Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to support disabled people who might be required to shield again as a result of covid-19 related local, regional or national public health restrictions.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Those who receive a notification that they need to shield will remain eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from their employer, and New Style Employment and Support Allowance, subject to the wider eligibility criteria. Where an individual’s income is reduced while off work sick and they require further financial support, for example where they are not eligible for SSP, they may be able to claim Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
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 permanently removing the need for face-to-face assessments for disabled claimants following the temporary introduction of that policy during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The health and safety of our claimants and staff is our key priority. We suspended all face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability benefits in March. This temporary suspension, brought in to protect people from unnecessary risk of coronavirus at the outset of the pandemic is being kept under review in line with the latest public health guidance.
Where possible and in line with usual processes, paper-based assessments will be undertaken, and we continue to do telephone-based assessments where we can. Any re-introduction of face-to-face assessments would involve additional safety measures to comply with public health guidance.
We remain fully committed to making continuous improvements to the support we provide to people with health conditions and disabilities, and are evaluating the changes to our assessment approach which were temporarily introduced. This will inform the approach taken to conducting assessments in the future. We are using a range of information to inform these decisions, including research with PIP and ESA/UC claimants about their experiences of telephone assessments.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions officials in her Department have had with their counterparts in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the potential role of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to (a) reduce and (b) alleviate child poverty.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The manifesto committed to replace European structural funds with a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will reduce inequalities between communities and deliver sustainable, inclusive growth. We continue to work together on the design and priorities of the new fund.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2018 to Question 141857, approach on sign language, what lessons have been learned from the Scottish Government’s to British Sign Language to inform the Government’s thinking in England and Wales.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Existing equality legislation already means employers, service providers and public bodies have to provide services in BSL and other formats when it is reasonable to do so. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the needs of all those with protected characteristics. We don’t think new legislation would add to that. However, we are actively considering lessons from Scotland’s approach to inform our thinking.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to extend the eligibility for budgeting loans to all families in receipt of universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
This Government is committed to providing a strong safety-net for those who need it and continues to spend over ￡95 billion a year on working age welfare benefits. This includes a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans for those who need extra support. The Government also provides a range of additional financial support to families and this includes free school meals, Healthy Start vouchers and help with health costs.
Budgeting Advances have replaced Budgeting Loans for those in receipt of Universal Credit helping to provide additional assistance for emergency household costs, such as replacing a broken cooker, getting a job or staying in work or funeral costs. Eligibility for a Budgeting Advance is explained on GOV.UK and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/other-financial-support
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
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 local authorities that no longer provide local welfare assistance schemes.
Answered by Will Quince
The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities in England, and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, to deliver their own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations (from April 2013) on a non-ring-fenced basis, with no statutory duties or monitoring requirements attached. Local authorities are best placed to decide how to target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no plans to alter policy on LWP or to review this provision at this time.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to extend eligibility for local welfare assistance to families with dependent children that have no recourse to public funds conditions attached to their leave to remain in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities in England, and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, to deliver their own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations (from April 2013) on a non-ring-fenced basis, with no statutory duties or monitoring requirements attached. Local authorities are best placed to decide how to target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no plans to alter policy on LWP or to review this provision at this time.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people with multiple sclerosis have lost the severe disability payment as a result of natural migration to universal credit.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Statistics on specific medical conditions are not currently available.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people with multiple sclerosis are in receipt of (a) income-related employment support allowance and (b) severe disability premium.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis in receipt of employment support allowance are in the (a) support and (b) work-related activity group.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.