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387259

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the contract his Department holds with Capita to provide personal independence payment assessments.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Mr Roger Godsiff
uin	5470
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2015 answer text <p>The contract with Capita to provide Personal Independence Payment Assessments was awarded following a negotiated procurement route which offered an opportunity to clarify and probe bidders’ proposals during an extensive period of negotiation. The value of the contract, specification, redacted terms and conditions and schedules were published on Contracts Finder in the usual way on 01 November 2012.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 07/07/2015 09:53:37 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	304 label Biography information for Mr Roger Godsiff

387382

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions his Department applied the exemption in section 38(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (disclosure likely to endanger the physical or mental health of any individual) in wholly or partly refusing a freedom of information request in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Glenrothes
tabling member printed	Peter Grant
uin	5296
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Statistics on the use of Freedom of Information exemptions are published by the Ministry of Justice (Table 10 of annual reports). They are available here <a title="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics</a>.</p><p> </p><p>These statistics provide the number of times section 38 as a whole has been used by each government department including DWP. More detailed figures for the constituent parts of section 38 are not readily available because our systems are not designed to provide a more detailed breakdown than is required for the published statistics.</p><p> </p><p>No guidance has been issued to staff on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No.19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, about the application of section 38 of the Act. However, the Ministry of Justice has published its own guidance on the use of this exemption. This is available here: <a title="http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance" href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance" target="_blank">http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance</a>.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 5317 5338 question first answered 09/07/2015 11:20:53 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4466 label Biography information for Peter Grant

387383

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions his Department applied the exemption in section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (disclosure likely to endanger the safety of any individual) in wholly or partly refusing a freedom of information request in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Glenrothes
tabling member printed	Peter Grant
uin	5317
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>Statistics on the use of Freedom of Information exemptions are published by the Ministry of Justice (Table 10 of annual reports). They are available here <a title="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics</a>.</p><p> </p><p>These statistics provide the number of times section 38 as a whole has been used by each government department including DWP. More detailed figures for the constituent parts of section 38 are not readily available because our systems are not designed to provide a more detailed breakdown than is required for the published statistics.</p><p> </p><p>No guidance has been issued to staff on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No.19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, about the application of section 38 of the Act. However, the Ministry of Justice has published its own guidance on the use of this exemption. This is available here: <a title="http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance" href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance" target="_blank">http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance</a>.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 5296 5338 question first answered 09/07/2015 11:20:53 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4466 label Biography information for Peter Grant

387384

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what instructions have been given to staff in his Department dealing with freedom of information requests on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No. 19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, in considering whether to apply the exemptions in section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
tabling member constituency	Glenrothes
tabling member printed	Peter Grant
uin	5338
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>Statistics on the use of Freedom of Information exemptions are published by the Ministry of Justice (Table 10 of annual reports). They are available here <a title="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics</a>.</p><p> </p><p>These statistics provide the number of times section 38 as a whole has been used by each government department including DWP. More detailed figures for the constituent parts of section 38 are not readily available because our systems are not designed to provide a more detailed breakdown than is required for the published statistics.</p><p> </p><p>No guidance has been issued to staff on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No.19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, about the application of section 38 of the Act. However, the Ministry of Justice has published its own guidance on the use of this exemption. This is available here: <a title="http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance" href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance" target="_blank">http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance</a>.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 5296 5317 question first answered 09/07/2015 11:20:53 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4466 label Biography information for Peter Grant

387477

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Employment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what change there has been in the rate of employment and self-employment among (a) working age adults with a disability and (b) working age adults with no disability in the last three years.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	5396
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>The table below shows estimates of the employment and self-employment rates for disabled and non-disabled people of working age 16-64 in the United Kingdom. These estimates are based on the Labour Force Survey for the quarters April-June 2013 and January-March 2015 (the most recently available data). Due to changes in the definition of disability[1], this is the longest period over which estimates can be compared on a consistent basis.</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td colspan="4"><p>Equality Act 2010 definition for disabled people</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Disabled</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Non-Disabled</strong></p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2"><p>Quarter - Year</p></td><td rowspan="2"><p>Employment Rate</p></td><td rowspan="2"><p>Self-employment Rate</p></td><td rowspan="2"><p>Employment Rate</p></td><td rowspan="2"><p>Self-employment Rate</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2013</p></td><td><p>43.6%</p></td><td><p>7.0%</p></td><td><p>76.8%</p></td><td><p>9.9%</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-Mar 2015</p></td><td><p>46.3%</p></td><td><p>7.1%</p></td><td><p>79.0%</p></td><td><p>10.6%</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Change</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>+2.7%</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>+0.1%<strong>[2]</strong></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>+2.2%</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>+0.6%</strong></p></td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>[1] In April 2013, changes were made to the wording of the disability questions in order to bring the LFS into line with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Standards for questions on disability and also enable the LFS estimates to be consistent with the definitions used in 2010 Equality Act. These estimates cannot be directly compared with estimates for previous years which were based on a definition relating to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).</p><p>[2] This change is not statistically significant.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 09/07/2015 11:34:14 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

387478

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Employment: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications of his policies of the conclusions on the increasing employment penalty facing people with a disability as set out in the recent OECD report, Entrepreneurship and Self-employment by People with Disabilities by Professor John Kitching.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	5490
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>While we welcome the paper provided by OECD as an addition to the evidence base relating to disability employment, as the paper itself notes, disability is diverse, disabled people have diverse characteristics, and there are differing models or definitions of disability.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s officials and analysts make use of a wide evidence base when working to develop strategy and policy and Professor Kitching’s paper quotes from 2007 DWP research with which they are familiar.</p><p> </p><p>DWP monitors disability employment on a quarterly basis using the Labour Force Survey (LFS), and uses LFS data to inform the development of new policy initiatives.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 10/07/2015 09:52:32 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

387479

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Average Earnings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent changes there have been in the median earnings of (a) working age adults with a disability and (b) working age adults with no disability in the last three years; and what steps he is taking to ensure that people with a disability are able to secure employment suitable to their needs and abilities.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	5348
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The table below provides estimates obtained from the Family Resources Survey[1] (FRS) of the median weekly earnings of disabled[2] and non-disabled employed[3] working age adults in the United Kingdom for the last three years for which data are available.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Median weekly earnings<strong>[4]</strong> (£)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Disabled</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Non-disabled</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2011/12</strong></p></td><td><p>335</p></td><td><p>390</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p>310</p></td><td><p>397</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p>299</p></td><td><p>384</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>We have a number of programmes and initiatives to ensure that people with a disability are able to secure employment suitable to their needs and abilities. These include Access to Work, Work Choice and Residential Training Colleges. Specialist Employability Support launches on 1<sup>st</sup> September 2015 and the Government’s award-winning Disability Confident campaign continues work with employers to raise awareness of the business benefits of employing disabled people.</p><br /><p>[1] Estimates are based on sample counts that have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors that control for tenure type, Council Tax Band and a number of demographic variables. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-sampling bias. It is thought that household surveys may underestimate income from both self-employment and investments. We rely on respondent recall of very detailed financial information across a comprehensive range of income sources.</p><p> </p><p>[2] Disability is self-reported in the FRS. A person is considered to have a disability if they have a long-standing illness, disability or impairment which causes substantial difficulty with day-to-day activities. Some people classified as disabled and having rights under the Equality Act 2010 are not captured by this definition, that is people with a long-standing illness or disability which is not currently affecting their day-to-day activities. The disability questions in the FRS changed from 2012/13 to comply with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Standards for questions on disability: <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/harmonisation/primary-set-of-harmonised-concepts-and-questions/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/harmonisation/primary-set-of-harmonised-concepts-and-questions/index.html</a>. The definition of disability used in this dataset is consistent with the core definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010. This means that neither the definition of disability nor the impairment types are directly comparable with data prior to FRS 2012/13.</p><p> </p><p>[3] Employment is defined using the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition.</p><p> </p><p>[4] Earnings have been adjusted to 2013/14 prices using the Retail Price Index and are rounded to the nearest pound. Figures include earnings from employment as an employee and self-employment, part-time and full-time.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 10/07/2015 09:44:48 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

386981

registered interest
date	01/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Homelessness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the benefit cap on levels of homelessness in each year since its introduction.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	5105
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>In December 2014 DWP published a suite of evaluation reports available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-cap-evaluation" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-cap-evaluation</a>. These found very little, if any, impact on homelessness as a direct result of the cap. The small number of capped households who have been evicted were noted by Local Authorities as having other reasons (beyond the cap) for rent arrears and also failing to engage with relevant services; they were considered intentionally homeless.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 06/07/2015 13:44:13 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

387128

registered interest
date	01/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Sheep Dipping: Organophosphates
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the contribution by the Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of 10 June 2015, Official Report, column 136WH, on organophosphate sheep dip, in what ways the Health and Safety Executive made the report referred to in that contribution and its content publicly available.
tabling member constituency	Newport East
tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
uin	5192
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2015 answer text <p>The Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made reference to the 1991 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report that presented the findings of a 1990 survey of sheep dipping. The report was published by HSE as an internal document in May 1991.</p><p> </p><p>The report was discussed at a meeting of the then Health and Safety Commission’s Agricultural Industry Advisory Committee (AIAC) working group, Chemicals In Agriculture (ChemAg), on 10 July 1991. The ChemAg working group membership included HSE, the Confederation of British Industry, the Trades Union Congress and other industry organisations.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to say with certainty what wider dissemination of the report there was, however, the September 1991 version of HSE’s published advisory leaflet “Sheep Dipping, Protect your health” (see attached) gives advice about the measures necessary to use dips safely and reflects the findings of the 1990 survey.</p><p>The 1990 survey also proposed additional work to further quantify the problems identified. This work was referred to in a press release (attached), issued in July 1993 that sets out the poor practice identified on farms using sheep dips and gives a summary of the sheep dip study findings.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson attachment 1 file name Sheep Dipping - Protect Your Health - AS29 - 1991.pdf title Sheep Dipping, Protect your health 2 file name Press release issued in 1993 on HSE survey and summary of results (also ChemAg) agenda item.pdf title Press release question first answered 06/07/2015 14:07:36 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

387132

registered interest
date	01/07/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of families affected by the benefit cap placed in (a) temporary accommodation by a local authority and (b) other accommodation have moved into work.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	5179
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2015 answer text <p>Data on the proportion of families affected by the benefit cap placed in (a) temporary accommodation by a local authority who have moved into work is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Data on capped households in (b) other accommodation by family type, housing type and reason for moving off the benefit cap can be found on Stat-Xplore, the Department’s online interactive tabulation tool, which can be accessed at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a>.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 08/07/2015 09:22:11 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms