Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to take steps to help increase the number of musculoskeletal hubs in local communities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government announced measures to address economic inactivity, as part of the 2023 Spring Budget. This included £12 m over a period of four years, from April 2024, to scale up Musculoskeletal (MSK) Physical Activity Hubs in the Community.
The MSK Physical Activity Hubs in the Community project will seek to build on local practice and explore how to enable people with MSK conditions to access supportive physical activity interventions within local leisure and community settings. This project will also explore how to build in vocational advice.
We are currently engaging with stakeholders to expand our understanding of existing practice and inform our approach to this project.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that people living with (a) arthritis and (b) a musculoskeletal condition are able to remain in work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has an ambitious programme of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, to start, stay and succeed in work.
These include: the Work and Health Programme; Access to Work grants; Disability Confident; a digital information service for employers; Disability Employment Advisers and increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.
In the Spring Budget 2023, the government set out a package of measures to tackle the leading health-related causes keeping people out of work, including specific initiatives for people with MSK conditions. This includes introducing employment advisers within MSK services, including to support people with MSK conditions to thrive in work and scaling up MSK physical activity hubs in the Community, building on the example of delivering physical activity interventions in local leisure and community centre venues.
The Government also announced a new package of support in Autumn Statement 2023 to: double the number of places on the Universal Support employment programme; launch WorkWell in approximately 15 pilot areas to provide light touch work and health support; explore new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with timely access to support; and establish an expert group to advise on a framework for Occupational Health provision.
In October 2022 we published the Musculoskeletal (MSK) Health Toolkit for employers and further education institutions which encourages employers to support adolescents and young adults with MSK conditions. The Musculoskeletal health toolkit for employers was developed in partnership with Business in the Community and provides practical information for employers of all sizes to address MSK conditions in the workplace for the working age population.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications to the Access to Work scheme were rejected in each month from January 2023 to February 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows how many applications the Access to Work scheme rejected from January 2023 to February 2024.
Month | Cases Not Approved |
Jan-23 | 3357 |
Feb-23 | 2952 |
Mar-23 | 3819 |
Apr-23 | 2492 |
May-23 | 3029 |
Jun-23 | 3709 |
Jul-23 | 3705 |
Aug-23 | 3695 |
Sep-23 | 3392 |
Oct-23 | 3566 |
Nov-23 | 3268 |
Dec-23 | 2642 |
Jan-24 | 3435 |
Feb-24 | 3068 |
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time taken to process an Access to Work application was in each month since January 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the average length of time taken to process an Access to Work application in each month since January 20022.
Month | Mean Working days to process application |
Jan-22 | 37 |
Feb-22 | 40 |
Mar-22 | 38 |
Apr-22 | 38 |
May-22 | 49 |
Jun-22 | 56 |
Jul-22 | 60 |
Aug-22 | 58 |
Sep-22 | 61 |
Oct-22 | 63 |
Nov-22 | 62 |
Dec-22 | 62 |
Jan-23 | 61 |
Feb-23 | 58 |
Mar-23 | 63 |
Apr-23 | 56 |
May-23 | 50 |
Jun-23 | 41 |
Jul-23 | 47 |
Aug-23 | 47 |
Sep-23 | 45 |
Oct-23 | 45 |
Nov-23 | 42 |
Dec-23 | 42 |
Jan-24 | 42 |
Feb-24 | 41 |
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Q102 of the oral evidence given by Lorraine Jackson to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 31 January 2024, HC 148, when the constant review of statutory sick pay began; what steps his Department is taking to conduct this review; and what sources of information are included in this review.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As with all government policy, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) policy is kept under review. The department through the Joint work and Health directorate, monitors feedback from correspondence and reviews evidence from a range of organisations. The rate of SSP is also reviewed each year as part of the annual uprating exercise.
The government reviewed SSP as part of both the ‘Work, health and disability green paper: improving lives’ consultation (2017) and the ‘Health is Everyone’s Business consultation’ (2019, HiEB). In response to the HiEB consultation (2021) we maintained that SSP provides an important link between the employee and employer but Ministers confirmed it was not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the statutory sick pay system on (a) older and (b) disabled workers.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business Consultation proposed a package of reforms which aimed to reduce ill-health related job loss and support disabled people and people with health conditions to stay in and thrive in work. The consultation looked at the impact the current SSP system had on all workers, including older and disabled workers.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application on 1 January 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 1 January 2024, there were 24,874 people awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number and proportion of NHS buildings that contain asbestos.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual National Health Service organisations are legally responsible for maintaining their estates. NHS England continues to work with trusts to ensure their estates are a safe environment for patients and staff. Where asbestos may pose a safety risk, such as when disturbed during building works, experts are brought in to safely dispose of it.
The Government allocated £4.2 billion capital this financial year for the National Health Service to support local priorities, including where appropriate removing asbestos from buildings.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to remove asbestos from NHS buildings.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual National Health Service organisations are legally responsible for maintaining their estates. NHS England continues to work with trusts to ensure their estates are a safe environment for patients and staff. Where asbestos may pose a safety risk, such as when disturbed during building works, experts are brought in to safely dispose of it.
The Government allocated £4.2 billion capital this financial year for the National Health Service to support local priorities, including where appropriate removing asbestos from buildings.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the longest waiting time was to receive approval for an Access to Work application in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The case with the longest waiting time to receive approval in the last 12 months was made on 26th January 2023 after 354 working days. This was due to issues with the claimant gathering and returning the supporting evidence needed to verify details of the case before it could be further progressed.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.