Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of appropriateness of the special rules for terminal illness for unpredictable terminal illnesses such as motor neurone disease.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 July 2018 to Question UIN 160109.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the roll-out of universal credit does not result in people in rented housing being in arrears.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Research shows that many people come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears.
We also know that arrears are usually temporary and the majority of claimants do succeed in paying their rent, managing their monthly payments and clearing their arrears over time. In our research, the proportion of Universal Credit claimants who were in arrears at the start of their claim fell by a third after four months.
We have made changes to help people financially until their first payment. Advances are available to provide financial support and these can now be repaid over a course of 12 months and can consist of up to 100 per cent of the indicative monthly award. We have also abolished waiting days and now provide 2 weeks of housing support to claimants moving to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress the Government has made on reducing the extent of employer discrimination against people with (a) criminal records and (b) mental health problems.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has taken action to reduce the extent of employer discrimination against people with (a) criminal records and (b) mental health problems in the following ways:
My department leads the cross-Government campaign ‘Disability Confident’ which supports businesses to employ disabled people and the ‘See Potential’ campaign which actively encourages employers to recruit individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including ex-offenders.
See Potential champions employers which recognise individuals’ talents from different backgrounds and offers advice on adopting more inclusive recruitment practices. More than 150 organisations support the campaign. The Disability Confident scheme has over 6,000 employers signed up and works collaboratively with prominent business leaders to spread and share best practise.
Government also continues to support ‘Ban the Box’, an initiative run by Business in the Community (BITC). This initiative gives people with criminal convictions the opportunity to demonstrate relevant skills ahead of formally disclosing any conviction(s). So far 87 employers (including the Civil Service), covering more than 720,000 roles, have committed to adopting the Ban the Box scheme.
Furthermore Thriving at Work: the Stevenson/Farmer Review of Mental Health and Employers, published in October 2017, set out the business case for employers to support their staff’s mental health. The Government supports the review’s recommendations and encourages all employers to implement the core mental health standards set out in the Review.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with inflammatory bowel disease applied for mandatory reconsideration of their claim for personal independence payments in each of the last four years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) mandatory reconsideration (MR) registrations for people with a primary disabling condition of inflammatory bowel disease, by financial year of MR registration.
Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. Therefore, there may be other claimants who have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease who are not captured in the data.
Number of PIP MR registrations for people with a primary disabling condition of inflammatory bowel disease, by financial year of MR registration.
Financial year of MR registration | Number of MR registrations for people with a primary disabling condition of inflammatory bowel disease |
2013/14 | 120 |
2014/ 15 | 1,120 |
2015/ 16 | 1,470 |
2016/ 17 | 1,780 |
2017/18 (April 17 to Oct 17) | 1,010 |
Total | 5,390 |
Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.
Latest available data to October 2017.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have (a) applied for and (b) received employment and support allowance for Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis in each year between 2010 and 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29 January 2018 to Question 123975
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have (a) applied for and (b) received employment and support allowance for Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis in each year between 2010 and 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29 January 2018 to Question 123975
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential link between the sanctions regime and the mental health and wellbeing of individuals; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
No assessment has been made of the potential link between the sanctions regime and the mental health and wellbeing of individuals.
Sanctions are only ever used as a last resort, and when considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good cause, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring the support that we give and any conditionality requirements to the specific circumstances of the individual.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 mitigate the effect of welfare sanctions on people's mental health and well-being.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I provided to Question 123884 on 26 January 2018.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which current EU Member States had historical bilateral agreements with the UK that guaranteed annual uprating of UK state pensions?
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The United Kingdom’s reciprocal social security agreements with EU Member States as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are generally superseded by EU law. The reciprocal agreements with Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland all made provision regarding annual increases in the state pension.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to assist UK pensioners living abroad who’s state ensions is are uprated annually.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
UK State Pensions are payable worldwide to those who are eligible, without regard to nationality. They are up-rated where there is a legal requirement to do so, for example in EEA countries and countries where there is a reciprocal agreement in place that allows for up-rating. This has been the policy of successive Governments for around 70 years and the Government has no plans to change this policy.