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1729641

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2024
	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	Civil Servants: Clothing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 7 August (HL346), whether this clothing policy applies to all staff in the Department for Work and Pensions.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jenkin of Kennington
	uin	HL1037
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2024 answer text <p>The DWP’s standards of behaviour statement requires employees to dress in a professional and business-like way. Professional and business-like has a normal, everyday meaning.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 18/09/2024 13:38:17 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	4229 label Biography information for Baroness Jenkin of Kennington

1729648

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2024
	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: Transgender People
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Work and Pensions (1) currently has, or (2) has previously had, a National Diversity Ambassador on Trans Issues; and if so, (a) who they were, and (b) during what time period(s) they served.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lucas
	uin	HL1054
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2024 answer text <p>DWP does not have a National Diversity Ambassador on Trans Issues.</p><p>Since 2018, under the current Permanent Secretary, there has been no formally recognised role of this description. Before this, the term Ambassador may have been used colloquially within the Department to raise awareness of Trans and wider Equity, Diversity and Inclusion matters. However, this role was not confirmed in any official capacity.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 18/09/2024 13:24:45 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	1879 label Biography information for Lord Lucas

1728708

	registered interest
	date	10/09/2024
	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: Medical Examinations
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many assessors trained and qualified in autism will work in each of the five regions under the Department for Work and Pension's Health Assessment Advisory Service.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Browning
	uin	HL925
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>The department and the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) are fully committed to supporting those with mental health conditions.</p><p> </p><p>All health professionals (HPs) within the five regions of HAAS are fully qualified in their health discipline and have passed strict recruitment and experience criteria. They must also be registered with a relevant regulatory body such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health and Care Professions Council or European Economic Area equivalent. The department has not specified that HAAS employ HPs who are specialists in specific conditions or impairments. Instead, the focus is on ensuring they are experts in disability analysis, focusing on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the claimant’s daily life.</p><p> </p><p>All HPs receive comprehensive training in the functional assessment of mental health conditions and disabilities, including Autism. From 09 September 2024 the educational material for all HAAS HPs was provided by DWP. As part of our review, we identified best practice in the NHS and have implemented the Oliver McGowan training as part of the mandatory training requirements for every HP. This training is recognised to be of significant value to HPs in ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to provide safe, informed, and compassionate assessments to claimants with autism and learning disabilities. This is in addition to our comprehensive education programme for HPs.</p><p> </p><p>Following the completion of core training to undertake the role, HPs will engage in an annual training programme, and HAAS has been provided with materials (such as Continual Professional Development modules) to support the development of their HPs where learning needs are identified. This approach ensures that both service wide and individual training needs are met and will be of benefit to those with neurodiversity where applicable.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock grouped question UIN HL926 question first answered 17/09/2024 14:28:11 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	236 label Biography information for Baroness Browning

1728709

	registered interest
	date	10/09/2024
	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: Medical Examinations
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what qualifications are stipulated for assessors of people on the autism spectrum by the Health Assessment Advisory Service.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Browning
	uin	HL926
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>The department and the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) are fully committed to supporting those with mental health conditions.</p><p> </p><p>All health professionals (HPs) within the five regions of HAAS are fully qualified in their health discipline and have passed strict recruitment and experience criteria. They must also be registered with a relevant regulatory body such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health and Care Professions Council or European Economic Area equivalent. The department has not specified that HAAS employ HPs who are specialists in specific conditions or impairments. Instead, the focus is on ensuring they are experts in disability analysis, focusing on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the claimant’s daily life.</p><p> </p><p>All HPs receive comprehensive training in the functional assessment of mental health conditions and disabilities, including Autism. From 09 September 2024 the educational material for all HAAS HPs was provided by DWP. As part of our review, we identified best practice in the NHS and have implemented the Oliver McGowan training as part of the mandatory training requirements for every HP. This training is recognised to be of significant value to HPs in ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to provide safe, informed, and compassionate assessments to claimants with autism and learning disabilities. This is in addition to our comprehensive education programme for HPs.</p><p> </p><p>Following the completion of core training to undertake the role, HPs will engage in an annual training programme, and HAAS has been provided with materials (such as Continual Professional Development modules) to support the development of their HPs where learning needs are identified. This approach ensures that both service wide and individual training needs are met and will be of benefit to those with neurodiversity where applicable.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock grouped question UIN HL925 question first answered 17/09/2024 14:28:11 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	236 label Biography information for Baroness Browning

1727981

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	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	Boots: Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the sale of the Boots Pension scheme to an insurance company and (2) the effect of this sale on the protection provided to the pensions held in the Boots Pension scheme by the Pension Protection Fund.
	tabling member printed	Lord Rooker
	uin	HL905
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2024 answer text <p>When a Defined Benefit pension scheme transfers responsibility for paying some or all of its members’ benefits to an insurer, the scheme pays a premium to the insurance company, which then takes on responsibility for paying the promised benefits. This is a well-established approach used by pension scheme trustees to secure the promised pensions for members with an insurance company.</p><p> </p><p>Arrangements to provide pension benefits to some or all scheme members with an insurer are secure and offer long term protection for member benefits. Insurance companies are regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and their policy holders are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.</p><p> </p><p>Pension Protection Fund protection is retained until the whole scheme is transferred to an insurer, and both the sponsor and the trustees are discharged. At that point the members are no longer protected by the Pension Protection Fund. This is because all benefits are now secured with an insurance company.</p><p> </p><p>No assessments of individual schemes are made by Government.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 18/09/2024 13:22:48 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	302 label Biography information for Lord Rooker

1727992

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Britain’s labour market, particularly in relation to (1) the decrease in job placements, and (2) the decline in pay growth.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL916
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2024 answer text <p>Job placements, as measured by employment, are currently at 33.2m. These have increased by 265,000 on the quarter and 150,000 on the year. The employment rate remains lower than it was immediately pre-COVID by 1.4 percentage points. This has been driven almost entirely by increased economic inactivity, including long term sickness which is at a near-record high.</p><p> </p><p>Regular pay growth (excluding bonuses) is currently at 5.1% on the year without accounting for inflation. This rate of pay growth has slowed since June 2023 when it reached 7.9%. Regular pay growth after inflation is currently at 2.2% on the year, following falls in real pay in 2022 and 2023 due to high inflation. Regular earnings after inflation are currently only 3% or £15 a week higher in the latest three months than the start of 2008, 16 years ago.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 18/09/2024 12:53:25 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1728004

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	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 His Majesty's Government what percentage of residents of Ceredigion in Wales are currently in receipt of disability benefits.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Buscombe
	uin	HL870
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of claimants in February 2024 who are on the different disability benefits, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance, including the Child element (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA).</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>PIP</p></td><td><p>DLA</p></td><td><p>AA</p></td><td><p>Total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4,449</p></td><td><p>1,293</p></td><td><p>2,785</p></td><td><p>8,527</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>This information can be found on the published datasets on <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml?invalidSession=true&amp;reason=Session+not+established." target="_blank">Stat-Xplore - Log in (dwp.gov.uk)</a></p><p>The latest available population estimates published by the Office of National Statistics on <a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/pestsyoala" target="_blank">Population estimates - local authority based by single year of age - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk)</a> show that the estimated population of Ceredigion in April 2023 is 73,050.</p><p>This means that 12% of the residents of Ceredigion in Wales were claiming disability benefits in February 2024.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 17/09/2024 15:18:41 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe

1728009

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	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	National Insurance: Foreign Nationals
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many National Insurance numbers were issued to citizens of (1) the European Union, and (2) all other countries, within the last 12 months for which figures are available.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts
	uin	HL885
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>The Department publishes quarterly statistics on National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK with the latest statistics to June 2024 available by world area and country on Stat-Xplore. The number issued in the 12 months to June 2024 by world areas is shown in the table below.</p><p> </p><p><strong>NINO Registrations To Adult Overseas Nationals Entering The UK</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Nationality</p></td><td><p>Rolling year end June 2023/24</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>European Union</p></td><td><p>69,927</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Non-European Union (Other Europe)</p></td><td><p>49,302</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Asia</p></td><td><p>544,241</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rest of the World</p></td><td><p>261,711</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other / unknown</p></td><td><p>14,857</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>940,039</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a></p><p>Note: Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 17/09/2024 14:25:45 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	1651 label Biography information for Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts

1727919

	registered interest
	date	06/09/2024
	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	Pensioners: Christmas Bonus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend (1) to remove the £10 Christmas bonus for qualifying pensioners, or (2) to restore it to its original value as a percentage of the basic pension.
	tabling member printed	Lord Rooker
	uin	HL854
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2024 answer text <p>The Government has no current plans to revise the arrangements for the Christmas Bonus.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Christmas Bonus is an annual, tax-free, lump sum payment to pensioners and to working age people who are in receipt of certain qualifying benefits during the relevant week which is usually the first full week in December.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 18/09/2024 12:53:45 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	302 label Biography information for Lord Rooker

1727458

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2024
	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	European Social Charter
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Sherlock on 3 September (HL Deb col 1046), what aspects of domestic law have been in breach of the provisions of the Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter and the Revised European Social Charter 1996, preventing their ratification; and what is the legislative timetable for correcting these breaches.
	tabling member printed	Lord Balfe
	uin	HL735
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/09/2024 answer text <p>The Additional Protocol 1995 provides for a collective complaints mechanism. Member States who choose to accept this mechanism are not assessed on their conformity with the process. The UK has not accepted the mechanism because, like the majority of member States, the UK believes the existing supervisory mechanisms of the European Social Charter are adequate.</p><p> </p><p>The new Government is embarking on an extensive programme of reforms, including our Employment Rights Bill which will change our position on provisions within both the 1961 and Revised Charter. The Government will, therefore, consider our position on the Revised Charter in due course.</p><p> </p><p>A summary of the latest assessments of the UK’s conformity with the European Social Charter 1961 was published by the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe also published the UK’s report on non-accepted provisions of the European Social Charter and the Revised European Social Charter earlier this year. I will place a copy of both of these documents in the House of Lords Library.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 16/09/2024 12:19:06 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
	tabling member	4302 label Biography information for Lord Balfe