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1249813

registered interest
date	09/11/2020
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	Social Security Benefits: Mental Health
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to respond to the report by the University of Glasgow and the Health Foundation, Mental health, welfare conditionality and employment support: Policy recommendations and key findings, published in October.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL10042
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2020 answer text <p>The University of Glasgow and the Health Foundation’s report offers useful insights. We take these issues seriously and will consider the recommendations and key findings alongside the work on the forthcoming Health and Disability Support Green Paper, which will explore how the welfare system can better meet the needs of disabled people and people with health conditions. Improving employment support will be a key theme of the Green Paper.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 18/11/2020 14:40:43 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1660651

registered interest
date	13/09/2023
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	Lead: Ammunition
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what are the unforeseen clearance issues, if any, that have delayed the publication of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) assessment of the responses to the consultation on the phasing out of toxic lead ammunition that was due on 6 August; and whether they expect the HSE to deliver a dossier of options on the phasing out of toxic lead ammunition by 6 November, as legally required.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL10129
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2023 answer text <p>The restriction process in the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulation (REACH) contains multiple stages for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to undertake in their role as the REACH Agency. Having agreed, in 2021, to prepare a restriction dossier in respect of the risks posed by the use of lead in ammunition to human health and the environment, HSE has progressed a number of these stages, including formulating a risk assessment opinion by the 6 August 2023 as required.</p><p> </p><p>The next stage is for HSE to publish this final opinion on risk assessment and open a 60-day public consultation on a separate opinion on socioeconomic analysis. To ensure that these are as robust and transparent as they need to be, there are established HSE internal clearance processes at various stages. This clearance process is well underway with the publication of the risk assessment opinion and public consultation on the socioeconomic analysis expected in the first half of October.</p><p> </p><p>REACH legislation does allow HSE to amend the deadline for delivery of its final restriction opinion. The current stage of the clearance process means that the scheduled delivery date of 6 November 2023 will be changed and a new date will be identified shortly.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 27/09/2023 16:00:01 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1276932

registered interest
date	14/01/2021
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	Ventilation: Coronavirus
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 4 November 2020 (HL9402), and the identification of new variants of COVID-19, what plans they have to update their guidance for the ventilation of (1) existing, and (2) new, buildings.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL12137
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2021 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance outlines control measures that should protect against virus transmission and these remain unchanged. Ensuring good ventilation, staying at home, working from home where you can, social distancing, hand washing and cleaning surfaces are all measures that will reduce infection risk.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 28/01/2021 15:24:19 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1682276

registered interest
date	15/01/2024
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 steps they are taking to educate assessors of disability benefits, including commissioned assessment services, about chronic inflammatory conditions such as Hidradenitis suppurativa and their impact on individuals' capacity to work.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL1559
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2024 answer text <p>We have interpreted your question to refer to healthcare professionals (HCPs) who conduct Work Capability Assessments for Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) on behalf of the department, and not Department for Work and Pensions decision makers who make decisions on entitlement to benefit.</p><p> </p><p>Assessments are carried out by qualified HCPs, who receive training in assessing the impacts of a variety of disabilities including chronic inflammatory conditions, to ensure they are familiar with the clinical aspects of the conditions and their impact on daily functions.</p><p> </p><p>HCPs have access to a wide range of clinical resources, including e-learning modules and case studies, to research any conditions presented. CHDA has a learning module on hidradenitis suppurativa for use by their HCPs that has been externally quality assured by a consultant dermatologist. In addition, HCPs are also expected to keep their knowledge up to date through continuing professional development.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 25/01/2024 16:10:48 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1487673

registered interest
date	08/07/2022
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	Universal Credit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of recipients of universal credit discouraged from taking employment by the low level of net financial benefit from being employed due to associated costs, such as transport and childcare, known as the "benefit trap".
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL1592
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2022 answer text <p>No such assessment has been undertaken.</p><p> </p><p>UC recipients in work now benefit from a reduction in the UC taper rate from 63% to 55%, and for those eligible customers an increase in the work allowance by £500 per year meaning that working households will be able to keep more of what they earn and strengthening incentives to move into and progress in work.</p><p> </p><p>The National Living Wage has risen from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour from 1 April. That means a pay rise for millions of the country’s lowest paid workers – worth an increase of over £1,000 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is aware that for some UC claimants’ childcare costs presents challenges to entering employment. To support parents to become financially resilient by moving into work and progressing in work, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month regardless of the number of hours they work, compared to 70% in Tax Credits. This is up to the maximum amount of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 per month for two or more children. For families with two children, this could be worth over £13,000 a year.</p><p> </p><p>This support is available to all lone parents and couples, regardless of the number of hours they work. For couples, both parents need to be in paid work to be eligible unless one of the allowable exceptions is met.</p><p> </p><p>The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer in England and there are similar funded early learning offers in devolved nations. The Free Childcare offer provides 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3- and 4-year old’s and disadvantaged 2 year old’s, doubling for working parents of 3 and 4 year old’s to 30 hours a week.</p><p> </p><p>The UC childcare element can be used to top up a claimant’s eligible free childcare hours if more hours are worked and childcare required. This offer means that for some claimants’ childcare costs should not present any barriers to entering work.</p><p> </p><p>UC claimants who need help with upfront childcare costs to enter employment or significantly increase their working hours can apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund (FSF). This is a non-repayable payment that will pay their initial childcare costs directly to the provider up to the first salary received.</p><p> </p><p>In order to achieve our long-term goals of driving up productivity and levelling up, we are supporting people in work to ensure they have the right skills and opportunities to progress out of low pay. Through providing right infrastructure we will support an ambitious and productive workforce suited to meet the UK’s future demand.</p><p> </p><p>Through a staged rollout from April 2022 onwards, 2.1m low paid Universal Credit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher paid work. This will be provided by work coaches and focus on career progression advice, such as considering skills gaps, identifying training opportunities, or looking for opportunities for the claimant to progress in their current role or in a new role. Jobcentres will be supported in this new role by a network of 37 Progression Champions across Great Britain who will spearhead the scheme. They will work with partners to address local barriers that limit progression, such as transport and childcare.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 22/07/2022 10:09:39 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1487763

registered interest
date	11/07/2022
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	Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many households are currently affected by the under-occupancy charge with deductions for (1) one extra bedroom, or (2) more than one extra bedroom; and what assessment they have made of the impact of these deductions given the increased cost of living.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL1620
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/07/2022 answer text <p>The removal of the spare room subsidy is an important tool to make better use of the existing social housing stock, enable mobility within the social rented sector and contain growing housing support expenditure. It also aligns the size criteria rules used in the private rented sector in the social sector.</p><p>The policy allows for the provision of an additional bedroom to support disabled people and carers, the families of disabled children, foster carers, parents who adopt, parents of service personnel, and people who have suffered a bereavement. Additionally, those in receipt of pension age housing benefit are exempt.</p><p>Those who need additional support with their housing costs can seek assistance from their local authority via the Discretionary Housing Payment (DHPs) scheme. Since 2011 the Government has provided almost £1.5 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.</p><p>The number of Households affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy is set out in the table below.</p><p><strong>Households with a reduction due to the removal of the spare room subsidy, Great Britain, February 2022</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>One bedroom</p></td><td><p>Two or more bedrooms</p></td><td><p>Reduction applied but bedroom information is unknown</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>396,100</p></td><td><p>84,900</p></td><td><p>500</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><p>i. Figures are from <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a> and are rounded to the nearest hundred.</p><p>ii. Includes Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Element. Universal Credit data for February is provisional and will be within two per cent of revised figures in future releases.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 26/07/2022 14:26:21 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1349316

registered interest
date	21/07/2021
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: Disability
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 8 June (HL Deb, col 1312), what assessment they have made of the report by Z2K #PeopleBeforeProcess, published on 25 May; and what steps they plan to take as a result.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL2249
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government acknowledges the report by Z2K published in May 2021 and will consider its findings as part of our consultation on the Health &amp; Disability Green Paper, published on 20 July. The Green Paper explores how the benefits system can better meet people’s needs now and in the future by improving people’s experience of our services, enabling independent living and improving employment outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to improving the lives of disabled people and yesterday published the National Disability Strategy. The strategy takes into account the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on disabled people and focuses on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 29/07/2021 14:52:04 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1349802

registered interest
date	22/07/2021
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	Employment Schemes: Internet
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that jobseekers being supported through Department for Work and Pensions programmes have been referred to websites that advise them to state in job interviews that climate change may not exist; and what steps they plan to take as a result.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL2287
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>This was content provided by a third party supplier and was designed to help individuals understand that they can acknowledge different points of view when answering questions. The choice of “global warming” as an example subject was not appropriate and the content has been removed.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 27/07/2021 14:36:10 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1690586

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of ending the Household Support Fund on 31 March on (1) the number of people experiencing destitution, and (2) wider public services including the NHS, social care and homelessness services.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL2605
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2024 answer text <p>The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the Government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. Our approach to tackling poverty is based on clear evidence that parental employment, particularly where its full time, reduces the risk of poverty. In the financial year 21/22, children living in households where all adults work were around five times less likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those living in workless households.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is putting significant additional support in place for those on the lowest incomes from April. Subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by 6.7% while the Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”.</p><p> </p><p>To further support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the Government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefitting 1.6 million low-income households by on average £800 a year in 24/25. Additionally, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 04/03/2024 12:34:44 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1690587

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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	Biocidal Products: Regulation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what is their position on the regulation of Willaertia magna c2c maky as an active substance for use in biocidal products of product-type 11, following the European Commission's decision not to approve it.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL2606
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2024 answer text <p><em>Willaertia magna C2c maky</em> cannot currently be used in biocidal products within Product Type 11 (Preservatives for liquid-cooling and processing systems) within Great Britain. It is considered to be a new active substance, and there is no existing approval for it.</p><p> </p><p>Any new active substance under the Great Britain Biocidal Products Regulation requires an application and a full assessment of its safety and effectiveness before a decision can be reached on whether the substance meets the requirements for approval.</p><p> </p><p>Currently there are no applications for approval of this substance within any Product Type in Great Britain.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 05/03/2024 12:32:07 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle