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1124057

registered interest
date	30/04/2019
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: Disability
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 29 April (HL15269), what existing forums they were engaged with on the design of the feasibility test for a single assessment for Employment and Support Allowance/Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment.
tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
uin	HL15439
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2019 answer text <p>We committed to working with stakeholders to inform our approach to Work Capability Assessment (WCA) reform in the <em>Improving Lives</em> Command Paper published in 2017 and have been engaging on this broader issue through a number of forums. This has included our Policy Forum, a small group involving academics, think tanks and a number of disability charities.</p><p> </p><p>Specifically, on the single assessment, we are currently gathering evidence to support the design of the feasibility test and will be involving stakeholders to inform this in the coming months. The outcomes from the feasibility test will enable us to establish if a single assessment would improve the customer journey and deliver quality and accurate outcomes.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 08/05/2019 14:32:19 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

1123769

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
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	Eastman Kodak: Pensions Protection Fund
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government who is responsible for oversight of matters regarding the Pensions Protection Fund (PPF) and Kodak; and whether they plan to commission an independent review of the handling of Kodak by the PPF and the Pensions Regulator and the advice received by both.
tabling member printed	Lord Myners
uin	HL15407
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2019 answer text <p>The Pension Protection Fund is a statutory public corporation led by its Board and accountable to Parliament through the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions.</p><p> </p><p>The original decision in the Kodak case, which provided savers with the potential to receive benefits above Pension Protection Fund levels, was finely balanced and carefully assessed with the benefit of the due diligence carried out for the trustees. Regulated Apportionment Arrangements, a restructuring mechanism which allows a financially troubled employer to detach itself from its liabilities in respect of a defined benefit scheme, are rare and The Pensions Regulator will only agree to them if stringent criteria are met, with entry into the Pension Protection Fund the expected outcome, and the Pension Protection Fund must not object to the Regulated Apportionment Arrangements. The Pensions Regulator published a section 89 regulatory intervention report in November 2014 describing in detail the considerations leading to the decision in this case.</p><p> </p><p>As a condition of approving the successor Kodak pension scheme in 2014, a memorandum of understanding was put in place giving The Pensions Regulator the power to closely monitor the progress of the scheme and if necessary trigger its wind up. This has allowed The Pensions Regulator, with the Pension Protection Fund, to remain actively involved in discussions about the scheme’s future. Due to underperformance of the underlying business it was concluded that the scheme would be unable to meet its long term funding requirements. Action has therefore been taken to bring the scheme into a Pension Protection Fund assessment period which commenced on the 25 March 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Specialist firms with extensive Pension Protection Fund experience have been brought in to manage the administration of the pension scheme and to oversee its efficient passage through the assessment process.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst the Kodak case is a significant claim, the Pension Protection Fund remains in a robust financial position. In its last reported accounts, the Pension Protection Fund had a £6.7 billion reserve and is currently on track to reach its funding objective. There has been no immediate impact on the Pension Protection Fund Levy arising from this case. The Pension Protection Fund aims to collect £500m in levy in 2019/20 which is £50m lower than it aimed to collect in 2018/19.</p><p> </p><p>The Pensions Regulator aims to learn from every major pensions restructuring case and has refined its approach to complex pension restructurings in light of the lessons learned in the Kodak case and successive cases. A letter was sent on the 17<sup>th</sup> October 2018 from Lesley Titcomb, the then Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Pensions Regulator, addressed to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Rt Hon Frank Field MP, summarising the lessons learnt in the Kodak case.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 14/05/2019 15:29:45 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	3869 label Biography information for Lord Myners

1123298

registered interest
date	25/04/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Information Commissioner's Office's criticisms of Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) policy on Universal Credit representative recognition, what plans they have to revise guidance to DWP staff and others so as to enable effective communications between Universal Credit claimants' advisers and that Department.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL15354
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2019 answer text <p>We have had a number of workshops with stakeholders during which consent has been discussed, and we plan to do further work. This will include working with claimants and their representatives to ensure the process works effectively for vulnerable claimants to access the service.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 10/05/2019 12:45:09 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1123299

registered interest
date	25/04/2019
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: Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Buscombe on 24 April (HL Deb, col 596), what information about the impact of the two-child limit will be contained in the statistics they intend to publish on that policy; and, on the basis of their statistics that are currently available, what proportion of those affected by the two-child limit are in workless households.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL15355
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2019 answer text <p>The Department will be providing updated figures to those we published in June 2018. This will show the number of claimants affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children as at April 2019. The full breakdown of the current statistics can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-tax-credit-and-universal-credit-claimants-statistics-related-to-the-policy-to-provide-support-for-a-maximum-of-2-children-april-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-tax-credit-and-universal-credit-claimants-statistics-related-to-the-policy-to-provide-support-for-a-maximum-of-2-children-april-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>The proportion of households affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children which are in and out of work can be found in table 3. Statistics relating to Universal Credit claimants cover those claimants in UC Full Service only. Claimants affected by the policy in UC Live Service areas are not included.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 10/05/2019 12:44:13 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1123300

registered interest
date	25/04/2019
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the evaluation of the lower benefit cap they stated would be published in Spring 2019 in the letter from the Minister of Family Support to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee dated 18 December 2018.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL15356
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2019 answer text <p>Work on the evaluation of the lower benefit cap is ongoing. The impact evaluation uses a complex methodology that must first isolate the impacts of the lower cap from the original cap, and then analyse how these impacts differ across geographical regions and household types. It is important to ensure that the methodological approach is robust, and the Department has contracted the Institute for Fiscal Studies, independent experts, to advise on the evaluation design and peer review the results for the duration of the project.</p><p> </p><p>Work is progressing well, but in order to ensure that the evaluation design is as rigorous as possible we have decided to extend the timeframe over which we conduct the analysis.</p><p> </p><p>The impact evaluation findings will provide crucial context for the interpretation of the other strands of the evaluation; the claimant survey and local authority case study research undertaken by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).</p><p> </p><p>The full evaluation will be published when the peer review of the impact evaluation is completed; we now anticipate this to be in Autumn 2019.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 03/05/2019 13:57:03 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1121639

registered interest
date	11/04/2019
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: Disability
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have opened consultation on merging Personal Independence Payment and Employment and Support Allowance assessments; and if not, when they intend to do so.
tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
uin	HL15269
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>In their responses to the 2016 Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper consultation and through several other forums, stakeholders have raised concerns about the feeling of duplication across the current assessment processes. We have therefore been exploring options to reduce this, and make improvements to the customer experience. By testing the feasibility of a single assessment for Employment and Support Allowance/Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment we can seek to understand if it will improve the assessment process for our customers, and ensure that they still get the right decision.</p><p> </p><p>The design of the feasibility test will be informed by existing evidence and through our continued engagement with external stakeholders and disabled people themselves using existing forums, between now and over the course of Summer 2019. Beyond this we are continuing to work with stakeholders on other improvements to the assessment process, including the introduction of an integrated service, and reform of the Work Capability Assessment.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 29/04/2019 15:58:26 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

1110693

registered interest
date	09/04/2019
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	River Stour: Insecticides
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the annual treatment of the River Stour in Dorset to prevent infestations of the Blandford Fly is effective; and what is their assessment of the risks of that treatment, if any, to (1) human, (2) animal, and (3) plant life.
tabling member printed	Lord Patten
uin	HL15157
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2019 answer text <p>Local monitoring by General Practitioners of the incidence of bites in the 1990s showed a decline. Whether this was due to the annual treatments cannot be proved conclusively.</p><p> </p><p>Dorset Council is undertaking a trial into the effectiveness of a biocidal product against the Blandford Fly. The Health and Safety Executive’s assessment of the product in question, conducted as part of providing an authorisation for its use, concluded that the risks for humans, non-target animals and the wider environment were acceptable.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 24/04/2019 14:26:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	1137 label Biography information for Lord Patten

1110151

registered interest
date	08/04/2019
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 Care Services: Industrial Health and Safety
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the toxic waste that comes from hairdressing salons in England in the form of peroxides and dyestuff is dealt with safely.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL15119
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2019 answer text <p>The safe use of peroxides and dyestuff by hairdressers falls within the policy remit of the Health and Safety Executive and the relevant health and safety legislation is enforced by local authority inspectors. The disposal of hazardous waste is enforced by the Environment Agency.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Most products used in the hairdressing sector are considered to be ‘cosmetics’ and to be deemed safe for human use they must comply with Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on Cosmetic Products (recast) which are enforced by Trading Standards under The Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013.</p><p> </p><p>Under the Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulations (REACH) 2006 suppliers of hazardous substances must provide users of those substances with a Safety Data Sheet (SDS). The SDS contains the information necessary to enable users to carry out a risk assessment as required by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002 including how the product can be used, stored and disposed of safely.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 24/04/2019 14:20:55 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1108819

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Asbestos: Industrial Diseases
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what response they are making to the announcement by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health that diseases as a result of exposure to asbestos are killing 5,000 people a year and that more than 130 companies or individuals have been ordered to stop work activities over the past year after being found to be non-compliant.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL14926
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government welcomes the efforts by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) to raise awareness of the health risks arising from workplace exposure to asbestos. The announcement by IOSH highlights the need for employers and employees to remain vigilant when undertaking work which may disturb asbestos. The Health and Safety Executive and Local Authority inspectors will continue to take action in cases of non-compliance with the law, as indicated in the IOSH announcement.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:17:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1105833

registered interest
date	28/03/2019
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	Poverty
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their commitment to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, what steps they are taking to ensure that people living more than 50 per cent below the poverty line in the UK are not left behind.
tabling member printed	Baroness Stroud
uin	HL14919
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>This government is committed to delivering a sustainable long-term solution to poverty, by building a strong economy and ensuring that the benefit system works with the tax system and the labour market, to support employment and higher pay.</p><p>The Government does not publish data on those living more than 50% below the poverty line as comparisons of household income and expenditure suggest that those households reporting the very lowest incomes may not have the lowest living standards, meaning such a measure is likely to be unreliable.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions, through its Jobcentre Plus network and local delivery partners, provides support for vulnerable customers or those with complex needs to address barriers so that they can move forward with their lives.</p><p> </p><p>A report on progress on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda will be presented to the UN’s High Level Political Forum in July as part of the UK’s Voluntary National Review. The Department for Work and Pensions is leading work across Government to assess progress against the first of these goals: ‘End poverty in all its forms everywhere’.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:27:51 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4546 label Biography information for Baroness Stroud