Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many new (a) private rented and (b) social tenancies households will be affected by the proposed benefit cap; and what the average reduction in household income will be for both such households.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20 July. A link to the impact assessment is included.
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006.pdf
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the potential annual reduction in benefits for residents in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets due to the cap on household benefits.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20 July. A link to the impact assessment is included.
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006.pdf
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provision for Discretionary Housing Payments he plans to make for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in (a) 2015-16 and (b) each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The allocation for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) in 2015/2016 for Tower Hamlets is £1,565,107.
No decisions have been made on allocations to local authorities for the next three financial years, however as announced in the Budget, overall DHP funding will be increased to £800 million over the next five years. The Department considers the allocation of Discretionary Housing Payments each year, based on each local authority’s Housing Benefit expenditure and the local impact of reforms.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what regulations apply to asbestos in buildings; when such regulations are laid; and for what duration those regulations are in force.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Use of any asbestos in new buildings was prohibited in Great Britain by 1999 following earlier national prohibitions of the highest risk types in 1985 and 1992. The current prohibitions are now via the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation 2006.
In respect of legacy asbestos present in older buildings the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 regulation 4 came into force on 21 May 2004. This regulation was then superseded by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR) laid on 5 March 2012.
CAR Regulation 4 requires the owner, or person responsible for maintenance (the ‘duty holder’) of a non-domestic building to record the location and condition of any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) and to put into place a plan to manage the risk they present. The record of the location and condition of any ACMs, and management plan, must be available for as long as ACMs are present in the building.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what regulations apply to the recording and maintenance of information on asbestos in buildings; and for what period such records should be maintained by building owners.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR) requires the owner, or person responsible for maintenance (the ‘duty holder’) of a non-domestic building to record the location and condition of any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) and to put into place a plan to manage the risk they present. The duty holder is only responsible for managing the risk at the time they hold the duty; they are not responsible for prior exposure to earlier building occupants. The record of the location and condition of any ACMs, and management plan, must be available for as long as ACMs are present in the building.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what health and safety regulations apply to the demolition of buildings containing asbestos and prior exposure of staff who previously worked in such buildings.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Demolition is construction work as defined by the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM). Asbestos is a hazard which may give rise to risk and so information on its presence in a building should form part of the pre-construction information which the client must make available to the contractors involved.
In addition, all work with asbestos (including demolition) is subject to the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR) which requires exposure to asbestos to be prevented or reduced to as low a level as reasonably practicable. In cases of final demolition the employer’s plan of work must, so far as is reasonably practicable, specify that asbestos must be removed before any demolition starts, unless removal would cause a greater risk to employees than leaving it in place.
CAR also requires the owner, or person responsible for maintenance (the ‘duty holder’) of a non-domestic building to record the location and condition of any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) and to put into place a plan to manage the risk they present. The duty holder is responsible for managing the risk at the time they hold the duty; they are not responsible for prior exposure to earlier building occupants. The record of the location and condition of any ACMs, and management plan, must be available for as long as ACMs are present in the building.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 legislation covering electrical safety in care homes.
Answered by Lord Harper
All health and safety legislation was subject to independent review by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt in 2011. As part of the review, Professor Löfstedt was also asked to review comments received through the Government’s Red Tape Challenge on health and safety regulation. There was no specific comment on the adequacy of legislation covering electrical safety in care homes received from either review.