Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 support vulnerable people who will become ineligible for pension credit and other passported benefits as a result of the April 2018 state pension increase taking their income above the standard minimum guarantee threshold for pension credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In April 2018 there was above indexation increase in the standard minimum guarantee of Pension Credit, to match the cash increase in the basic State Pension. This prevents the increase in the basic State Pension (in isolation) from taking people out of the scope of Pension Credit, excluding the impact of any other changes in circumstances. The full rate of the new State Pension is set each year above the level of the basic means test in Pension Credit, reducing reliance on means testing over time and providing a firm foundation on which to build private pension provision.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 people whose income has increased above the standard minimum guarantee threshold for pension credit as a result of the April 2018 state pension increase.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In April 2018 there was above indexation increase in the standard minimum guarantee of Pension Credit, to match the cash increase in the basic State Pension. This prevents the increase in the basic State Pension (in isolation) from taking people out of the scope of Pension Credit, excluding the impact of any other changes in circumstances. The full rate of the new State Pension is set each year above the level of the basic means test in Pension Credit, reducing reliance on means testing over time and providing a firm foundation on which to build private pension provision.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that benefit claimants who cannot attend appointments due to adverse weather conditions will not be sanctioned.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Nobody is sanctioned where they can demonstrate they had good reason for failing to attend an appointment. Each case is considered individually, taking into account individual and prevailing circumstances. Where adverse weather conditions make it unreasonable for someone to attend, no sanction would be applied.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure staff at a JobCentre Plus are adequately trained in their duties to improve the level of claimant satisfaction rates.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Department has effective processes to identify individual training needs, resulting in role specific learning, including the provision of excellent customer service. This is underpinned by workplace consolidation activities observed by managers, which supports individuals to continuously improve and develop their skills and knowledge.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 work capability assessment decisions overturned in Redcar in each of the last five years where figures are available; and what steps he is taking to improve the accuracy of benefit entitlement awards.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Department is continually working to improve the accuracy of benefit entitlement awards. This includes working with Assessment Providers to ensure claimants receive high quality assessments and improving the way further evidence is collected to ensure all relevant information about an individual’s needs is available to decision makers at the earliest opportunity. Furthermore, the recruitment of approximately 150 Presenting Officers provides valuable insight into why decisions are overturned on appeal and is helping us identify improvements throughout the claimant journey.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, by what date his Department plans to complete its longitudinal study into former employees of Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds
DWP has been working to identify; quality assure; integrate and securely store and handle data on former Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) UK employees and workers in its supply chain. Our analysis combines data from the official receiver; local tracking data from the SSI taskforce; DWP/HMRC administrative data; and published ONS data. We expect to share our analysis with the SSI Task Force and publish it after quality assurance is complete in 2018.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to track the employment status of former employees of Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK to complete its study into the former employees of that organisation.
Answered by Damian Hinds
DWP has been working to identify; quality assure; integrate and securely store and handle data on former Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) UK employees and workers in its supply chain. Our analysis combines data from the official receiver; local tracking data from the SSI taskforce; DWP/HMRC administrative data; and published ONS data. We expect to share our analysis with the SSI Task Force and publish it after quality assurance is complete in 2018.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, by what date his Department plans to complete its longitudinal study into former employees of SSI UK; what the likely outcome of that study will be; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The study has been commissioned. The timing and content are being considered. The honourable member for Redcar and other members of the SSI taskforce will be informed when more information is available.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 effect of the living wage on the earnings threshold for carers allowance; and if he will bring forward proposals to raise the existing threshold.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The primary purpose of Carer's Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person. It is not, and was never intended to be, a carer’s wage or a payment for the services of caring, nor is it intended to replace lost or forgone earnings in their entirety.
The earnings limit for Carer's Allowance is a net figure which is the figure left once income tax, National Insurance contributions and half of any contributions to an occupational or personal pension are deducted from earnings. There are also a number of other deductions which can be made that mean that people can earn significantly more than £110 per week and still be eligible for Carer's Allowance.
Whilst the Government does not link the earnings limit to any other particular factor (including the National Living Wage), we do keep it under regular review and increase it when it is warranted and affordable, and this will continue to be our approach. Most recently in April 2015 the earnings limit was increased by 8% to £110, far outstripping the general increase in earnings.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission a comprehensive assessment of the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the UK chemical industry.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no plans to commission an assessment of the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the UK chemical industry.
Acetaldehyde has been assigned a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). WELs are concentrations of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a specified period of time, referred to as a time-weighted average (TWA). Two time periods are used; long-term (8 hours) and short-term (15 minutes). For acetaldehyde these are concentrations of 37 milligrams per cubic meter (mg.m-3) and 92mg.m-3 respectively.
Substances that have been assigned a WEL are subject to the requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). COSHH requires employers to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances. Under COSHH, control is defined as adequate only if a) the principles of good control practice are applied; b) any WEL is not exceeded; and c) exposure to asthmagens, carcinogens and mutagens are reduced as low as is reasonably practicable. As part of the assessment required under regulation 6 of COSHH, employers should determine their own working practices and in-house standards for control of exposure.