Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal state pension statements were provided between April and September 2000.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
DWP issued 593,900 State Pension Statements (also known as forecasts) in the financial year April 2000 to March 2001.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/state-pension-statements-issued-apr-2014-to-apr-2016
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 retaining the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 following the passage of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill; and whether his Department has held recent discussions with industry stakeholders on the potential impact of not retaining those regulations.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 require employers to consult employees on health and safety matters that might affect them, either directly or via representatives elected by employees.
With the introduction of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) remains focused on ensuring that regulatory frameworks maintain the United Kingdom’s high standards of health and safety protection and continue to reduce burdens for business.
HSE’s approach aligns closely with the Government’s pledge to do more for business to help promote growth by removing disproportionate burdens and simplifying the regulatory landscape. Our standards of health and safety protections are among the highest in the world. HSE will continue to review its retained EU Law to seek opportunities to reduce business burdens and promote growth without reducing health and safety standards.
Stakeholders and industry sectors will continue to be consulted fully on how health, safety and welfare legislation may develop in the future.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance on homelessness.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex, they interact dynamically making it difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors.
Government is committed to preventing homelessness where possible. We have announced the allocation of £654 million in funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant that will be made available to local authorities in 2023/24 and 2024/25. This is in addition to the £50m top-up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2022/23 announced in December, which will support local authorities to help prevent vulnerable households from becoming homeless this winter. This investment builds on the £316 million in funding already available to local authorities through the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2022/23.
In 2020 Local Housing Allowance rates were raised to the 30th percentile, a significant investment of almost £1 billion, we have maintained the increase since then so that everyone who benefited from the increase continues to do so.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available for those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.6 billion in funding to local authorities for DHPs.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Social Care to the hon. member for Ellesmere Port and Neston of 21 December 2022, what the outcome of the meeting with disabled people on policy development in summer 2022 was; and what plans he has for further such engagement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In Summer 2022, a number of meetings and focus groups with disabled people, and disabled people’s organisations, took place to hear disabled people's experiences in relation to the rising cost of living. Officials continue to engage with stakeholders to build this evidence base on how the cost of living is impacting disabled people.
On 1 December 2022, we announced that a new Disability Action Plan will be consulted on and published in 2023. The plan will set out the action the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives.
Ensuring the voice of disabled people is properly heard is a priority for this Government. We will run a full public consultation on the plan later in 2023. The consultation will be accessible to ensure all disabled people who want to take part, can do so.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on the potential merits of extending the Cost of Living Payment to people on contribution-based Employment Support Allowance who were exempt from the 365 day time limit due to being placed on the support group.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There have been no discussions with stakeholders in respect of the 2022/23 Cost of Living Payments for people on contribution-based Employment Support Allowance. The Cost of Living Payment is targeted at low income households who are in receipt of a means-tested income replacement benefit. Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance is a non means tested benefit and therefore does not qualify for the Cost of Living Payment.
Low income households may be entitled to Universal Credit and Contribution, based benefits at the same time, and therefore will be entitled to a Cost of Living Payment.
We will be bringing forward legislation for the 2023/24 Cost of Living Payments in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing a Cost of Living Payment to unpaid carers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recognises and values the vital contribution made by carers every day in providing significant care and continuity of support to family and friends, including pensioners and those with disabilities.
Depending on personal circumstances, carers may be eligible for means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit and Pension Credit. Means-tested benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the Carer Element in Universal Credit and the additional amounts for carers in other benefits respectively.
We would encourage anyone who is providing unpaid care, and who is not already in receipt of a means-tested benefit, to check on GOV.UK to confirm whether there are other benefits they may be entitled to. Advice can also be sought from organisations such as Carers UK and Citizens Advice. Means-tested benefits can provide extra weekly income and trigger extra support with the cost of living.
Nearly 60% of carers on low incomes, who are of working age and on Carer’s Allowance, claim a means-tested benefit, through which they may be entitled to receive up to £650 in Cost of Living Payments in 2022/23. These payments are targeted at low income households in receipt of an eligible means-tested benefit, including pensioners who are in receipt of Pension Credit.
Six million people in receipt of an eligible disability benefit should have received the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment, and eight million pensioner households are receiving a £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment as a top-up to their Winter Fuel Payment.
All Carer’s Allowance recipients in England who pay Council Tax in bands A to D should have received a £150 rebate.
The Secretary of State announced on 17 November that State Pensions and benefits will be up-rated from April 2023 by 10.1%, in line with the increase in the Consumer Prices Index in the year to September 2022.
To ensure stability and certainty for households, in the Autumn Statement, the Government announced £26 billion in cost of living support for 2023/24. This includes Cost of Living Payments for the most vulnerable households, an additional £1 billion to help with the cost of household essentials next year and the amended Energy Price Guarantee, which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.
For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. 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. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2022 to Question 59849 Housing Benefit: Cost of Living, for what reasons his Department stated that spare room subsidy strengthens work incentives.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The removal of the spare room subsidy policy provides fairness for hard-working taxpaying households and encourages people to move into work, where possible. This aligns with the Governments long-term focus of continuing to support people into, and to progress in work.
This measure ensures that benefit claimants (in the same way as for those not claiming benefits) are expected to make choices about affordability and how they will fund the rent shortfall for property that is deemed larger than they need.
We recognise there may be circumstances where claimants need an additional room beyond the bedrooms allocated under the policy. For situations like this where claimants need further financial help with their housing costs, we provide funding to local authorities in the form of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). Since 2011, the Government has provided almost £1.5 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities. This is alongside the £421 million Household Support Fund which has been extended from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of households in receipt of the spare room subsidy are in employment as of 8 November 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference his Department's report Supporting progression out of low pay: a call to action published 1 July 2021, which recommendations from this report (a) have been implemented, (b) are in progress and (c) have been rejected.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government’s response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Social Market Foundation's report entitled Working lives, published 27 July 2022, what assessment has he made of that report's findings.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No assessment has been made.