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1648624

registered interest
date	28/06/2023
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	Weed Control: 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, whether the Health and Safety Executive plans to publish guidance on the use of drones to spray bracken.
tabling member constituency	North Herefordshire
tabling member printed	Sir Bill Wiggin
uin	191517
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2023 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not plan to publish guidance on the use of drones to spray bracken with pesticides.</p><p> </p><p>HSE already accepts requests to permit the application of pesticides by drones and information is provided on HSE’s website, with potential applicants advised to contact HSE directly.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 06/07/2023 08:47:04 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	1428 label Biography information for Sir Bill Wiggin

1626653

registered interest
date	10/05/2023
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Holiday Leave
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 make an assessment of the potential implications of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in the 2017 case of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts & Ors for the calculation of holiday pay entitlement for staff in her Department; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	184423
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2023 answer text <p>The DWP is committed to making statutory holiday payments in respect of relevant overtime payments to colleagues and significant work is being undertaken to implement a solution to include relevant overtime payments in holiday pay calculations for affected staff.</p><p> </p><p>We are working at pace with our payroll provider and other partners and whilst progress is being made, I acknowledge this is taking longer than expected and understand that the delay is causing concern. We will confirm to colleagues when it is able to implement the anticipated changes. Finally, I would like to reassure you that the Department is doing all that it can to implement a solution as soon as is practicable.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 16/05/2023 16:20:35 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1580713

registered interest
date	25/01/2023
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Holiday Leave
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has notified staff to (a) tell or (b) remind them that they can sell annual leave in the last four months.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	132467
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2023 answer text <p>DWP has an existing facility for colleagues to exchange untaken contractual leave for payment in the last month of their annual leave year. There is no consistent annual leave year for colleagues across DWP.</p><p> </p><p>From 4 January to 31 January 2023, DWP is running a specific exercise where colleagues can voluntarily request a payment for a maximum of five days of untaken contractual annual leave that they do not want to take, regardless of when their annual leave year ends. Colleagues cannot request to be paid for statutory leave.</p><p> </p><p>Taking part in the exercise is completely voluntary, employees physical and mental wellbeing remains a key priority for the department, and everyone is encouraged to use their annual leave to relax and recuperate wherever possible.</p><p> </p><p>Colleagues were informed of this opportunity 4 January 2023, and reminders were issued 13, 25 and 27 January 2023.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 03/02/2023 14:30:03 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1569012

registered interest
date	20/01/2023
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	128658
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/01/2023 answer text <p>DWP takes its responsibility to comply with Equality Act 2010, Public Sector Equality Duty and Civil Service Management Code seriously. We have adopted an Equality Analysis approach to embed inclusive decision making and equalities considerations and monitoring within all of our policies and practices.</p><p> </p><p>In DWP Equality Analysis is undertaken at policy/project level, and to ensure compliance we have embedded equalities thinking and monitoring within our change processes and have developed comprehensive guidance to support Senior Responsible Officer’s to effectively discharge their responsibilities. In addition, we have dedicated resource in place to provide bespoke support on all aspects of Equality Analysis, including monitoring and evaluation to policy/project leads as requested.</p><p> </p><p>Policy/Projects with an employee impact are actively encouraged to implement Trade Union engagement and the sharing of their Equality Analysis as part of their Stakeholder Management Plans.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 30/01/2023 16:14:36 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1460044

registered interest
date	25/04/2022
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	Kickstart Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Kickstart Scheme placements have been (a) approved, (b) advertised and (c) started by young people by (i) nation, (ii) region and (iii) sector as of 22 April 2022; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Eastbourne
tabling member printed	Caroline Ansell
uin	159037
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>The most recent data available is for the 24 April 2022. At that point over 162,000 Kickstart jobs had been started by young people. The last Kickstart jobs were started by young people on 31 March 2022, and we expect the number of starts to increase further as employers report commencement of employment.</p><p>We have previously published the number of jobs approved and advertised as of 31 January 2022 <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-01-31/114956" target="_blank">here.</a> At that point, over 235,000 jobs had been advertised and over 305,000 had been approved. Kickstart has now closed to employer applications and, as of March 2022, all approved jobs proceeding to the advertisement stage, have been advertised. As such, these totals will not increase further.</p><p>Below are tables listing the number of Kickstart jobs which have been made available and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain and work sector. The figures used are correct as of the 24 April 2022 and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards.</p><p>Jobs made available (advertised) and job starts quoted here include some unfunded Kickstart jobs. Also included in the Great Britain total are a small number of jobs made available (less than 100 in total) that have an unrecorded job location.</p><p>The number of approved jobs is defined as the number of jobs associated with approved applications recorded on the Kickstart application system on the date above. This total excludes approved jobs that have been withdrawn from the Kickstart Scheme by agreement with employers and gateways. This is generally because, over time, some previously approved jobs were removed where the employer chose not to follow up the application.</p><p>Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.</p><p>The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Number of Kickstart total available jobs and job starts, Great Britain, by nation and region (figures rounded to nearest 1000*)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Total jobs made available</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total jobs started</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Region / Nation Split</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>(DATA RETAINED FROM 31/01/22)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>(DATA EFFECTIVE 24/04/22)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total, Great Britain</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>235,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>162,000</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>England</strong></p></td><td><p>204,000</p></td><td><p>141,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Midlands</p></td><td><p>14,000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East of England</p></td><td><p>18,000</p></td><td><p>12,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>51,000</p></td><td><p>33,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North East</p></td><td><p>11,000</p></td><td><p>8,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North West</p></td><td><p>30,000</p></td><td><p>21,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South East</p></td><td><p>26,000</p></td><td><p>17,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South West</p></td><td><p>14,000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Midlands</p></td><td><p>21,000</p></td><td><p>16,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Yorkshire and The Humber</p></td><td><p>19,000</p></td><td><p>14,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Scotland</strong></p></td><td><p>19,000</p></td><td><p>14,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wales</strong></p></td><td><p>12,000</p></td><td><p>8,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 2: Number of Kickstart total available jobs and job starts, Great Britain, by Sector (figures rounded to the nearest 10*)</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Sector Split</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total jobs made available</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total jobs started</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>(DATA RETAINED FROM 31/01/22)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>(DATA EFFECTIVE 24/04/22)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Administration</p></td><td><p>57,350</p></td><td><p>39,920</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Animal Care</p></td><td><p>1,610</p></td><td><p>1,330</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Beauty &amp; Wellbeing</p></td><td><p>1,720</p></td><td><p>1,320</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Business &amp; Finance</p></td><td><p>8,500</p></td><td><p>5,910</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Computing Technology &amp; Digital</p></td><td><p>15,840</p></td><td><p>12,340</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Construction &amp; Trades</p></td><td><p>7,230</p></td><td><p>5,170</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Creative &amp; Media</p></td><td><p>20,990</p></td><td><p>16,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Delivery &amp; Storage</p></td><td><p>6,380</p></td><td><p>4,430</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Emergency &amp; Uniform Services</p></td><td><p>520</p></td><td><p>360</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Engineering &amp; Maintenance</p></td><td><p>7,080</p></td><td><p>4,890</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Environment &amp; Land</p></td><td><p>4,620</p></td><td><p>3,450</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Government Services</p></td><td><p>1,000</p></td><td><p>710</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Healthcare</p></td><td><p>6,140</p></td><td><p>3,460</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Home Services</p></td><td><p>1,560</p></td><td><p>900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hospitality &amp; Food</p></td><td><p>26,380</p></td><td><p>14,030</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Law &amp; Legal</p></td><td><p>650</p></td><td><p>520</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Managerial</p></td><td><p>960</p></td><td><p>660</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Manufacturing</p></td><td><p>6,430</p></td><td><p>4,390</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Retail &amp; Sales</p></td><td><p>34,970</p></td><td><p>26,410</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Science &amp; Research</p></td><td><p>990</p></td><td><p>790</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Social Care</p></td><td><p>4,740</p></td><td><p>2,640</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sports &amp; Leisure</p></td><td><p>5,920</p></td><td><p>4,150</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Teaching &amp; Education</p></td><td><p>11,000</p></td><td><p>6,790</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Transport</p></td><td><p>900</p></td><td><p>460</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Travel &amp; Tourism</p></td><td><p>1,110</p></td><td><p>580</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>*</strong> <strong>Due to rounding, sum of figures may not match declared total</strong></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/04/2022 08:31:22 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4512 label Biography information for Caroline Ansell

1230128

registered interest
date	01/09/2020
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: Maintenance
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 reference to the Child Maintenance Service standard practice of making reassessments when there is a 25 per cent reduction in income, what estimate the Child Maintenance Service has made of the number of non-resident parents whose income has been reduced by 20 per cent under the Government's furlough scheme in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Workington
tabling member printed	Mark Jenkinson
uin	83954
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2020 answer text <p>The CMS has not made any estimate of the number of non-resident parents whose income has been reduced by 20% under the Government’s furlough scheme.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises that the income of many separated parents has been affected by the public health emergency. Parents should continue to financially support their children by paying their child maintenance. At the same time, liabilities should remain affordable for paying parents at a time of substantial and rapid fluctuation in incomes.</p><p> </p><p>The scheme is designed so that liabilities remain consistent over the year, with limited changes. The calculation is reviewed annually, and generally only changes during the year if a parents’ income increases or decreases by at least 25 per cent. This balances consistency for children with support for parents experiencing a reduction in income.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 10/09/2020 14:56:12 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4752 label Biography information for Mark Jenkinson

1230129

registered interest
date	01/09/2020
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: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the processing of (a) new and (b) existing Child Maintenance Service cases of new parents' inability to register births during the covid-19 outbreak; and what assessment her Department has made of the effect on that service's users of the Child Maintenance Service not being able to backdate payments more than 12 weeks once those new birth registrations have been confirmed.
tabling member constituency	Workington
tabling member printed	Mark Jenkinson
uin	83955
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2020 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p><p>In response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, temporary changes to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) were introduced to ensure we could continue to deliver our priorities in supporting separated parents while also supporting wider efforts across the Department to provide financial support to more people. The CMS has now reinstated a full service.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 09/09/2020 17:13:59 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4752 label Biography information for Mark Jenkinson

1219742

registered interest
date	01/07/2020
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	Postal Services: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the safety of postal workers during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Tahir Ali
uin	67765
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2020 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Local Authorities (LAs) are jointly responsible for health and safety regulation of Royal Mail’s activities. Broadly, HSE regulate larger distribution centre and mail delivery activities and LAs regulate Post Offices and delivery offices/sorting centres.</p><p> </p><p>HSE has carried out assessment of compliance at individual locations around the country and through liaison with Royal Mail’s Global Director for Compliance and Sustainability. Complaints (referred to as ‘concerns’ by HSE) have been raised about the management of Covid-19 risks at Royal Mail sites, and HSE responds to any concerns notified by Royal Mail’s workforce by assessing Royal Mail’s risk controls against the standards set out in government guidelines addressing social distancing, handling mail, cleaning, and hygiene.</p><p> </p><p>As part of HSE’s assessment of compliance, investigation of these concerns have involved a mixture of visits to premises and contact through email or telephone. Where improvements in the measures to protect workers from Covid-19 have been identified, HSE staff have secured compliance with the law by providing advice or writing to Royal Mail to require improvements.</p><p> </p><p>HSE has advised LAs to ensure a coordinated approach in applying consistent and proportionate standards to securing compliance against Covid-19 risks in Royal Mail premises</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 13/07/2020 15:29:34 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4747 label Biography information for Tahir Ali

1201804

registered interest
date	09/06/2020
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: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have been sanctioned since 1 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	57259
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2020 answer text <p>We took the decision to temporarily suspend for 3 months the requirement for face-to-face Jobcentre Plus appointments for all claimants in Universal Credit, New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), old-style JSA and ESA, and Income Support. They will continue to receive benefits as normal and they will not be sanctioned for not taking part in appointments with Jobcentres.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The number of Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned is published quarterly. The latest figures for Universal Credit sanction rates are up to February 2020 and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics</a></p><p> </p><p>Additional breakdowns of the figures can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/06/2020 12:56:27 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1183046

registered interest
date	05/03/2020
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	Independent Case Examiner
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the average time taken for claimants to receive a decision from the Independent Case Examiner.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	25695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2020 answer text <p>The table below provides details of the average time taken for complainants to receive a decision from the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE) Office, in the current reporting year (April 2019 to February 2020).</p><p> </p><p>When the ICE Office accepts a complaint for investigation, it will consider whether it can be resolved by brokering a solution between the complainant and the relevant department or supplier, without having to request evidence to inform an investigation. If the complaint can’t be resolved, the evidence will be requested and the case will await allocation to an Investigation Case Manager (ICM). Cases are dealt with by dedicated teams and are usually brought into investigation in strict date order.</p><p> </p><p>Following an investigation of the evidence the complaint may be settled, if agreement can be reached on actions that satisfy the complainant. If the complaint cannot be settled, the Independent Case Examiner will issue a report detailing findings and any recommendations for redress.</p><p> </p><p>The cases that reach the Independent Case Examiner are the most complex and investigations will not be compromised in order to be completed within certain timescales. We keep people updated about the timings involved with their case and the vast majority of complainants are satisfied with the service they receive.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Description</p></td><td><p>Average time in weeks</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Resolution (from acceptance to case closure)</p></td><td><p>6 weeks (against a target of 8 weeks)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Time taken to allocate case to ICM (from date of acceptance)</p></td><td><p>59 weeks</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Settlement (from allocation to ICM to case closure)</p></td><td><p>8 weeks (against a target of 15 weeks)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>ICE Report (from allocation to ICM to case closure)</p></td><td><p>23.5 weeks (against a target of 20 weeks)</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 13/03/2020 12:07:59 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens