Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
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 progress and effectiveness of the Disability Confident campaign in Lancashire.
Answered by Lord Harper
Employers and wider society both benefit from recruiting more disabled people. Disability Confident is a campaign to help employers discover for themselves the talents and value that disabled people bring to business.
Launched in July 2013 by the Prime Minister, supported by business leaders and disability employment organisations, Disability Confident sets out the business case for those employers unsure about the benefits of employing disabled people. It overcomes the fear factor for those employers worried about the logistics or afraid of saying the wrong thing, and emphasises the support available for employers. It highlights the great work that employers are already doing and encourages others to join in.
Disability Confident is a partnership approach – a business-to-business dialogue. Partners learn from each other about how to become disability confident, with support from Government and disability organisations.
In the first year of the Disability Confident campaign we held seven regional events across the UK, reaching more than 1,100 employers, including a well-attended event in Manchester.
In July 2014 we launched a toolkit for MPs – so they can bring together employers and disabled people in their own constituencies.
We look forward to employers throughout Lancashire attending these local events, learning from and supporting each other, and becoming more Disability Confident.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people in Pendle who do not have a bank account.
Answered by Steve Webb
The information is not available in the format requested. However benefit and pension recipients who do not have a bank account are paid by Simple Payment. As of 15th February 2015, there were 44,000 benefit and pension recipients in Great Britain being paid by Simple Payment.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
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 effects of the benefits cap on reducing employment in Pendle constituency.
Answered by Esther McVey
The number of households capped in Pendle Parliamentary Constituency from the introduction of the benefit cap (on 15 April 2013) to August 2014 (the latest available data) was 28. Of the 12 households who were no longer capped as at August 2014, 5 had an open Working Tax Credit claim, indicative of a move into work. The actual number of households who have gone into work may be higher; some individuals may go into work but may not be eligible to claim WTC if their earnings are too high or the hours worked do not meet the claim requirements.
Further information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-august-2014
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the level of child poverty was in Pendle in each year since 2006.
Answered by Esther McVey
The Government does not measure child poverty at the level of local authorities, such as Pendle.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of days lost to long-term sick leave (a) in total and (b) for reasons related to mental health in (i) Pendle constituency and (ii) Lancashire in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Harper
The information requested is not available. Such information as is available on long-term sickness absence is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/long-term-sickness-absence. In addition to this, there is an ONS publication on sickness absence here http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_353899.pdf