Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the total number of work placements provided by the Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 5 June 2022, over 163,000 Kickstart jobs had been started by young people. The last Kickstart jobs were started by young people on 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, why the Kickstart Scheme ended in January 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Kickstart has seen over 163,000 jobs started by young people since it launched in September 2020 and the number of people on payrolls is now above pre-pandemic levels for every age group. The Scheme was a temporary response to protect young people from the risk of the scarring effects of long-term unemployment caused by the pandemic.
Kickstart was designed to deliver value for money in uncertainty and successfully responded to huge variations in the labour market and delivery context, including major Covid-19 restrictions, the closure of the Covid Job Retention Scheme and the extension of the scheme for an additional three months. The ongoing economic recovery, with 1.3 million vacancies available in the labour market, now means there is plenty of opportunity for young people to find unsubsidised work.
Kickstart closed to applications from employers and gateways on 17 December 2021 with the final job starts taking place on 31 March 2022. The last Kickstart jobs will come to an end on 30 September 2022.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 raising the earnings limit for those claiming Carer’s Allowance to at least 16 hours work per week at the National Living Wage.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the Hon member to the answer I gave on 10 February 2022 to question number 120937.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-02-08/120937
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to increase Carer’s Allowance and other benefits in line with inflation predictions when benefit ratings take effect on 11 April 2022.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions, and the Consumer Prices Increase (CPI) in the year to September (published by the Office for National Statistics in October) is the latest figure that the Secretary of State can use to allow sufficient time for the required legislative and operational changes before new rates can be introduced at the start of the new financial year.
We recognise people are facing pressures with the cost of living – which is why we are providing support with the cost of living worth £22 billion across this financial year and next.
In his Spring Statement the Chancellor announced the doubling the Support Fund to help households with the cost of living to £1billion by providing an extra £500 million from April 2022, on top of the £500 million already provided since October 2021. In England, The Household Support Fund will help households with the cost of essentials such as food, clothing and utilities and will continue to be distributed to Local Authorities, who are best placed to direct help to those who need it most. The Devolved Administrations will receive £79 million of this additional funding.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments to all carers in receipt of Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the Hon member to the answer I gave on 23 March to question number 140422. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-03-15/140422
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to reintroduce the pension triple-lock for the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to implementing the Triple Lock in the usual way for the remainder of the Parliament. The decision to up-rate State Pensions in line with the Consumer Price Index, for 2022/23, is a one-year response to exceptional circumstances.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that employers within the security industry follow health and safety legislation sufficiently.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Health and Safety legislation applies to the security industry in the same way it does to other sectors of British industry. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or local authority are the enforcement authority dependent upon the nature of the premises concerned. Several approaches are used ensure compliance with the law:
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on protecting the health of HGV drivers from road air pollution.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates work-related health and safety in Great Britain. Employers, including Local Authorities (LAs), have existing duties under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 to manage health risks where workers may be exposed to hazardous substances as a result of work. The Regulations are supported by Workplace Exposure Limits (WELS) for substances hazardous to health. These will inform an employer’s assessment and management of risk from exhaust emissions and pollutants such as Nitrogen Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide that can give rise to Occupational Lung Diseases (OLD).
Tackling OLDs as a result of exposure to hazardous substances at work is one of HSE’s health priorities. HSE works with a broad range of stakeholders including trade associations, employers, trade unions, third sector and professional bodies to reduce the incidence rate of OLDs.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the effect of ending the £20 uplift to universal credit on the levels of in-work poverty.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the impact of removing the temporary £20 uplift on levels of in-work poverty. Projecting the impacts of policies on poverty involves projecting forward the impact of the pandemic on every household’s income which is not possible to do with confidence, not least because the latest comprehensive data on net incomes for households is from 2019-20, before the pandemic began.
With the success of the vaccine rollout and in the context of record job vacancies, we are committed to helping people get back into work and to progress in their careers. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.
We are taking decisive action to make work pay by cutting the Universal Credit taper rate from 63p to 55p, and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 per annum. This is essentially a tax cut for the lowest paid workers, worth around £2.2 billion in 2022-23 and means that 1.9m households will keep, on average, around an extra £1,000 on an annual basis. These changes are combined with a rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she had made of the financial and social implications of withdrawing the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit on people employed in the creative and performing arts sectors.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No assessment has been made of the impact of withdrawing the uplift on people employed in the creative and performing arts sectors.
The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced. With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, it is right that our focus is on helping people back into work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.
Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for Universal Credit claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; we have also recruited an additional 13,500 work coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job; and introduced Restart which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to Universal Credit claimants who are unemployed for a year. Our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people
This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, and continues to do so through many measures, including by spending over £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22. This government is continuing to take action to support living standards by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 effective from April 1st 2022, as well as reducing the taper rate in Universal Credit from 63% to 55% and increasing the value of work allowances by £500 per year, meaning Universal Credit claimants will be able to keep more of their benefit payments when they increase their earnings.
The government is committed to supporting the creative and performing arts sectors, recently announcing a further £42m of investment in the creative industries at the Spending Review to help grow businesses in the creative industries and provide opportunity for people across the country. Additionally we will be funding the £800 million Live Events Reinsurance Scheme and an extension to the £500 million Film & TV Production Restart Scheme, to enable UK events and productions to thrive and plan with certainty.