Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working days were lost due to mental illness in his Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The total number of working days lost in DWP due to mental illness in each of the last three years is set out in the table below.
DWP is committed to improving mental ill health. We support employees through access to comprehensive stress risk assessments, Occupational Health services and our Employee Assistance Programme which offers immediate telephone support 24 hours a day, every day. DWP is currently introducing Mental Health First Aid to further add to the support available.
DWP has greatly reduced sickness absence from an average of 11.1 days in March 2007 to 6.13 days currently. The Department has the lowest average working days lost across Government when compared against other Departments of its size and grade structure.
Period | Working Days Lost to mental illness | Working Days Available | Working Days Lost as a % of Working Days Available |
01 November 2015 to 31 October 2016 | 114,887 | 16,933,234 | 0.68% |
01 November 2014 to 31 October 2015 | 103,596 | 16,288,909 | 0.64% |
01 November 2013 to 31 October 2014 | 121,513 | 17,558,267 | 0.69% |
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve access to specialist employment services for young disabled people.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
‘Improving Lives - The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’, published on 31 October, announces a Personal Support Package for people with health conditions and disabilities, with a range of new interventions and initiatives designed to provide support that is tailored to the individual needs of claimants, including young disabled people.
In particular as part of this package we will explore how to better support young disabled people by testing a voluntary, supported Work Experience programme. This will give young disabled people the opportunity to benefit from time in the workplace with a mainstream employer. It will enable them to build their confidence and skills, enhance their CV and demonstrate their ability to perform a job role.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) fibromyalgia, (b) myalgic encephalomyelitis, (c) relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis, (d) autism and (e) other mental health conditions have applied to move from disability living allowance to personal independence payment; and how many of those applications were successful.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The requested information for Personal Independence Payment applications is not available as information on PIP claimants’ disabling conditions is not collected at the initial claim application stage.
Such information on PIP awards, by disabling condition and whether new or reassessment claim status, are available from Stat-Xplore.
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 effect on claimants with mental illness of his proposals to extend jobseeker's allowance conditionality.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
We have made no proposals to extend Jobseekers Allowance conditionality.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to issue guidance on how its proposed extension of jobseeker's allowance conditionality will apply to claimants with mental illness.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
We have made no proposals to extend Jobseekers Allowance conditionality.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 number of new claimants of employment and support allowances who will be placed in the work-related activity group from April 2017 to May 2020; and whether he has made an estimate of the number of those claimants who will be people with cancer.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Information regarding the number of new claimants who will be placed in the work related activity or limited capability for work groups can be found in the following table, for each of the financial years in the time period requested :
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | |
Total work related activity or limited capability for work group decisions from new claims to ESA or UC | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 |
Figures are consistent with the Autumn Statement 2015 forecasts, which do not separate out ESA and UC.
We do not hold estimates on the number of claimants we expect with specific conditions.