Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made on her consultation on Disability Workforce Reporting.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The consultation on disability workforce reporting for large employers, which is being led by the Disability Unit based in the Cabinet Office, was launched on 16 December 2021 and will close on 25 March 2022. The consultation is available at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/disability-workforce-reporting
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her priorities are for the next six months of the National Disability Strategy.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The National Disability Strategy (NDS), published in July 2021, sets out a wide range of tangible actions that will impact across the everyday lives of disabled people. From housing to transport, education to leisure and justice, to challenging the unhelpful perceptions of others. Delivery of the policies in the strategy is progressing well.
For example, DfE has invested over £8 billion in 2021/2022 on children and young people with complex needs, improving outcomes for disabled children. DWP is piloting an Adjustments Passport supporting disabled people in the transition to employment, and BEIS launched an online advice hub offering accessible information and advice on employment rights for disabled people.
Priorities over the next 6 months will be to continue to deliver on the commitments in the NDS and reporting on progress as we have previously committed to do.
In addition, this government is supporting the successful delivery of the British Sign Language Private Members Bill through the House of Commons and Lords to recognise British Sign Language (BSL) as a language of Great Britain, with ultimately the objective of increasing access to BSL interpretation.
Alongside recognising British Sign Language as a language of Great Britain, we will:
I am committed to delivering the government’s aim to address the challenges faced by disabled people so that we continue to build back better, and fairer, for disabled people.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support disabled people into the workforce.
Answered by Chloe Smith
A range of DWP initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in employment. These include the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, the Work and Health Programme, Disability Confident and support in partnership with the health system, including Employment Advisers in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services.
Last year we published three major documents: Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper; the response to the Health is Everyone’s Business consultation on minimising the risk of ill-health related job loss; and the National Disability Strategy. These together form our holistic approach and vision for supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to live independent lives.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to tackle fraudulent activity by people seeking to exploit the benefits system.
Answered by David Rutley
The Department takes fraud against the benefits system very seriously and has taken huge steps to reduce and minimise fraud and error during the last 18 months, at a time when the Department processed an additional 3 million new Universal Credit claims as part of our response to the pandemic.
This has seen us:
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase collection rates of child maintenance payments.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMG compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours.
CMS have worked in partnership with Courts and Enforcement Agents following the restrictions on Enforcement activity during the initial phase of the pandemic in 2020 to quickly return to normal operating practice.
During the quarter ending September 2021 £47.4 million was paid through the Collect & Pay service compared to the quarter ending December 2019 where £44.1 million was paid before the impact of the pandemic took effect. (Source – National Tables – table five ‘Money Due and Paid each quarter’ January 2015 to September 2021).
There has been a consistent downward trend in the proportion of unpaid maintenance as a proportion of maintenance arranged since 2017, falling from 12.5% in 2017 to 8.5% in September 2021 (Source – National Tables - table six ‘ how much maintenance CMS has arranged March 2015 to September 20).
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides to young jobseekers.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Plan for Jobs provides a comprehensive package of support for young people, including the Youth Offer and Kickstart.
The Kickstart scheme is dedicated to helping 16 to 24-year olds at risk of long-term unemployment develop their skills and experience through fully funded six-month jobs. As of January, over 130,000 Kickstart jobs have been started by young people.
We are extending the DWP Youth Offer to 2025 and have expanded eligibility to include 16 and 17-year olds, in addition to 18 to 24-year olds, who are claiming Universal Credit and searching for work. The Youth Offer currently provides intensive work search support through the Youth Employment Programme, specialised Youth Employment Coaches for young people with additional barriers to work, and over 160 Youth Hubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
DWP is delivering a comprehensive package of support for young people in collaboration with the Department for Education and National Careers Service in England, the devolved administrations, and other partners.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress is being made by the work of Armed Forces Champions in jobcentres.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP’s network of 50 Armed Forces Champions and 11 Group Leads provide vital support to veterans and other members of the armed forces community, including providing additional help to get veterans in to work. Since the new model was introduced in April 2021 it has been well received by stakeholders.