Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to support disabled people affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people using existing and new data sources.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is publishing a rolling programme of data and articles relating to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19, with specific outputs on disabled people in Great Britain.
The Department has had discussions with charities, disabled people's organisations and individuals to understand the range of experiences disabled people have had during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the support needed.
The Government is ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to employment support, disability benefits, financial support; food, medicines, as well as accessible communications and updated guidance.
The Government continues to provide disability employment support through initiatives such as Access to Work, Disability Confident, the Work and Health Programme, Intensive Personalised Employment Support, and other forms of support that disabled people need to retain, adapt and move into employment.
The Cabinet Office Disability Unit works with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the UK Government’s response to COVID-19. We are clear that consideration of equality impacts must be integral in all key policy decisions. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year taking into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people. The strategy will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects and phases of life.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential benefits of advising people prior to retirement age of whether it would be in their interests to make voluntary additional National Insurance contributions in order to increase their pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Information on filling National Insurance gaps through voluntary National Insurance contributions and credits is already widely available. Information is available on Gov.uk and as part of the personalised forecasts which are available through the online Check your State Pension Forecast service. People can also telephone the Future Pensions Centre on 0800 731 0175, where personalised information about voluntary National Insurance Contributions is also available.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 who are not eligible for the (a) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, (b) Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and (c) Universal Credit; and what steps is she taking to make additional support available to those people.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is wholly committed to supporting people on lower incomes and has paid out more than £100 billion in welfare support this year.
We estimate most households will be eligible for some Universal Credit support if they are unable to work or on lower earnings and have lower than £16K capital/savings.
The new £170m COVID Winter Grant Scheme extends the support already in place and will enable local authorities to support vulnerable households in in their area with the cost of food and essential utilities this winter.
The Department recognises that work is the best route to prosperity. We are investing in our recovery from this pandemic with our Plan for Jobs including our £2bn Kickstart scheme which is already creating thousands of high-quality jobs for young people, and our Ten Point Plan which will create 250,000 green jobs, helping us build back better. We have also boosted our Flexible Support Fund by £150m to provide localised and tailored employment support for people across the UK and we are doubling the number of frontline Work Coaches to help support people of all ages to find a job, retrain, or gain vital practical experience.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to section 96(A) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, when she next plans to review the level of the benefit cap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
i) Due to the early election taking place the levels of the cap were not reviewed in the last Parliament.
ii) DWP routinely collects data on capped households and publishes that information each quarter. The latest statistical release, published on 26 November 2020, shows the picture in August 2020 and includes household characteristics together with regional breakdowns supported by a narrative that provides insight into the data drivers. The latest statistical release can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-august-2020
iii) Information relating to households who will be newly affected by the Benefit Cap in November and December at the end of their grace period is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what research her Department (a) has conducted and (b) plans to conduct to understand the reasons for the increase from February to May 2020 in the number of households in London affected by the benefit cap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
i) Due to the early election taking place the levels of the cap were not reviewed in the last Parliament.
ii) DWP routinely collects data on capped households and publishes that information each quarter. The latest statistical release, published on 26 November 2020, shows the picture in August 2020 and includes household characteristics together with regional breakdowns supported by a narrative that provides insight into the data drivers. The latest statistical release can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-august-2020
iii) Information relating to households who will be newly affected by the Benefit Cap in November and December at the end of their grace period is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households that claimed universal credit are due to see their grace period end in (a) November and (b) December and become subject to the benefit cap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
i) Due to the early election taking place the levels of the cap were not reviewed in the last Parliament.
ii) DWP routinely collects data on capped households and publishes that information each quarter. The latest statistical release, published on 26 November 2020, shows the picture in August 2020 and includes household characteristics together with regional breakdowns supported by a narrative that provides insight into the data drivers. The latest statistical release can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-august-2020
iii) Information relating to households who will be newly affected by the Benefit Cap in November and December at the end of their grace period is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 effect of reinstating the minimum income floor for Universal Credit on people who have been unable to access support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Minimum Income Floor will not now be re-instated from 12/11/20 when current Covid easement regulations were due to cease. After careful consideration of the ongoing public health situation and the national working environment, the current suspension of the Minimum Income Floor in Universal Credit has been extended to the end of April 2021.
Universal Credit is available to support claimants even where they are not entitled to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the effect on (a) the gender pay gap and (b) women of the suspension of the enforcement of employers' obligations to report data on the gender pay gap in the 2019-20 financial year.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to levelling up and making the UK a country where equality of opportunity exists for everyone. As part of this we want to see more employers offering measures such as flexible working and returnships, which aim to help people return to work after a break due to caring responsibilities. We know that measures like these can improve career prospects for both women and men.
In recognition of the unprecedented uncertainty and pressure facing employers due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for the 2019/20 reporting year. The data that employers would have had to submit by April this year, had enforcement not been suspended, would have been calculated from a snapshot date before the COVID-19 outbreak. The snapshot date was 31 March 2019 for public sector employers and 5 April 2019 for the private and voluntary sector.
Despite the uncertainty this year, the UK's gender pay gap has fallen to a record low of 15.5% from 17.4%. We will continue to monitor the impact of the gender pay gap reporting regulations and will review their effectiveness by 2022.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the benefits of increasing discretionary housing payments budgets for councils during the winter 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
We have provided £180m in Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) funding to Local Authorities (LAs) to support vulnerable claimants with housing costs in the private and social rented sector in England and Wales for 2020/21. This includes an extra £40m as announced last year at the spending round. We are currently monitoring the ongoing use of, and demand for, DHPs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish the National Strategy for Disabled People.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Due to Covid 19 impacts, a slower timetable for publication of the National Strategy for Disabled People is inevitable. This is to ensure that we are able to meaningfully engage with stakeholders and strengthen our evidence base to deliver the ambitious strategy that the Prime Minister has called for. We are aiming to publish in Spring 2021.