempt I have that the EU President and officials appear to be trying to drag the whole matter out in private in the hope that I will just go away.

Mr Schultz here’s my message to you:

I WILL MAKE LUNATIC FARAGE LOOK LIKE A PARAGON OF REASON BEFORE I STOP ASKING FOR THIS MATTER TO BE DEALT WITH

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sent: 26 June 2012 17:39
To: SCHULZ Martin, President
Cc: ******************@commoncause.org
Subject: Official complaint about MEP’s failing to Register Interests

People in the list include:

someone blown up in a terrorist attack,

the parents of a missing child,

the parents of a murdered child,

lawyers who were working for victims of hacking!

Cabinet Ministers, Police Officers and others involved with National Security

sportsmen, actors, journalists

David Cameron has decided that his duty is not to the victims but the perpetrators and the saddest thing about that is that it is not in the least surprising

Abbey, Gemma Louise
Adams, Tony
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HBC
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Law, Jude
Lee, Anne Dr
Lees, Joanne
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Leslie, John
Lewis, Orli
Lewis, Shelley
Lichters, Dan
Livingstone Eubank, Christoper
Lowther-Pinkerton, Jamie
Macpherson, Elle
MacShane, Denis
Mail on Sunday/ Daily Mail journalist 1
Mail on Sunday/ Daily Mail journalist 2
Mail on Sunday/ Daily Mail journalist 3
Mail on Sunday/ Daily Mail journalist 4
Mail on Sunday/ Daily Mail journalist 5
Mail on Sunday/ Daily Mail journalist 6
Mangold, Tom
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Matthews, Meg
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WBC
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Woodley, Tony
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