Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what step his Department is taking to reduce the child poverty rate among families with three or more children.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting all low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and their children.
From April, we uprated benefit rates by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.
With 1.08 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting individuals, including parents, to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.
To further support those who are in work, including parents, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW.
At the Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an ambitious package of measures designed to support people to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives.
We are investing billions in additional childcare support for parents of toddlers, investing in wraparound childcare in schools, and increasing financial support for, and expectations of, parents claiming Universal Credit. For those who are on Universal Credit, we are increasing the childcare maximum (cap) to £951 for one child and £1,630 for two or more children and paying childcare costs up front when parents move into paid work or increase their hours.
This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills. Included within this support is Cost of Living Payments totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year for over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits and a £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment for over 6 million people across the UK on eligible ’extra-costs’ disability benefits.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of supply of housing to rent at local housing allowance rates in (a) Haringey and (b) neighbouring boroughs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
No recent assessment has been made of adequacy of supply of housing to rent at local housing allowance rates.
The Government recognises that demand is currently outstripping the supply of private rented properties available to let.
Housebuilding is a priority for this Government. The Government has committed to continue working towards its ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year to help create a more sustainable and affordable housing market.
The Government is driving up the supply of new homes by diversifying the market, investing in affordable housing, and increasing land supply for new homes by investing in infrastructure.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
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 whether the Local Housing Allowance rates meet the thirtieth percentile of local rents in the broad rental market area covering Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Hornsey and Wood Green constituency spans two Broad Rental Market Areas: Inner North London; and, Outer North London. The Local Housing Allowance rates for these areas as well as the latest 30th percentile data for England is published by the Valuation Office Agency here.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
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 potential impact of Health and Safety Executive guidance on the transmission of blood borne viruses on people living with HIV.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator of workplace health and safety and publishes guidance aimed to assist employers in controlling workplace risks, including those from blood-borne viruses where this is relevant to their work activities.
HSE’s approach to developing guidance is led by intelligence to ensure it remains appropriate. Should evidence emerge that suggests changes to workplace risks, HSE will consider an appropriate response which may include a review of existing guidance.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Household Support Fund for families unable to pay energy bills after March 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
At Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, the Government announced an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett consequentials, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year.
In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials including energy.
Details of the new HSF 23/24 scheme will be announced in due course.
We will also continue to provide support to all households through the Energy Price Guarantee, which will save the average GB household £500 in 2023/24.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the current wait time is between submitting an application for Personal Independent Payment and receiving a decision.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner, and reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearance times are available as part of the PIP Official Statistics quarterly release. The latest release, with data available to October 2022, is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1123400/tables-pip-statistics-to-oct-2022-eng-wales.xlsx.
Table 1A in this release shows that the median average clearance times for normal rules new claims are currently (October 2022) 16 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made).
Notes:
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
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 reduce waiting times for Personal Independent Payments for terminally ill applicants.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service.
The clearance times for claims to PIP under the special rules for end of life (SREL) are published quarterly and can be found from the PIP Statistics page available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics. The clearance time for new claims under SREL has consistently been at 3 working days since July 2021.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of Personal Independence Payment applications were processed within his Department's service standard of 12 weeks in (a) 2019-2020, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
As referenced in the response of 19 July 2022, UIN 34999, there is no target for clearance times to Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Clearance times for claims to PIP are published quarterly and can be found from the PIP Statistics page available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive has made an assessment of the adequacy of public awareness of how to prevent HIV transmission when handling blood in the context of the (a) concept of undetectable viral loads and (b) use of universal precautions when handling blood products.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator for workplace health and safety. HSE has not made an assessment of public awareness of how to prevent HIV transmission when handling blood in the contexts described, as HSE does not regulate public health risks.
Public awareness of health issues is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care, and the UK Health Security Agency, as the lead agency for public health matters.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
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 potential merits of reviewing and updating the Health and Safety Executive guidance on blood borne virus transmission.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the regulator of workplace health and safety, publishes guidance to assist employers in controlling workplace risk from blood-borne
viruses. There are no plans at present to review this guidance.
HSE’s approach is led by intelligence to ensure that resources are appropriately allocated to any risk. Should evidence emerge to suggest an increased risk of blood borne virus
transmission in the workplace, HSE will consider an appropriate response, which may
include a review of existing guidance.