Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
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 effect on disabled people of the Government's welfare reform policy in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Harper
These are devolved matters which are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive Minister for Social Development.
Northern Ireland statistics can be found at:
http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/stats_and_research/benefit_publications.htm
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the devolved administrations on tackling child poverty.
Answered by Esther McVey
Tackling child poverty is a cross-government matter. Ministers in HM Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Education work together, in conjunction with other Government Ministers, towards the goal of ending child poverty.
The Child Poverty Act 2010 places a duty on the government to consult with the devolved administrations when preparing a child poverty strategy. The Government has also established the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, an independent advisory NDPB, to monitor the progress the Government and others are making towards improving social mobility and reducing child poverty in the United Kingdom. This includes describing the measures taken by the Scottish and Welsh Governments.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Minister of State for Schools recently consulted with the devolved administrations on two matters. The consultation on the Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17 (from 27 February to 22 May) and the consultation on Setting a Persistent Poverty Target (from 26 June to 14 August). Ministers carefully considered the views expressed by the devolved administrations, and all other respondents, when making their decisions on these.
Additionally, UK Government officials met with officials from the devolved administrations in August to discuss approaches and evidence. Regular meetings are planned for the future.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Health and Safety Executive has taken to enforce the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in respect of employees in the traffic management industry in the last 10 years for which information is available.
Answered by Mike Penning
This information is not held centrally to the level of detail required to distinguish the traffic management sector from others in the construction industry. It would incur disproportinate cost to find this information.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) works with the industry to help develop traffic management layouts or schemes which improve the safety of those working on high speed roads. It also carries out investigations of incidents and complaints and takes enforcement action in line with its published emforcement policy.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Health and Safety Executive has taken to recommend or mandate the use of automated traffic management technology to lift and lay cones on the motorway network in the last 10 years for which information is available.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Health and Safety Executive has not taken any action to mandate or recommend the use of automated traffic management equipment to lift and lay cones.
The highway maintenance industry has trialled cone laying machines and the decision to use such machines rests with them on a commercial operational basis