Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many FTE additional staff her Department has employed since March 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman
4,026 FTE have joined payroll as at close 30 September 20. In addition, during the period between March 20 and end of September 20 we have had c1,000 loans from other government departments, c2,000 contractors and c1600 agency workers hired.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of reviewing the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 to (a) strengthen the provisions on protecting mental health within existing legislation and (b) enshrine parity of esteem for mental health in law.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Under the Health and Safety (First Aid) at Work Regulations 1981 employers have a responsibility to consider the physical and mental health needs of their staff as part of their first aid needs assessment and decide what support is necessary, regardless of whether or not the cause is work-related. HSE published clarified guidance in November 2018 to increase employers’ understanding of their responsibilities and what factors to consider when undertaking a first aid needs assessment.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of allocating funding to businesses to provide training to employees on the early signs of poor mental health in the workplace.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers, published in October 2017, set out a series of recommendations. At its heart is an appeal to employers to adopt the “core standards”, which would make a real difference to the mental health support to people at work. A Leadership Council is driving adoption by sharing best practice and encouraging peer to peer conversations.
There is limited evidence on whether financial incentives can make a difference to adoption of health and wellbeing measures at work. We are supporting the evaluation of a trial led by the West Midlands Combined Authority testing whether financial incentives can be used to incentivise SME employers to take action along a health and wellbeing programme for SMEs. Final results will be published in due course.
Through our Challenge Fund we have funded a range of initiatives to help people with mental health and Musculoskeletal conditions stay in work. The Fund, which drew to a close in April 2020, funded 19 Initiatives to learn from different approaches that supported both individuals and employers. The learning will be used to inform future policies that are aimed at helping people with mental health and/or musculoskeletal conditions to retain employment.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides to people who have had their motability vehicle removed as a result of a personal independence payments assessment in order to help them retain their independence.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government worked closely with Motability to develop an extensive £175 million Transitional Support package when PIP was first introduced. This aimed to provide support to people who have not been awarded the enhanced mobility component and as a result lost their Motability Scheme vehicle upon reassessment from DLA to PIP. This is paid for by the Motability charity and at no cost to the taxpayer.
Claimants who joined the Motability Scheme before 1 January 2014 can keep their vehicle for up to 3 months after finding out their claim is unsuccessful and are offered a one-off payment of between £2,000 and £1,000. If a claim is pending appeal then the claimant is offered a 26- week lease extension and a smaller one-off payment. In addition, claimants have the option to buy their old Scheme vehicle, and can obtain help to adapt any new, non-Scheme vehicle.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 merits of paying winter fuel allowance to recipients in more frequent instalments to assist people who have pre-paid for gas and electricity usage.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Winter Fuel Payments are made annually, and largely automated, to ensure that administrative costs are kept to acceptable levels across 12 million payments. Although we have made no assessment of this specific proposal, we know that each level of complexity in the system increases the costs of delivery. Recipients are free to use the payment in the best way for them.