Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 set out the approach necessary to ensure the safety of people working at height. They place clear responsibilities on employers and those in control of any work at height to prevent falls by making sure work is properly planned, supervised, and undertaken by competent people. This includes using the right type of equipment including, where suitable, ladders.
In 2022/23, 40 fatal injuries were due to falls from a height accounting for 30% of all worker deaths1 over the year. The level of fatality and major injury arising from falls is still high so there is an ongoing need for the regulations to focus attention on the issue.
Following the announcement of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, Heath and Safety engagement with industry groups and trade organisations demonstrated extensive support to retain the Work at Height Regulations. The Regulations are well embedded in the health and safety framework and recognised as a key instrument in ensuring effective workplace health and safety standards.
1Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2023 (hse.gov.uk)
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding was provided (a) in total and (b) per-person for each employment programme operated by his Department in the Borough of Barnsley in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to help reduce the backlog of complaints made to the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP aim to contact customers within 15 working days to clear their complaint or agree how to investigate it if it will take longer.
DWP now triage complaints giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues. We continue to investigate all complaints as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process, we write or call those customers, where there may be a delay in answering their complaint.
Since 2021, Child Maintenance Service complaints team has seen their response times to complainants steadily improve and are now responding to almost all complaints within the timescale.
The Child Maintenance Service do not have a backlog of complaints and continue to work within the department's acceptable levels.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Maintenance Service is taking steps to reduce the time taken for complaints to be handled.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP aim to contact customers within 15 working days to clear their complaint or agree how to investigate it if it will take longer.
DWP now triage complaints giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues. We continue to investigate all complaints as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process, we write or call those customers, where there may be a delay in answering their complaint.
Since 2021, Child Maintenance Service complaints team has seen their response times to complainants steadily improve and are now responding to almost all complaints within the timescale.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Independent Case Examiner is taking to reduce the time taken for cases to be processed.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The ICE office continuously reviews its processes and operating model to improve productivity and reduce the length of time investigations take to be concluded, without compromising quality.
The overall ICE process has several stages. Once a case has been accepted, ICE will attempt to resolve it without a full evidence gather. If a resolution cannot be brokered, the case awaits allocation to an investigator who will judge first, once the evidence is available, whether the complaint can be settled. If this is not appropriate, or if settlement action cannot be agreed with the customer, an investigation is conducted and findings are made.
Since April 2022 ICE has recruited an additional 18 investigators who will become increasingly productive as they consolidate initial training. A further 5 staff are due to join the team from July. Additional resource will be focused on CMS work.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the numbers of people using foodbanks.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to understanding and addressing poverty which is why we have published official estimates of foodbank use for the first time. National statistics on food bank use for 2021/22 are available here. We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.
The latest statistics show that in 2021/22, 93% of individuals were food secure.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley 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 potential merits of providing additional financial support for people receiving benefits before benefit rates are increased in June 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All benefits and State Pensions will be increased by 10.1% from April.
In addition, we are providing cost of living payments of up to £900 for households on eligible means-tested benefits, paid in three separate payments of £301, £300 and £299 across 2023/24. The first payment of £301 will be paid to the majority of those eligible between 25 April and 17 May. Separately, people on qualifying disability benefits will receive a separate Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in the summer while £300 payments will be made to pensioner households alongside the annual Winter Fuel Payment.
As announced in the Spring Statement, the government is maintaining the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 until the end of June. This will ensure that households across the UK are supported through the spring while retail energy costs are expected to remain high.
To help households with the costs of essentials, including those who may not be eligible for cost of living payments, we are also extending the Household Support Fund in England. The Devolved Administrations will receive Barnett funding to spend at their discretion and with their local knowledge.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department is taking to work with (a) mayoral combined and (b) local authorities on locally-led initiatives on reducing unemployment.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP already recognises the importance of a place-based approach in reducing unemployment and values the knowledge and expertise of local government. Our job centres work with them all the time.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Barnsley Central constituency are in receipt of the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Information on the number of people in receipt of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) by residence-based geography is available on StatXplore in the IIDB assessments in payment dataset.
As of June 2022 (the most recently published data), there were 860 claimants in receipt of an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit payment in the constituency of Barnsley Central.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding has been given in Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for the PD A15 criteria since it was added to the eligibility list.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
A breakdown of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) assessments by prescribed disease can be found on the ‘IIDB Assessments’ dataset at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.
The latest benefit expenditure figures, including yearly expenditure on Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB), is available in the benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2022 (Table 4) at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
However, an expenditure breakdown by prescribed disease is not available.