Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1670014

registered interest
date	14/11/2023
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: Foster Care
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's press release entitled, Employment boost for thousands of parents on Universal Credit, published on 25 October 2023, if he will consider the potential merits of applying similar conditionality requirements for family and friend carers as foster carers.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	1844
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2023 answer text <p>Friends and family carers, also known as kinship carers, provide incredible care to children who cannot remain with their parents. The government recognises the difficult circumstances in which many kinship carers find themselves when they first take a child into their care. As such, for the first year they are only required to attend jobcentre appointments and are not required to search or prepare for work. This allows time for adjustments to the family’s life and for the children to settle in.</p><p> </p><p>The policy for foster carers reflects their particular circumstances. Universal Credit does not provide claimants with financial support for any foster children in their care and only requires foster carers to attend regular appointments rather than look for work.</p><p>We have recently made changes to lead carer (including kinship carer) conditionality – an increased frequency of jobcentre appointments for lead carers of 1 and 2 year olds, and an increase to the maximum hours of work-related activity for lead carers of 3-12s. Alongside this, we have increased support with childcare. These changes in conditionality and childcare availability are designed to provide support to lead carers of children, including kinship carers, to help them move into work or grow their earnings and provide the children in their care with the best possible start in life. We believe that this strikes the right balance.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 22/11/2023 16:35:57 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1670015

registered interest
date	14/11/2023
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: Carers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's press release entitled, Employment boost for thousands of parents on Universal Credit, published on 25 October 2023, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of new Universal Credit work conditionality requirements on family and friend carers.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	1845
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2023 answer text <p>On 25 October 2023, we increased the maximum hours of work-related activity that lead carers of children aged 3-12 on Universal Credit can commit to with their job centre work coach to 30 hours per week. This change applies to lead carers including family and friend carers, also known as kinship carers, although it is important to note that kinship carers who are within 12 months of having a child coming to live with them are not required to search for or be available for work. This is to allow a period of settling in to a new family arrangement.</p><p> </p><p>Kinship carers play a critical role in the lives of children, often in very difficult circumstances. The increase to 30 hours of work-related activity for lead carers is a maximum and we expect hours to continue to be set at a level that is achievable for the individual claimant according to their circumstances, and in discussion with their work coach.</p><p> </p><p>These changes are designed to support parents and carers to help them move into work or grow their earnings and provide the children in their care with the best possible start in life.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 22/11/2023 16:39:46 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1669595

registered interest
date	13/11/2023
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: Carers
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 take steps to ensure that the same Universal Credit work conditionality requirements apply to family and friend carers as to foster carers.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	1478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2023 answer text <p>Friends and family carers, also known as kinship carers, provide incredible care to children who cannot remain with their parents. The government recognises the difficult circumstances in which many kinship carers find themselves when they first take a child into their care. As such, for the first year they are only required to attend jobcentre appointments and are not required to search or prepare for work. This allows time for adjustments to the family’s life and for the children to settle in.</p><p> </p><p>The policy for foster carers reflects their particular circumstances. Universal Credit does not provide claimants with financial support for any foster children in their care and only requires foster carers to attend regular appointments rather than look for work.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 21/11/2023 14:59:22 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1545376

registered interest
date	24/11/2022
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	Sick Leave: Productivity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect of long-term sickness on economic productivity in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	95806
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/11/2022 answer text <p>The specific information requested on economic productivity is not held by the Department.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>According to the latest figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS, <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/economicinactivity/datasets/economicinactivitybyreasonseasonallyadjustedinac01sa" target="_blank">INAC01 SA</a>), the number of working age (16-64) people who state their main reason for being economically inactive as long-term sickness is 2.5 million, or 28% of the total inactive population.</p><p> </p><p>Long-term sickness is now the most common main reason for being economically inactive and accounts for 65% of the increase in economic inactivity since the start of the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/economicinactivity/datasets/economicinactivitybyreasonseasonallyadjustedinac01sa" target="_blank">INAC01 SA: Economic inactivity by reason (seasonally adjusted) - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 29/11/2022 16:52:19 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1457843

registered interest
date	11/04/2022
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	Health and Safety: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to encourage employers to undertake covid-19 health and safety risk assessments for severely immunocompromised employees.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	153812
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2022 answer text <p>COVID-19 remains a public health issue. There is no longer a requirement for every business to consider COVID-19 in their risk assessment or have COVID-19 control measures in place. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency has published <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reducing-the-spread-of-respiratory-infections-including-covid-19-in-the-workplace" target="_blank">guidance</a> on reducing the spread of respiratory infections, including COVID-19, in the workplace.</p><p> </p><p>For people in England who are immunosuppressed (including employees), the Department of Health and Social Care has published guidance entitled: ‘<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk" target="_blank">COVID-19: guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk’. </a></p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 22/04/2022 12:53:10 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1436775

registered interest
date	28/02/2022
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	Coronavirus: Health and Safety
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department is issuing to employers to support their immunocompromised staff to work safely from their place of work after the existing covid-19 infection control measures are lifted.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	131121
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2022 answer text <p>The Department of Health and Social Care have the lead and alongside UK Health Security Agency released guidance on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk" target="_blank">COVID-19: guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk </a>. This was most recently updated on 25 February 2022. In order to assist employers, the Health and Safety Executive provides a link to this guidance on its website.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 131258 question first answered 03/03/2022 15:41:33 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1418153

registered interest
date	31/01/2022
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	Remote Working: Immunosuppression
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to communicate with employers on advice for immunosuppressed people to continue to work from home.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	114668
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2022 answer text <p>In December 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care and UK Health Security Agency released guidance on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk" target="_blank">COVID-19: guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk </a>. This included advice to work from home if possible. If a person is unable to work from home, they should speak to their employer about what temporary arrangements they can make to reduce that person’s risk.</p><p> </p><p>In order to inform employers of this, the Health and Safety Executive updated it’s guidance <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/protect-people.htm" target="_blank">Protect vulnerable workers - Working safely during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic</a> to include a section on workers who are immunosuppressed and the advice mentioned above.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 08/02/2022 14:57:15 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1403323

registered interest
date	17/01/2022
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 and Support Allowance: Denton and Reddish
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance in Denton and Reddish constituency.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	105408
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2022 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19<sup>th</sup> January to question number <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-01-14/104377" target="_blank">104377</a>.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 105430 105431 105447 105448 105449 105450 105475 105488 105491 105492 105494 105495 105504 105505 105509 105511 105533 105545 105599 105613 105668 105677 105690 105695 105701 105713 105754 question first answered 20/01/2022 11:12:23 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1366813

registered interest
date	08/11/2021
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2021 to Question 62643 on Universal Credit, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the universal credit assessment period and payment structure; and what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Court of Appeal Judgement of 22 November 2020 [2020] EWCA Civ 778.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	71287
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/11/2021 answer text <p>The Department has no plans to change either Universal Credit assessment periods or payment structures. They are fundamental parts of the design, reflecting payment patterns in the world of work, where the majority of people are paid monthly. Ensuring similarities between paid employment and receiving benefits eliminates an important barrier which could prevent claimants from adjusting to paid employment.</p><p> </p><p>The Court of Appeal judgment in the case of Johnson and others, handed down on 22 June 2020, ruled that the way the Department calculated Universal Credit awards involving earnings in an assessment period was a correct application of the regulations, but that the Department’s position of not considering the impact on the small number of specific cases of those paid calendar monthly who are affected by ‘a non-banking day salary shift’ should change.</p><p> </p><p>The Court of Appeal Judgment was narrowly focussed on calendar monthly paid claimants who are affected by a ‘non-banking day salary shift’ resulting in two payments being counted in one assessment period, none in another and the loss of a work allowance. The legislation changes we made to remedy these cases came into force on 16<sup>th</sup> November 2020 and allow us to move one of these monthly payments to the assessment period where there is none. Moving an additional four-weekly payment from the assessment period with two payments would not have the same effect, but would simply mean there would be two payments in a different assessment period.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 16/11/2021 12:42:52 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1366385

registered interest
date	05/11/2021
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 Prime Minister's answer to the Oral Question asked by the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk on 3 November, Official Report, col 912, what options the Government is assessing to ensure that 1950s-born women receive fair pensions.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	70241
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2021 answer text <p>Under this Government, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is now over £2,050 higher than in 2010. For future pensioners, auto-enrolment into workplace pensions has transformed pension saving for millions of workers and our 50 plus: choices agenda aims to maximise the labour market opportunities for people to earn and save for longer.</p><p> </p><p>Auto-Enrolment has been especially transformative for women, low earners and young people, who have historically been poorly served by or excluded from workplace pensions. Between 2012 and 2020 participation for private sector eligible women increased from 40% to 86% (equal to men) and double what it was in 2012.</p><p> </p><p>The Reforms to the State Pension in 2016 put measures in place to improve State Pension outcomes for most women. Over three million women stand to receive an average of £550 more per year by 2030 as a result.</p><p> </p><p>Pension Credit also provides invaluable financial support for the most vulnerable pensioners. We are undertaking a range of actions to raise awareness and increase take up.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 15/11/2021 14:24:20 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne