Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2020 to Question 86679, on National Insurance, what progress her Department has made on implementing a digital solution to speed up the National Insurance Number (NINo) process; and when that digital service will be available.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The department has continued to progress the development of its digital solution, ‘Apply for a National Insurance Number (NINo)’ and will soon be available to applicants who require a NINo for employment purposes.
The department started testing a partial digital solution, on a small scale, in mid-October, to support the allocation of National Insurance Numbers. This solution enables the collection of an applicant’s data, but not the online verification of their identity. Alternative identity verification solutions to reduce the need for a face to face identity check for some customer groups, including EU nationals with Settled or Pre-Settled status, was part of that test.
In January, we gained Government Digital Service approval as a result we were no longer required to limit the number of applicants we can serve, although we do not have an identity solution for all potential applicants yet. Our current plan is that by the end of March 2021 we will be able to offer a service to all applicants who do not require their identity to be verified face to face.
This means that we have moved from a position in March 2020 of only offering a NINo service to the most vulnerable, to a place where we are able to provide a service to the majority.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the £170 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme available to local authorities in England has been allocated to (a) people in need directly in cash grants and vouchers and (b) emergency food aid charities.
Answered by Will Quince
The Covid Winter Grant Scheme gives local authorities the flexibility to decide how best to identify and support those most in need in their local area, as set out in the guidance available which was published on gov.uk on 24 November.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-winter-grant-scheme
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 trends in the time taken to issue national insurance numbers to applicants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has continued to monitor all aspects of the National Insurance Number (NINo) process throughout recent months, as we continue to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our services.
When applying for a NINo, all applicants are required to have their identity verified. For those applicants whose identity has already been verified by another UK Government Department, primarily the Home Office, their applications are dealt with by post. For those who have not had their identity verified, primarily EU/EEA nationals, the current process requires them to attend a face to face interview with DWP to verify their identity.
Due to COVID-19 and in line with government guidelines, the face to face interview process was suspended from 17th March 2020. The resource normally deployed in this area were redeployed to process the substantial number of benefit claims received during this period.
DWP re-instated a limited service for customers, who do not require a face to face interview, in June. Since then the average time taken to clear an application for a NINo from the point of application is received, to decision, has been:
June - 11.4 days
July - 5.4 days
August - 4.5 days
It is not possible, due to the requirement to examine customers’ ID documents, to offer a virtual service. However, we are working on a digital solution that should enable us to restart the process incrementally from the end of September 2020.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take to raise public awareness about the problems faced by people with sight loss and other hidden disabilities, who may find it hard to follow social distancing rules.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We recognise that some people with disabilities face particular difficulty in social distancing, or are impacted by the reaction of others to their inability to socially distance. We are considering how we ensure that disabled people are able to socially distance in order to protect themselves from Coronavirus and from adverse attention from people who perceive that they are not adhering to guidelines on social distancing. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the Corona Virus pandemic.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department made prior to implementing the £20 a week uplift to universal credit due to the covid-19 outbreak of the effect of that policy on (a) economically vulnerable people, (b) household food security and (c) the duties of public bodies under the Equalities Act 2010.
Answered by Will Quince
We have announced measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised. This allowed, for example, for the swift introduction of the £20 a week uplift to the Universal Credit standard allowance to respond to the effects of the current pandemic for those experiencing the most financial disruption. The changes we have made to the benefit system in response to the pandemic provide a balanced package of support.
Ministers have fully complied with their statutory duties when making decisions on the existing package of support. There is insufficient data to estimate the precise economic impact on different groups. We continue to monitor data sources including tax and benefit data to understand the effect of COVID-19 on household incomes and debt.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether workplaces will be required to carry out a specific covid-19 risk assessment before re-opening after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
As part of managing health and safety, businesses must control the risks in their workplace. To do this, they need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide what reasonable steps to take to prevent that harm, via the process of conducting a risk assessment. This requirement has not changed and should address risks from the work environment as well as processes.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trades Union Congress's report entitled TUC calls on Government to make employers report their disability pay gap, what steps her Department has taken to address the disability pay gap.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The government published the voluntary reporting framework on disability, mental ill health and wellbeing in November 2018.This is aimed at large employers (over 250 employees) and it is recommended that they publically report on the pay and progression of disabled people at regular intervals. It can also be used to support smaller employers who are keen to drive greater transparency in their organisation or industry.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the disability employment gap is in her Department.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The disability employment gap is the measure of the difference between the employment rate of disabled people and the employment rate of non-disabled people. It is not therefore something which can be measured at the level of a single organisation. The current disability employment gap in the UK is 28.9 percentage points.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 Government's progress on achieving employment for one million more disabled people by 2027.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
In 2017, the Government set out its commitment to see 1 million more disabled people in employment by 2027. In the first two years of the commitment (between Q1 2017 and Q1 2019), the number of disabled people in employment increased by 404,000.