Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with the Board of the Post Office Ltd on what the total value was of funds wrongly claimed back from sub postmasters using Horizon software.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
I hold meetings with the Post Office CEO on a monthly basis where we discuss the topic of Horizon compensation delivery.
Postmasters who paid shortfalls which were recorded in Horizon to the Post Office are paid those amounts back in their compensation claims, as well as any other financial and personal damage which they have suffered as a consequence of the IT system.
Government has made funding available for both the Horizon Shortfall Scheme and for Overturned Convictions compensation. Post Office has published its provisions for both in its annual accounts and Government has published the level of funding available on the Subsidy Transparency Database.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on recruitment in the construction sector.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
As Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, our Skills Plan has enabled the construction sector to compete and attract new recruits. In fact, the number of apprenticeships increased to over 32,000 last year. The Government has also ensured the sector has the flexibility to recruit workers from overseas to supply demand.
Apprenticeships and traineeships are a matter for the Department for Education.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to the Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors consultation, what estimate he has made of the proportion of consultation responses that were in favour of any of the proposals.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We carefully considered the Work Capability Assessment consultation responses and feedback from our public events and engagement. We received over 1,300 written responses, including from disabled people and people with health conditions, as well as the organisations that represent and support them.
We do not have an estimate of the proportion that were in favour of any of the proposals.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the scorecard set out in the Autumn Statement document for the reform of the Work Capability Assessment descriptors takes into account the planned implementation of the Health and Disability White Paper for new claimants from 2026-27.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The impact of the planned reforms set out in the Health and Disability White Paper has not yet been scored by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Therefore, the impact of the changes to the Work Capability Assessment announced at Autumn Budget do not include the impact of the White Paper reforms.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 impact of the proposals set out in the Government Response to the Work Capability Assessment: Activities and Descriptors Consultation, published on 22 November 2023, on trends in the level of disabled people in poverty.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the impact of the changes to Work Capability Assessments on levels of poverty for disabled people or people with or health conditions. The overall financial impacts of these measures on individuals have been considered in taking decisions on the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), alongside consideration of the responses to the consultation.
The Office for Budget Responsibility have published their assessment of the numbers that they expect to be affected by the changes and HMT have also published the impacts in their policy costing note that accompanies the Autumn Statement. We aim to publish an Impact Assessment in due course.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether income-related ESA claimants who are re-assessed upon moving to Universal Credit through Managed Migration after 2025 will be subject to the existing or new Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Jo Churchill
There is no automatic referral for reassessment for customers at the point that they move from Employment Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC). If a customer has an existing ESA Work Capability Assessment decision, they will not be required to have another assessment in order to get the health-related additions of Universal Credit, unless their health condition has changed.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation entitled Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors, published on 5 September 2023, if he will make an estimate of the number of claimants that would no longer be found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity in (a) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom if each of the proposals in that consultation were implemented.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
DWP’s consultation on changes to the Work Capability Assessment closed on Monday 30 October. Over 1300 individuals and organisations submitted a response and 14 public consultation events were held, both face-to-face across Great Britain, and virtually. The consultation responses are now being considered and decisions will be taken in due course.
The department has developed estimates of the impacts of these proposals on disabled people. We are continuing to refine these estimates as responses to the consultation are considered. This analysis is not available at a subnational level.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 impact of proposals in the Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors consultation on the number of disabled people living in poverty.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The consultation closed on Monday 30 October and covered a range of options on the Work Capability Assessment. We received over 1,300 responses to the consultation and these are now being considered.
The department has developed estimates of the number of claimants impacted across the range of options being considered in the Work Capability Assessment activities and descriptors consultation.
Assessing poverty impacts would involve projecting forward every household’s income and individual circumstances, which is not possible to do with confidence.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will launch a public awareness campaign on the requirement for UK citizens to apply for European Travel Information and Authorisation System travel authorisation in order to travel to Europe from 2024.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Government continues to engage with the European Commission and EU Member States to understand the impact the EU's European Travel Information and Authorisation System will have on British citizens, and to understand their plans for public communications.
Entry requirements for British citizens travelling to the EU are set out in FCDO travel advice. These requirements are based on information provided by EU Member States. FCDO travel advice is regularly updated to reflect our latest understanding of EU Member State requirements.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many organisations are waiting to be added to the redundancy modification order list as of 25 August 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley
There are 34 bodies waiting to be added to the Redundancy Modification Order.