Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of classifying covid-19 as an occupational disease for healthcare workers; and whether his Department has had discussions with relevant professional bodies on that matter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) can be paid.
The Council considered the available scientific and epidemiological evidence around COVID-19 infection and published a Command Paper entitled, ‘COVID-19 and occupational impacts’ in November 2022 found here.
The Command Paper recommends that the list of prescribed occupational diseases for which IIDB can be paid should be expanded to include health and social care workers with five serious pathological complications following COVID-19 infection.
The Department is currently carrying out a detailed assessment of the report’s recommendations and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department it taking to help ensure that disabled people have access to reasonable adjustments in the workplace.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 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.
DWP has worked with stakeholders to develop a series of Adjustments Passports and Planners to support disabled people, and those with a health condition, with the transitions into employment and between jobs. The Adjustments Passport and Planners provide individuals with an up to date document of their adjustments and working requirements and empower the holder to have more structured conversations about their disability with their employer. They also raise awareness of Access to Work, and where an application is made, help to reduce the need for another assessment, enabling support to be put in place more quickly.
The Disability Confident scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. When an employer signs-up to the Disability Confident scheme, they agree to commitments which include anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required. They also agree to support any existing employee who acquires a disability or long-term health condition, enabling them to stay in work. The scheme provides resources for members including the recently published Disability Confident Manager’s Guide which explains how managers can make and review reasonable adjustments, consider flexible working, and includes examples of other types of adjustments.
As part of the government's response to the Health is Everyone’s Business Consultation, DWP has developed a digital service for employers, offering tailored guidance on health and disability. The service is called Support with Employee Health and Disability and is live across GB, testing very well with employers. Developed with small and medium enterprise (SME) employers, using user centred design principles, the service offers a simple, interactive and highly usable resource which helps employers to feel more confident having conversations about health and disability, as well as understanding and fulfilling their legal obligations on topics such as reasonable adjustments, and signposting to sources of expert support.
The fit note includes an option to allow a healthcare professional to indicate that a patient ‘may be fit for work subject to the following advice’ and provide general details of the functional effect of the individual’s condition and recommend common types of workplace adjustments. However, over 10 million fit notes each year are issued in England without any such advice, resulting in a missed opportunity to help people get the appropriate support they may need to remain in work.
That is why we announced funding in the 2023 Autumn Statement to test new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with tailored support, including referral to support through their local WorkWell service pilot. To support this, we launched a Call for Evidence to seek views on how the current fit note process works and the support required to facilitate meaningful work and health conversations and help people start, stay and succeed in work.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of social security payments on levels of child poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23 there were 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10.
The Government is committed to supporting people 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 estimate that in 2024/5 around 20 million families will benefit from the uprating of DWP and HMRC benefits in Great Britain. Over 11 million children in Great Britain will benefit from the uprating of DWP and HMRC benefits in 2024/5.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, who the specialist work and health professionals are that will be responsible for issuing fit notes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The trailblazers announced at Autumn Statement 2023 will be delivered in NHS Integrated Care Systems and fit notes will continue to be issued by the registered healthcare professionals working within the NHS who are specified in legislation – Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.
Our ambition is to co-develop a new fit note process delivered through multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together the issuing of fit notes with health and work advice to support people who are at risk of falling out of work or who have already fallen out of work due to ill health.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Brixton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will update statutory guidance on climate risk management, as part of their review of climate risk reporting requirements which was due to take place in the second half of 2023 or otherwise; and in particular whether any updated guidance will take account of the report of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the University of Exeter Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail published in March.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Lords, we are undertaking a post-implementation review of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021. We aim to conclude the review this year.
We recognise that recent reports, including “Climate Scorpion-the sting is in the tail” have shown the limitations of the models currently available for scenario analysis. Therefore, we welcome work within the industry to ensure that scenario analysis models are decision useful and will look to acknowledge the issue in the review.
However, we do not believe that the Government should mandate which models should be used by Pension Schemes. It is important that modelling which takes into account of ESG is allowed to develop and evolve as data availability increases.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
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.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
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.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
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).
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.
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.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
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.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not have the data to fully measure health and well-being behavioural impacts that may have resulted from the two-child limit.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
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.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
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.
In September 2023, the Department published findings 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.
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.
[1] The survey was conducted in February to March 2022. In total 1,233 survey interviews were conducted with scheme members.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Universal Support pilot schemes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
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.