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Written Question
Asbestos: Health Hazards
Monday 15th May 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

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 on removal of asbestos of introducing a central register of asbestos cases covering its (a) location and (b) condition.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is not opposed to any steps which support or improve a safety regime and enable risk to be managed effectively.

In Great Britain, the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 already require dutyholders to share information about any asbestos containing materials (ACMs) present with those carrying out work or occupying the building. Dutyholders are required to either survey premises constructed before asbestos was banned or assume it is present and manage their building stock accordingly. Most dutyholders decide to survey and arrange a register and plan of every room or area detailing the presence and type of any ACMs and their condition and quantity.

A new central register would need to be considered carefully because it would require significant additional resource from dutyholders and government, which would duplicate the existing information already provided with no clear indication that control of any risk of exposure to asbestos in buildings would be improved.


Written Question
Cost of Living Payments: Visual Impairment
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support (a) visually impaired children and (b) their families with the cost of living.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Government understands the pressures people, including families with a disabled child or children, are facing with the cost of living. Children with a visual impairment may be entitled to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which is a contribution towards the extra costs associated with being disabled. Recipients are free to choose how they spend DLA, and there is no requirement for them to use it for any particular purpose. Entitlement to DLA depends on the effects that a disability or health condition has on a child’s life and not on a particular disability or diagnosis.

DLA can passport families to a range of additional support including:

o Child disability additions paid within income related benefits;

o Carer’s Allowance for an informal carer;

o The Motability vehicle scheme; and

o The Blue Badge scheme.

DLA also exempts the eligible household from the Benefit Cap.

In April, we are uprating benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.

In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments across the 2023/24 financial year, with the first payment of £301 being made between 25 April and 17 May. A separate £150 payment will be made to individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits, including DLA, in the summer. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.

The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows local authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for local authorities for this next iteration has now been published and can be found here: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024: Household Support Fund guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The devolved administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Tuesday 7th March 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that, when setting the qualifying dates for 2023/24 cost of living payments, Universal Credit claimants who are paid four-weekly and who are therefore not eligible for the Spring 2023 payment will be able to receive the Autumn 2023 and Spring 2024 payments.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Last year we successfully delivered tens of millions of Cost of Living Payments by keeping the policy simple. Whatever eligibility dates are selected there will be always be some individuals who are ineligible in the qualifying period – whether that is due for example to their earnings, capital or other income, or for a combination of reasons. However, we are delivering the Cost of Living Payment in three separate payments over 2023/24 to reduce the chance of someone missing out altogether.

For those who require additional support, we are extending the Household Support Fund throughout the next financial year. This will allow local authorities in England to help households with the cost of essentials including those in need who may not be eligible for the other support we have recently made available. The devolved administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.


Written Question
Child Tax Credit: Universal Credit
Wednesday 1st March 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people in receipt of child tax credit who are requested to migrate to Universal Credit but are ineligible to make such a claim are able to receive the transitional protections afforded to Universal Credit claimants.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

All claimants will be assessed for eligibility to UC and for Transitional Protection if they make a claim. This includes those in receipt of child tax credit.


Written Question
Pensioners: Cost of Living
Friday 24th February 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to provide cost of living support to those in receipt of the new State Pension and ineligible for Pension Credit, including its associated cost of living support measures.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government understands the pressures people including pensioners are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, running from October 2022-March 2023, will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what the energy price would have been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to over £37bn of cost of living support announced in 2022.

To ensure stability and certainty for households, the Government is providing a further £26bn in cost of living support for 2023/24.

The Government recognises the rising costs felt by all pensioners and therefore nearly 12 million pensioners will benefit from a 10.1% increase to their State Pension payments from April 2023, under the Triple Lock.

Pensioner households have received a £300 Cost of Living payment in 2022/23. In winter 2023/24, more than eight million pensioner households will receive a further £300 payment


Pensioners can also benefit from the discretionary Household Support Fund for which the government has provided total funding of £2.5 billion.

This is a substantial package of support which recognises the current additional costs faced by pensioners.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Cancer
Tuesday 22nd November 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the potential impact of uprating benefits in line with (a) earnings and (b) inflation on people living with cancer.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has completed his annual up-rating review of State Pension and benefit rates will increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the year to September 2022. This means that they will increase by 10.1% from 10 April 2023.

In 2022/23, the government will spend over £65.8 billion on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions in Great Britain.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Veterans
Tuesday 1st November 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps they are taking to ensure the benefits system does not penalise the entitlements of veterans also claiming a Military Pension or War Disability Pension.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are a number of different types of pensions that veterans may be able to receive depending on their personal circumstances (their age, their health and when they left the services etc). How these are treated in the benefit system will depend on the type of pension being paid and the DWP benefit they are in receipt of. DWP is committed to the Armed Forces Covenant which ensures that veterans are not subject to any disadvantage as a result of their service.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Uprating
Monday 24th October 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will uprate benefits in April 2023 in line with inflation.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The Secretary of State has a statutory annual obligation to review state pensions and benefits. Her review will commence following the publication of the relevant indices by the Office for National Statistics and her decisions will be announced to Parliament shortly.


Written Question
Pensioners: Cost of Living
Monday 11th July 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has plans to extend the £650 cost of living payment to pensioners who are in receipt of the state pension but are not eligible to claim pension credit.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committing an extra £37 billion to support the most vulnerable this year. The £650 Cost of Living Payment is deliberately targeted at low-income households in receipt of a means tested qualifying benefit. For people above State Pension age, this is those in receipt of Pension Credit.

With the full package of support, most pensioner households will receive £850 (via the additional Winter Fuel Payment, Council Tax Rebate & Energy Bills Support Scheme) on top of arising state Pension, which has never been higher. Pensioners receiving means-tested benefits who are in most need of support will receive £1,500, including payments in July and the autumn totalling £650.

If someone in receipt of a contributory State Pension, additionally makes a successful claim for Pension Credit, they may qualify for one or both instalments of the Cost of Living Payment. This is because claims for Pension Credit can be backdated for a maximum of 3 months, provided the entitlement conditions are met throughout the 3 months.

In addition, all pensioner households will receive an extra £300 to help them cover the rising cost of energy this winter.


Written Question
Winter Fuel Payments
Monday 15th November 2021

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the part-payment of winter fuel payment being available to those who have narrowly missed the age cut-off.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

There are no plans to change the legislation relating to the qualifying week as this would add unnecessary cost and complexity.

We will continue to pay £200 to those households with someone of state pension age and under 80 and £300 to those households with someone aged 80 or over.

Other help with energy costs is available to those eligible through the warm home discount scheme and cold weather payments. Further details can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme

https://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment