Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2020 to Question 49704 on Health and Safety Executive: Finance, how (a) many extra (i) call centre employees and (ii) inspectors and (b) much extra equipment will be made available to the Health and Safety Executive as a result the £14 million additional funding for the Health and Safety Executive announced in the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's statement on 12 May 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The additional £14m funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is available until March 2021. HSE is developing a rolling programme of activity building on the way it has already tackled approximately 6000 Covid-19 related concerns and will draw down funds throughout the year to bring in additional inspectors, call centre staff and equipment. It is therefore not possible to give set totals at this stage.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2020 to Question 49706 on Health and Safety Executive: Inspections, what estimate she has made of the number of additional (a) physical and (b) remote inspections by the Health and Safety Executive that will take place as a result of the £14 million additional funding for the Health and Safety Executive announced in the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's statement on 12 May 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The additional £14m funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is available until March 2021. HSE is developing a rolling programme of activity building on the way it has already tackled approximately 6000 Covid-19 related concerns and will draw down funds throughout the year to bring in additional inspectors, call centre staff and equipment. It is therefore not possible to give set totals at this stage.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2020 to Question 49705 on Health and Safety Executive: Finance, how long he estimates it will take for all extra (a) call centre employees, (b) inspectors and (c) equipment to be made available to the Health and Safety Executive as a result the £14 million additional funding for the Health and Safety Executive announced in the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's statement on 12 May 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The additional £14m funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is available until March 2021. HSE is developing a rolling programme of activity building on the way it has already tackled approximately 6000 Covid-19 related concerns and will draw down funds throughout the year to bring in additional inspectors, call centre staff and equipment. It is therefore not possible to give set totals at this stage.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2020 to Question 49707 on Health and Safety Executive: Finance, what further plans are being developed by the HSE to communicate to protect workers from covid-19.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
HSE is currently promoting the latest guidance and Covid-secure risk assessments to help protect workers from Covid-19. This includes communicating with trade unions, employers, stakeholders and partners.
Activity includes working with national and regional media, promoting HSE’s website and microsites through digital marketing and social media activity, running as series of webinars and sending direct marketing ebulletins and emails. This links to continually updated guidance, toolkits and useable assets such as posters and videos on the HSE website and gov.uk to increase HSE’s reach and engagement with its audiences, including the general public.
Up to date guidance is available on the gov.uk and HSE web sites and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
or
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the £14 million additional funding for the Health and Safety Executive announced in the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's statement on 12 May 2020 is being funded; and for how long that funding will be made available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The funding up to a maximum of £14.19m has been made available to the Health and Safety Executive by HM Treasury until 31 March 2021
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 additional volume of (a) call centre staff, (b) inspectors, and (c) equipment that will be provided by the £14 million additional funding for the Health and Safety Executive announced in the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's statement on 12 May 2020; and whether the Government has set targets for each of those categories.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An additional sum of up to £14 million has been made available to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to support their advice and regulatory activities, such as extra call centre employees, inspectors and equipment. HSE is currently developing plans and as more businesses return to work, it has begun carrying out proactive checks to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect workers from COVID-19.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long it will take for the Health and Safety Executive to put in place additional (a) call centre staff, (b) inspectors and (c) equipment funded by the additional £14 million; and whether the Government has set targets for each of those categories.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An additional sum of up to £14 million has been made available to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to support their advice and regulatory activities, such as extra call centre employees, inspectors and equipment. HSE is currently developing plans and as more businesses return to work, it has begun carrying out proactive checks to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect workers from COVID-19.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 number of additional (a) physical and (b) remote inspections that will take place as a result of the additional £14 million in funding for the Health and Safety Executive announced on 12 May 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An additional sum of up to £14 million has been made available to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to support their advice and regulatory activities, such as extra call centre employees, inspectors and equipment. HSE is currently developing plans and as more businesses return to work, it has begun carrying out proactive checks to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect workers from COVID-19.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Health and Safety Executive has to increase its engagement with and awareness amongst the general public.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is playing a crucial role in the Government’s response to Covid-19, including communicating with trade unions, employers and stakeholders to help ensure workplaces are safe environments. This also includes communicating through press and social media channels to increase engagement and awareness with our audiences including the general public.
Following the Government’s announcement and the publication of guidance by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy on 11th May 2020 on working safely during the coronavirus pandemic, HSE is currently promoting this guidance and developing further plans to communicate to protect workers from Covid-19.
Up to date guidance is available on the GOV.UK and HSE web sites and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
or
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for personal independence payment appeal tribunal dates in Middlesbrough constituency; and what steps he is taking to reduce the waiting time.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Information on the average waiting time to a first tribunal hearing is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry of Justice publish statistics on the mean age of a case at disposal by tribunal venue. This is the average number of weeks from receipt in Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to the final outcome within the period. It will include cases cleared at hearing and cases cleared without a hearing which include strike outs, superseded and withdrawals prior to a hearing. An appeal may not necessarily be cleared at its first hearing.
These statistics are available in the Tribunal Statistics CSV files, Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly, July to September 2018 (Provisional) publication, available here:
The Ministry of Justice is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members have already been appointed and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been recruited. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely.
In addition, a new digital service has recently been launched to enable speedier processing of appeals and provide a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-online-service-launched-for-pip-appeals