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1388608

registered interest
date	16/12/2021
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	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
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 29 November 2021 to Question 80980 on Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf, if she will provide a copy of the HSE’s detailed questions to production installation duty holders regarding the specific impact of pandemic-related down-manning on maintenance and inspection backlogs.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	94352
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2022 answer text <p>A copy of the Health and Safety Executive’s Question Set, as referred to in the answer to Question 80980, is attached.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 05/01/2022 18:05:12 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith attachment 1 file name HSE Pandemic Maintenance Backlog Questions.pdf title HSE Pandemic Maintenance Backlog Questions
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1387859

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
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	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many planned maintenance shutdowns there were on oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021 to date.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	92926
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2022 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not routinely collect information on planned maintenance shutdowns on a yearly basis. There is no legal duty for operators on the UK Continental Shelf to inform HSE of this information, however it is held at a company level.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 05/01/2022 12:08:20 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1381828

registered interest
date	24/11/2021
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	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Health and Safety Executive’s Energy Division on the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on backlogs of safety critical maintenance work on oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf; and if she will list any recent actions that the HSE has taken against duty holders in this area.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	80980
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/11/2021 answer text <p>No recent discussions have taken place between the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Energy Division on this specific issue. Recognising the potential impact of the pandemic in 2020, HSE wrote to production installation duty holders with a detailed question set on maintenance and inspection backlogs, in order to evaluate and quantify the specific impact of pandemic-related down-manning on backlog. HSE’s analysis of the data provided in response to its question set indicated an increase in backlogs. This was because duty holders had postponed maintenance shutdowns because their approach to managing the risk of COVID infection required reduced manning levels that were insufficient to undertake the shutdowns.</p><p> </p><p>HSE took the following steps:</p><p>(i) Identified at the outset of the pandemic that maintenance would be affected and carried out inspections using the existing ‘<em>Maintenance management’</em> Inspection Guide, which HSE developed in 2014 specifically to address backlogs.</p><p>(ii) Worked with duty holders to look at alternative ways of carrying out the work, such as mini shutdowns and the use of “flotels” and walk-to-work vessels etc.</p><p>(iii) Set up a working group with Oil &amp; Gas UK and its members to specifically look at addressing the backlog issue.</p><p>(iv) Took enforcement action where backlogs were not being managed safely.</p><p>(v) Set up a program of Process Safety Leadership inspections starting in Q1 2022, of which asset integrity and maintenance backlog will form a key component.</p><p>(vi) Worked with senior industry integrity personnel in the Asset Integrity Task Group to highlight and address the issue.</p><p>(vii) Repeating the data gathering exercise in Q1 2022 to check that duty holders are managing their backlogs as they stated and to take enforcement action if they are not.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 29/11/2021 18:08:17 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1381829

registered interest
date	24/11/2021
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	Offshore Industry: North Sea
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of redundancies proposed by the PBS consortium on the contract with TotalEnergies on offshore safety standards in the North Sea.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	80981
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/12/2021 answer text <p>The UK Continental Shelf (UKSC) safety case regime requires Total to demonstrate to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that it can comply with the offshore legislation. Total has accepted safety cases for all its offshore installations and HSE has a targeted intervention plan which involves the testing of assertions made in safety cases. Total must continue to demonstrate that it is operating in compliance with the accepted safety case in the event of changing its contractors or when contractors themselves make changes, such as decreasing staff numbers etc.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 02/12/2021 10:51:22 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1381831

registered interest
date	24/11/2021
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	Offshore Industry: 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 recent assessment she has made of the level of (a) safety critical and (b) environmental maintenance backlogs in the offshore oil and gas industry since January 2019 to date.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	80982
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2021 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses its Offshore Safety and Environmental Critical Element (SECE) Management and Verification Inspection Guide when inspecting duty holder compliance in this subject. Maintenance backlogs are covered by the Guide and attract a score. The scores have both numeric and descriptive classifications: unacceptable (60), very poor (50), poor (40), broadly compliant (30), fully compliant (20) and exemplary (10).</p><p> </p><p>In 2019, HSE completed 26 SECE inspections and scored 1 x very poor, 9 x poor, 15 x broadly compliant and 1 x fully compliant. In 2020, there were 22 inspections with 4 x poor, 16 x broadly compliant and 2 x fully compliant scores. Since January 2021, there have been 19 inspections with 3 x poor and 16 x broadly compliant scores. Whenever HSE finds examples of non-compliance, they are raised as issues with the duty holder in a letter, and in some cases a notice. These are then monitored to ensure compliance by the due date.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the potential impact of the pandemic in 2020, HSE wrote to production installation duty holders with a detailed question set on maintenance and inspection backlogs, which includes several questions on SECE management. This has enabled HSE to assess SECE backlog management for a representative sample of UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) production duty holders. HSE will use the question set again from the start of 2022 as part of its ongoing intervention targeting procedure so that those duty holders that appear not to be managing their SECE backlog effectively can be prioritised for inspection.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 03/12/2021 14:59:52 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1379961

registered interest
date	18/11/2021
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	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she will publish the Department for Work and Pensions report into the efficacy of benefits sanctions.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	77445
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2021 answer text <p>We do not plan to publish a report on the sanctions evaluation as we were unable to assess the deterrent effect and therefore this research doesn’t present a comprehensive picture of sanctions.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/11/2021 16:13:29 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1357240

registered interest
date	21/09/2021
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	Unemployment: Young People
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support unemployed young people; and what plans she has to support job mobility.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	52488
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2021 answer text <p>The Government has provided an unprecedented economic support package to protect and create jobs, including a particular focus on young people.</p><p>The DWP Youth Offer provides wrap-around support to young people aged 18-24 who are in the intensive work search regime of Universal Credit and was introduced as part of the wider UK government Plan for Jobs package. It has been developed to combat youth unemployment and ensure that young people have the skills they need to look for, find and keep employment.</p><p>Through the Youth Employment Programme young people receive intensive Work Coach support and every young person is encouraged to take part in a wide range of work based opportunities including Kickstart placements, Sector Based Work Academy Programmes, traineeships, Mentoring Circles or apprenticeships, which can be taken up at any point in the 13-week programme.</p><p>This sits alongside Youth Hubs that are co-located and co-delivered with external partners to support young people with skills gaps, and Youth Employability Coaches that help those with significant complex needs and barriers into the labour market.</p><p>We currently have over 135 new Youth Hubs physically open to support young people across Great Britain and 150 Youth Employability Coaches, delivering tailored employment &amp; skills support for those most at risk of longer term unemployment.</p><p>To support job mobility for people of all ages, we are supporting claimants to access the skills and training opportunities delivered by the Department for Education and devolved Governments, through our DWP Train and Progress initiative across Great Britain. This includes the expansion of the successful Sector-based Work Academy Programme in England and Scotland. Where it will help people into work, DWP claimants can access sector-specific training provided as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, including L3 Skills Boot camps of up to 16 weeks’ full time while remaining on benefit.</p><p>Additionally, we recognise that people need the skills and opportunities to progress, build their careers and increase their earnings. The independent In-Work Progression Commission published its report on the barriers to progression for those in persistent low pay on 1 July 2021. It makes a number of recommendations for the Government which we will consider carefully and respond to later in the year.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/10/2021 11:56:57 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1355898

registered interest
date	15/09/2021
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will arrange emergency payments for people who have seen their state pension delayed.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	50006
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2021 answer text <p>DWP is aware that a small number of new State Pension claims have been subject to delays in receiving payment.</p><p>The Department is working hard to clear the current backlog, many of which have accrued since the Covid Pandemic.</p><p>We are prioritising overdue payments and payments that are imminent within the next few weeks. Normal service will be resumed by the end of October 2021.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 20/09/2021 13:47:17 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1355899

registered interest
date	15/09/2021
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the delays in processing state pension applications will be resolved.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	50007
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2021 answer text <p>DWP is aware that a small number of new State Pension claims have been subject to delays in receiving payment.</p><p>The Department is working hard to clear the current backlog, many of which have accrued since the Covid Pandemic.</p><p>We are prioritising overdue payments and payments that are imminent within the next few weeks. Normal service will be resumed by the end of October 2021.</p><p>Claimants don’t need to act, we have identified the cases and will process them as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 20/09/2021 13:44:18 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1306932

registered interest
date	12/04/2021
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: Remote Working
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the additional costs of working from home are taken into account when calculating universal credit payments for claimants who are working from home during covid-19 restrictions.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	178584
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2021 answer text <p>A Universal Credit award is calculated on the basis of the set benefit rate against money coming in, to ensure fairness of treatment for all claimants against the money that they have available. This is a long-standing principle of means-tested benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit rules align closely to tax legislation (Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA)). Amounts that are taken into account for a Universal Credit award include those that are general earnings, as defined in section 7(3) of ITEPA. Amounts paid as expenses that are exempt from Income tax under Part 4 of ITEPA are not taken into account for a Universal Credit award.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/04/2021 14:38:00 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham