Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the benefit cap on eviction rates in London.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No recent assessment has been made of the effect of the benefit cap on eviction rates in London.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to provide support for families who are struggling with the cost of childcare.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is fully committed to supporting parents with moving into work and improving their earnings once employed. Universal Credit (UC) childcare costs provides more generous childcare support than was available under Tax Credits, reimbursing up to 85% of eligible childcare costs up to a monthly cap as opposed to 70% under tax credits.
UC childcare aligns with the wider government childcare offer. This includes the free childcare offer which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, doubling for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week. The UC childcare cost element can be used to top up a claimant’s eligible free childcare hours if more hours are worked and childcare is required. This means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people that are self-isolating (a) before and (b) after elective surgery in line with NHS England guidance will be eligible to claim Statutory Sick Pay if they are unable to work.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is available to employees who are too ill to work. Where an employee is unable to work after elective surgery because of sickness or because they are recovering they may be eligible to receive SSP. Where an employee cannot work for 7 or more days’ employers can request medical evidence of their employee’s sickness. This can be in the form of a fit note from their GP or hospital doctor.
If an employee cannot work because they have been advised to self-isolate before and/or after elective surgery they should speak to their employer about suitable policies they may have in place such as, the ability to work from home, or the provision of special leave. Where employees have previously been furloughed for a full three-week period prior to 30 June they should speak to their employer about being furloughed for the period they are unable to work if they do not have other suitable policies in place.
We are currently discussing with health colleagues whether it is appropriate to extend SSP to those who are required to self-isolate before elective surgery.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to promote the Access to Work scheme to clinically extremely vulnerable people who are shielding with (a) arthritis and (b) other conditions.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Disabled people in the clinically extremely vulnerable group who are currently in work can apply to Access to Work for support to overcome barriers they face in the workplace and while working from home, including those resulting from Covid-19.
As part of the Access to Work home working support offer, we have introduced various easements to further support those who are shielding and in the clinically extremely vulnerable group, allowing flexibilities while working from home. We are transporting assistive technology from the workplace to the home environment to support home working and, where this is not possible, Access to Work will work with the disabled person and their employer to consider new adjustments to support adaptations to standard equipment. We have also extended timeframes for receiving claims for payments, and started accepting email claim forms and employer/support signatures via email so customers can shield. Access to Work assessments are being carried out through virtual means to further protect customers.
To promote the scheme and support offered, we have updated GOV.UK to make clear the latest guidance on the Access to Work programme, including advising of the help available to people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This has been promoted through Touchbase, DWP’s stakeholder newsletter which goes to around 8000 stakeholders. The department has also produced several animated explainer videos and social media posts on Access to Work which have been posted across a range of social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.
We continue to promote the latest Access to Work guidance through communications to employers, with stakeholders, jobcentres and providers, as well as through content promoted via our existing benefits and labour market campaigns which make use of both paid and no-cost social media channels.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Section 2.20 of Budget 2020, Extending Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) exemptions, what his Department's definition is of (a) a rough sleeper and (b) victims of domestic abuse and human trafficking with regard to their exemption from the Shared Accommodation Rate.
Answered by Will Quince
Currently those aged 25-34 who have spent 3 months in a homeless hostel for the purposes of rehabilitation/re-settlement are exempt from the shared accommodation rate. Following the announcement at the Spring Budget, Government will amend legislation to extend that exemption to those under 25.
The definitions for survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking, with regard to their exemption from the Shared Accommodation Rate, will be set out in future legislation. In developing these exemptions, we will be working with key stakeholders, charities and other Government Departments to ensure they are fit for purpose.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the adverse effect of covid-19 on members of BAME communities.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Guided by medical and scientific expertise, the Government has implemented significant measures to reduce the spread of the virus in all communities, especially those who may be at higher risk. This includes targeted testing of occupations and groups at higher risk; guidance for NHS organisations on how to enhance their existing risk assessments particularly for potentially at-risk groups within their workforce; and translating the latest information into multiple languages and forms to meet accessibility needs.
In April, the Department for Health and Social Care commissioned Public Health England (PHE) to undertake a rapid review to understand how different factors have affected COVID-19 risk and outcomes. The report has some limitations - the ethnicity analyses did not, for example, adjust for factors such as co-morbidities. As Minister for Equalities, I am working with the Race Disparity Unit and the Department for Health and Social Care to carry forward work to identify and fill the gaps in PHE’s review; and work across government to take appropriate steps to mitigate disparities identified. The terms of reference for this work, which include quarterly updates to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on progress, were published on gov.uk on 4 June.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to increase staffing of the universal credit helpline in response to increasing demand as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our priority as a Department is ensuring people get their benefit payments and that we can continue to support those who need us the most. We have mobilised our robust business continuity plans to ensure we can do just that. We are already redeploying 10,000 staff from other parts of DWP and are also recruiting additional staff to assist with the processing of claims, including support from other government departments and the private sector.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure people are not unduly sanctioned following the cancellation of job centre appointments as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that everyone should be supported to do the right thing.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the merits of providing a British Sign Language interpreter to accompany televised announcements to ensure the deaf community has access to information.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring deaf people can fully participate and play a full role in society. We support initiatives aimed at improving understanding of the needs of deaf people and how the barriers they face can be removed, as well as giving deaf people more say in how they access services.
We worked with the BBC to introduce a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter on Monday 16 March to accompany the Prime Minister’s daily coronavirus press conference. The BSL interpreter is available on the BBC News Channel and BBC iPlayer. We intend to continue to work with the BBC to ensure there is a BSL interpreter in our daily updates on coronavirus and are prioritising the exploration of additional methods to ensure that all disabled people have access to pertinent communication in accessible formats.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of all Government announcements of public importance being accompanied by a BSL interpreter.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring deaf people can fully participate and play a full role in society. We support initiatives aimed at improving understanding of the needs of deaf people and how the barriers they face can be removed, as well as giving deaf people more say in how they access services.
We are currently in discussions on the best way to ensure that any pertinent announcements are delivered in BSL to ensure that deaf people receive information at the same time as others.