Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to close the disability employment gap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is generally good for health. This is why in the Health and Disability White Paper the Government reaffirmed its commitment to close the disability employment gap and stated its intention to set a new disability employment ambition.
The latest figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for October to December 2023, showed that he disability employment gap was 27.9 percentage points. This was a decrease of 1.9 percentage points on the year. However, the ONS have advised caution when interpreting short-term changes due to the recent volatility in the data.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government therefore has an ambitious programme of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:
o Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions; and
o The Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market;
Building on this, we announced significant additional investment during the 2023 fiscal events. Alongside the delivery of our existing initiatives, we are now focused on delivering this package which includes:
From 2025, we are reforming the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to reflect new flexibilities in the labour market and greater employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions, whilst maintaining protections for those with the most significant conditions. Alongside these changes, a new Chance to Work Guarantee will effectively remove the WCA for most existing claimants who have already been assessed without work-related requirements removing the fear of reassessment and giving this group the confidence to try work.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to support the establishment of accessibility champions in each Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We already have a Ministerial Disability Champion in each government department.
At the request of the Prime Minister, the first Ministerial Disability Champions were appointed in summer 2020, to drive the development and delivery of the National Disability Strategy (NDS).
Their role is to:
The Ministerial Disability Champions meet regularly throughout the year. The Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work, Mims Davies MP, is the chair.
A full list of Ministerial Disability Champions can be found on Gov.UK here.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the Disability Confident scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is committed to strengthening the Disability Confident Scheme to ensure it remains credible, sufficiently challenging, and continues to support the employment of disabled people. Key to this is the implementation of the recommendations from the review including work to strengthen the criteria for all employers and tailoring the scheme for SMEs. On 9 April 2024 DWP published a revised version of the Disability Confident Line Manager’s Guide, in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), providing a range of guidance to support businesses of all sizes. Further changes to the scheme criteria stemming from these recommendations are well underway and we expect to have fully implemented them by the end of March 2025.
The Department is continuing to work with a wide range of stakeholders, including employers, disability charities, and disabled people’s organisations to develop, and grow the scheme to increase the number of inclusive employers in the UK.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to introduce mandatory disability reporting for organisations with at least 250 employees.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the National Disability Strategy (NDS), the Cabinet Office committed to leading a consultation on workforce reporting on disability for large employers exploring both voluntary and mandated workplace transparency. A formal consultation ran from 16 December 2021 to 25 March 2022. Work on the disability workforce reporting consultation was paused in line with other work deriving from the NDS whilst a legal challenge on the NDS was ongoing. Following a successful appeal, we have now commenced analysis of the consultation responses and will publish the consultation response findings in 2024.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to increase statutory sick pay in line with the living wage.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has already increased the rate of SSP this year, in April the rate of SSP was increased by 6.7% to £116.75. This represents a £20 per week increase in the rate of SSP since 2021.
SSP is just one part of our welfare safety net and our wider Government offer to support people in times of need. Anybody who is on a low level of income during the period that they are sick and who requires further financial support may be able to claim Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of taking steps to increase the (a) recruitment and (b) training of immigration solicitors and advisors in Wales.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services. The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate provision of services in Wales across all categories of legal aid.
Once implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) will have access to free legal advice in relation to the removal notice.
We are setting fees for IMA work at 15% above the usual hourly rate to help augment capacity so we can meet the anticipated increase in demand for legal aid advice.
We have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases across England and Wales. For example, we are providing up to £1.4m of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
In 2019, we brought non-asylum immigration and citizenship matters into scope for under 18s who are not in the care of a parent, guardian, or legal authority. This means, for example, that a separated migrant child making an application for entry clearance, leave to enter, or to remain in the United Kingdom, or an application for registration as a British citizen or as a British subject, or for registration as a British overseas territories citizen or a British Overseas citizen is now entitled to legal aid, subject to the means and merits tests.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term. we are due to publish a Green Paper in July 2024.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the level of legal aid provision in Wales.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services. The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate provision of services in Wales across all categories of legal aid.
Once implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) will have access to free legal advice in relation to the removal notice.
We are setting fees for IMA work at 15% above the usual hourly rate to help augment capacity so we can meet the anticipated increase in demand for legal aid advice.
We have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases across England and Wales. For example, we are providing up to £1.4m of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
In 2019, we brought non-asylum immigration and citizenship matters into scope for under 18s who are not in the care of a parent, guardian, or legal authority. This means, for example, that a separated migrant child making an application for entry clearance, leave to enter, or to remain in the United Kingdom, or an application for registration as a British citizen or as a British subject, or for registration as a British overseas territories citizen or a British Overseas citizen is now entitled to legal aid, subject to the means and merits tests.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term. we are due to publish a Green Paper in July 2024.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) unaccompanied children and (b) other asylum seekers can access legal aid services in Wales.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services. The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate provision of services in Wales across all categories of legal aid.
Once implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) will have access to free legal advice in relation to the removal notice.
We are setting fees for IMA work at 15% above the usual hourly rate to help augment capacity so we can meet the anticipated increase in demand for legal aid advice.
We have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases across England and Wales. For example, we are providing up to £1.4m of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
In 2019, we brought non-asylum immigration and citizenship matters into scope for under 18s who are not in the care of a parent, guardian, or legal authority. This means, for example, that a separated migrant child making an application for entry clearance, leave to enter, or to remain in the United Kingdom, or an application for registration as a British citizen or as a British subject, or for registration as a British overseas territories citizen or a British Overseas citizen is now entitled to legal aid, subject to the means and merits tests.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term. we are due to publish a Green Paper in July 2024.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases in Wales.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services. The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate provision of services in Wales across all categories of legal aid.
Once implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) will have access to free legal advice in relation to the removal notice.
We are setting fees for IMA work at 15% above the usual hourly rate to help augment capacity so we can meet the anticipated increase in demand for legal aid advice.
We have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases across England and Wales. For example, we are providing up to £1.4m of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
In 2019, we brought non-asylum immigration and citizenship matters into scope for under 18s who are not in the care of a parent, guardian, or legal authority. This means, for example, that a separated migrant child making an application for entry clearance, leave to enter, or to remain in the United Kingdom, or an application for registration as a British citizen or as a British subject, or for registration as a British overseas territories citizen or a British Overseas citizen is now entitled to legal aid, subject to the means and merits tests.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term. we are due to publish a Green Paper in July 2024.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make it his policy to introduce a statutory right for disability support leave for disabled employees.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has no plans to introduce a statutory right for disability support leave for disabled employees.
All employers already have a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments.
For disabled people who require adjustments which are beyond reasonable adjustments, Access to Work (AtW) can provide a grant for the disability related extra costs of working a disabled employee may face. To support employers an AtW case manager will contact the customer’s employer ahead of making an AtW award to offer advice on reasonable adjustments an employer can provide and the support available under the AtW scheme.