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1702248

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Disability Confident scheme on the disability employment gap.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	22548
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>Disability Confident (DC) is one of a range of policies to support disabled people into work and to close the disability employment gap. It is difficult to isolate the direct impact of individual policies on the disability employment gap as numerous, interacting factors are at play, including overall labour market trends and changes to the composition of the disabled population, in addition to the effects of disability employment policies and programmes in themselves.</p><p> </p><p>When an employer signs up to DC, they agree to commitments which encourage employers to think differently about disability and to take positive action to address issues disabled employees face in the workplace. There are currently over 19,000 DC members and they estimate 11.5 million employees in total working in their businesses.</p><p> </p><p>In September 2023, the Department <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-confident-survey-of-participating-employers-may-2022" target="_blank">published findings</a> from a survey with members of the DC scheme, conducted by an independent research agency[1]. The research explored the effect that signing up to the DC scheme had on members’ recruitment and retention attitudes towards disabled people.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP and Cabinet officials regularly meet with Ministerial Disability Champions to drive this agenda across Government. The Champions’ role is to ensure disability inclusion is a priority in their Department’s work. They are helping to deliver our commitment to support disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>[1] The survey was conducted in February to March 2022. In total 1,233 survey interviews were conducted with scheme members.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:52:08 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1702282

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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: Departmental Responsibilities
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to ensure that his Department's (a) policy and (b) guidance is (i) trauma-informed and (ii) co-produced with lived-experience experts.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	22550
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>The DWP is committed to being a more Trauma Informed organisation. We have a dedicated programme which will integrate the six key pillars of the approach as defined by the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (December, 2022) which are safety, trustworthiness, choice, empowerment, collaboration and cultural consideration. Our programme looks at these six pillars within the contexts of application to our colleagues, our customers, our culture, and the context of our interaction- whether that is a physical, telephony, digital or postal interaction. We are learning from best practice demonstrated by organisations such as NHS Education Scotland, Work Services Australia and the Wales ACES Hub to shape the future prioritisation of this work.</p><p> </p><p>The integration programme is in its early phases, and we appreciate that it will take time to realise the benefits of changes we implement. We are learning from the continued progress of leaders in the field including programmes such as the Scottish National Trauma Transformation Programme. We recognise that an important aspect of many programmes is policies and procedures and intend to replicate this focus within our own work whilst recognising that the programme does not seek to change <em>what</em> the department does, instead we are impacting <em>how</em> we do this, which will extend to supporting our policy development.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that any truly trauma informed system is shaped by lived experience experts and we fundamentally believe in the co-production of this programme. This is why we have an extensive network of diverse internal and external stakeholders who are engaged in shaping the programme through ongoing forums and insight activity. We are also currently collaborating with the University of Salford on research which explores how trauma informed the department is through conversations with customers, colleagues and external stakeholders. The outcome of this research will help to shape the future priorities of the programme. Finally, we are currently exploring how we establish our own co-production forums for the programme taking advice from expert stakeholders to ensure we create a safe, empowering space for lived experience experts to whilst establishing trust in the ongoing aims and progress of the programme.</p><p /> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:48:06 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1702249

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	Universal Support
	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 effectiveness of the Universal Support pilot schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	22549
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>Universal Support is being delivered in two phases. The expansions to Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) and the Work and Health Programme (WHP Pioneer) are being rolled out for phase one of the service. The aim of phase one is to provide help to up to 50 thousand more disabled people and those with health conditions who want to work, while learning more lessons about how to scale up support for these groups.</p><p> </p><p>WHP Pioneer data will start to be published from May 2024. We are committed to publishing IPSPC programme data in due course. The interim and final evaluation reports for Universal Support Phase 1 covering WHP Pioneer and IPSPC will also be published.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:42:53 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1702247

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	Access to Work Programme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for an initial assessment for people on the Access to Work Scheme in 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	22547
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>The average waiting time for a decision on an AtW application for the financial year 2023/24 was 45.1 days.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:40:11 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1701896

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	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	Carer's Allowance: Food Poverty
	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 proportion of households in receipt of Carer’s Allowance living in food insecurity in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) Midlothian constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
	uin	22340
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>Statistics on the number of individuals living in households that are food insecure by receipt of state support in the UK are published annually in the “Family Resources Survey” publication in “table 9_7” of<strong> “</strong>household food security tables<strong>”</strong> found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2022-to-2023" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p> </p><p>The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23. The</p><p>latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p> </p><p>No such assessment can be made for Scotland and the Midlothian constituency due to sample sizes and availability of data.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:20:34 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1701851

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	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	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact the under occupancy penalty has had on levels of (a) child poverty and (b) child poverty for children with a disability.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	22335
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of the impact of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) on child poverty. It is not possible to produce a robust assessment of the impact of RSRS on child poverty because we do not have the data to fully measure behavioural impacts that may have resulted from the policy.</p><p> </p><p>The latest statistics show that in 2022/23 there were 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty by disability in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication in “table 1_7c” and “table 1_7d” (respectively) of<strong> “</strong>summary-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2022-23-tables<strong>”</strong> found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023" target="_blank">here.</a><strong> </strong>The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23. The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p> </p><p>The RSRS policy applies to claims for housing support where the claimant is living in a social rented sector property that is considered to have more bedrooms than the household requires.</p><p> </p><p>The policy helps to encourage mobility within the social rented sector to make better use of the existing social housing stock and strengthens work-incentives.</p><p> </p><p>There are easements available which allow for the provision of an additional bedroom in certain circumstances, such as to support families of disabled children, foster carers and parents who adopt.</p><p> </p><p>For individuals who may require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) may be available. DHPs are paid entirely at the discretion of the local authority and since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion to local authorities.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:14:22 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1701843

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	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	Children in Care: North of England
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations of Child of the North APPG's report entitled Children in Care in the North of England, published on 17 April 2024.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	22330
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>DWP recognises the challenges care leavers face as they move out of the care system and has in place a series of easements aimed at simplifying and improving their interaction with the benefit system. In addition to the intensive tailored support the Youth Offer provides for young people with additional barriers to work, we are working with employers through the Care Leaver Covenant to help care leavers find more employment opportunities; and with DfE to ensure care leavers can access the right skills, opportunities and wider support, to move towards sustained employment and career progression.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, to help achieve the missions set out in the Department for Education’s response to the independent review of children’s social care 'Stable Homes, Built on Love' DWP has already committed to proactively explore additional easements to enhance the support offer for care leavers and work with DfE officials to explore how to improve transition for care leavers entering the benefit and employment support system.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to supporting families on lower incomes and expects to spend around £306bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2024/25 including around £138bn on people of working age and children. We have uprated working age benefits by 6.7% and raised the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30<sup>th</sup> percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.</p><p> </p><p>We have consistently set out a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling child poverty based on evidence about the important role of work, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work. This is why, with over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/04/2024 16:10:57 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1700696

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 27 March (HL3520), why it is not possible to undertake a robust assessment of the impact of the two-child limit.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Leicester
	uin	HL3765
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>We do not have the data to fully measure health and well-being behavioural impacts that may have resulted from the two-child limit.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 24/04/2024 16:01:52 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4947 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Leicester

1700682

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Household Support Fund: Parkinson's Disease
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the Household Support Fund meets the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Gale
	uin	HL3740
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>The Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme run by Upper Tier Local Authorities in England to provide support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination set out for them by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).</p><p> </p><p>The Household Support Fund is an intentionally flexible scheme, designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need. Local Authorities have the ties and knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided to their local communities.</p><p> </p><p>We encourage Local Authorities to consider a wide range of households who are potentially in need of support, including families with children, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people. Local Authorities have the flexibility to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes, including offering vouchers to households, directly providing food, or issuing grants to third parties. It is for each local council to decide how, where and when they distribute their funding and to ensure that it is accessible to those who need it.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 24/04/2024 16:01:42 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	2503 label Biography information for Baroness Gale

1700681

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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: Parkinson's Disease
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide targeted financial support for people with long-term conditions such as Parkinson’s disease during the cost of living crisis.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Gale
	uin	HL3739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2024 answer text <p>The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, including people with Parkinson’s disease. Over recent years, the government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022- 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion – an average of £3,800 per UK household.</p><p> </p><p>We provided a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in June/July 2023 to people in receipt of certain disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is in addition to the £150 payment paid in September 2022.</p><p> </p><p>We estimate that nearly 60 per cent of individuals who received an extra costs disability benefit would have received the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900. Over 85 per cent would have received either or both of the means-tested and the £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.</p><p> </p><p>We also increased extra costs disability benefits by 10.1 per cent from April 2023 and by 6.7% from April 2024 in line with the Consumer Price Index.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 24/04/2024 16:01:15 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	2503 label Biography information for Baroness Gale