Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there have been any reported delays in processing initial payments for those who have reached state pension age.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Normal service will be resumed by the end of October 2021.
The Department is working hard to clear backlogs which have occurred by reason of the Covid Pandemic and staffing issues which have now been rectified.
Hundreds of additional staff are currently being redeployed.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury's oral contribution of 22 June 2021, Official Report, column 745, what recent assessment she has made of state pension inequality in respect of the ongoing Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigation and women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman
All Ombudsman are independent of government. It would be inappropriate to comment while the PHSO investigation is ongoing.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the (a) Foreign Secretary, (b) Secretary of State for International Trade and (c) Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Canadian Government’s request for a reciprocal social security agreement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There have been no discussions on the Canadian Government’s request for a reciprocal social security agreement.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions were held with the Government of Canada before the UK Government that Government's request for a reciprocal pensions uprating agreement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The UK has not had any recent discussions with the Government of Canada on reciprocal pensions uprating agreements.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
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 increase the number of people with epilepsy entering employment.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Government’s Plan for Jobs provides new funding to ensure more people, including those with health conditions get tailored Jobcentre Plus support to help them find work and to build the skills they need to get into work. This includes £895m for 13,500 additional Work Coaches who have been successfully recruited. The Restart Programme will support individuals who have been unemployed for over 12 months and through regular, personalised support providers will work with participants to identify the best way to support them into sustained employment.
From April 2021, the Disability Employment Advisors (DEA) Direct Support will be strengthened to include an element of Direct Support to customers with health condition or disability who require additional support over and above the ESA and Universal Credit core offer. DEA Direct Support will deliver work focussed bespoke support to move individuals with a disability or health condition towards a work outcome.
If employees with epilepsy need workplace support beyond the cost of reasonable adjustment, Access to Work can help. Access to Work is supporting thousands more people with disabilities and health conditions than ever before. In 2019, Access to Work funded tailored and flexible support for 43,000 people, a 20% increase on the previous year.
We also, through Disability Confident, provide employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps the Government has taken to publicise the Payment Exception Service to people who are eligible to use it.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Payment Exception Service is available in limited circumstances when customers are unable to provide us with bank account, building society, credit union, internet based or basic bank account details. Information about this service is publicised on https://www.gov.uk/payment-exception-service.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support the Government is providing to people aged over 55 who have lost their jobs as a result of the covid-19 pandemic to retrain and re-enter employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The department is supporting people of all ages back in to work. The Government’s Plan for Jobs provides new funding to ensure more people, including those aged 50 and over, get tailored Jobcentre Plus support to help them find work and to build the skills they need to get into work. This includes £895m to recruit an additional 13,500 Work Coaches which DWP is on track to achieve by Quarter 1 of 2021/22; a £150m increase in the Flexible Support Fund which will also boost the capacity of the Rapid Response Service to help those facing redundancy move into other jobs; and £10m for a new online support through the Job Finding Support Service which will provide tailored one-to-one job finding support to the recently unemployed.
The Government aims to increase the number of Sector based Work Academy programme placements, supporting unemployed claimants of all ages through training, work experience and a guaranteed interview for a real job. We are also investing £238m into Job Entry: Targeted Support (JETS) to offer new support to those who have been made unemployed for three months.
To support the long term unemployed, £2.9 billion is being invested in the Restart Programme, which is due to go live from summer 2021. The Restart Programme will support individuals who have been unemployed for 12 months plus and through regular, personalised support providers will work with participants to identify the best way to support them into sustained employment.
The Department also has a network of 50 PLUS Champions (formerly Older Claimants Champions) throughout all of the 34 Jobcentre Plus districts. These Jobcentre Plus staff work collaboratively with Work Coaches to raise the profile of over 50s claimants, highlighting the benefits of employing them and sharing best practice.
Further, Government recognises the importance of planning effectively for the future and in encouraging productive workplace conversations. We therefore launched a webpage in 2019 to promote the mid-life MOT, which offers support from the National Careers Service, Public Health England and Money and Pensions Service to those considering a change in career by encouraging them to take stock across the key areas of skills, health and financial planning.
The Department for Education continues to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34bn in 2019/20 and 2020/21). The principal purpose of the AEB is to engage adults and provide the skills and learning they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. It enables more tailored programmes of learning to be made available, which do not need to include a qualification, to help those furthest from learning and in the workplace.
Government is providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) for the National Skills Fund to help adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the economy of the future, which will start in financial year 2021/22. The National Skills Fund will support adults to learn and reach their potential in the labour market. It will complement other provision available for adults, such as through the Adult Education Budget and other recent reforms to adult skills provision and funding.
The Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving adults aged 19 and over the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. Skills Bootcamps have the potential to transform the skills landscape for adults and employers.
These were launched in West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and Liverpool City Region in September 2020, initially focusing on digital skills such as software development, digital marketing, and data analytics. Registrations opened in December 2020 for the Skills Bootcamps in the Leeds City Region, Heart of South West (Devon and Somerset) and Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, with delivery set to begin in early 2021.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the average time it will take for her Department to process a personal independence claim during the period of the new national lockdown that commenced in England in January 2021.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
As throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, we are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment in a timely manner. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.
We are currently operating within expected levels. Average clearance times from initial claim to a decision being made for new claims are currently 16 weeks (October 2020).