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Written Question
Work and Health Programme
Monday 23rd January 2017

Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the number of employment coaches of the Work and Health Programme.

Answered by Penny Mordaunt

Significant Progress has been made in tackling unemployment, with dramatic falls in the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits, and in long-term unemployment.

Contracted provision will continue to play a crucial role in offering support at the right time to those who have difficulty accessing the labour market. The Spending Review in October 2015 announced funding rising to at least £130 million a year by 2019/20 for the new Work and Health programme, including funding to be devolved to Scotland. Support will focus on people with a disability, early access for priority groups and the long term unemployed. We expect the majority of people who start the programme to have a disability.

The number of employment coaches and other support required to deliver contracted employment support is a matter for providers. The process to select providers to deliver the Work and Health Programme is at an early stage and we expect potential providers to consider this as part of their service bids

The Work and Health Programme will have no impact on the number of work coaches in

DWP.

Written Question
Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
Thursday 19th January 2017

Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects to announce what changes are required to comply with the terms of the Supreme Court ruling of November 2016 on the under-occupancy penalty.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

The Department is taking action to make changes to the regulations in order to comply with the terms of the judgment. The Social Security Advisory Committee and Local Authority Associations are being consulted about the changes in the usual way. The Department will also be issuing guidance to Local Authorities ready for when the changes are in place.

Written Question
Employment: Disability
Monday 13th June 2016

Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on halving the disability employment gap.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

In the last two years, the number of disabled people in work has increased by 365,000. But we recognise that the gap between the employment rates of disabled people and non-disabled people remains too large. That is why we are committed to halving it.

Progress against the disability employment gap is a key factor in progress towards full employment. This is consistent with the Government’s manifesto commitment which said ‘as part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halve the disability employment gap’. The annual report on progress towards full employment will include an update on the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.

We plan to produce a Green Paper later this year that starts to reframe the discussion with disabled people and their representative organisations and points towards long-term reform.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"I beg to move,

That this House regrets the Government's lack of progress towards halving the disability employment gap; further regrets that the Government has not yet published its White Paper on improving support for disabled people; notes with concern that commitments made in the Autumn Statement 2015 to help …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"Let me give the hon. Gentleman the facts. I welcome every job provided for a disabled person, and I welcome every opportunity for disabled people to get into work, but the facts are that the Government have gone backwards on the target for disabled people. When our Labour Government left …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"I have repeatedly said that the last Labour Government were performing better in terms of the disabled person’s employment gap than this current Government, and I shall say so again in a few moments...."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"Of course it does, and I am going to say something about that straight away, because the first of the cuts that I want to discuss—cuts that are making it enormously more difficult for disabled people to get into and stay in work—is the PIP cut. As we know, PIP …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"That was a slip of the tongue, and I regret making it. In this of all areas, we should be extremely careful with the language that we use. I did not mean to imply what the hon. Lady suggests that I was implying...."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"I think it is absolutely shameful that the Government are refusing to monitor that properly. It is clear to all of us in the House that if people lose the cars that allow them to get to work, it will be harder for them to stay in work or seek …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 08 Jun 2016
Disability Employment Gap

"My hon. Friend is completely right. As we all know, the truth is that there was a set of targets for savings to be made from the social security budget. Those targets were set by the Chancellor and passed down the road to those at Caxton House, who have set …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Disability Employment Gap