Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) providing a £50 one-off payment to people eligible for the Cold Weather Payment and (b) doubling the Household Support Fund in winter 2021-22.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. As part of this, the Household Support Fund provides £421 million to Local Authorities in England to help vulnerable people with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. This fund was announced on 30 September 2021, recognising that some households need additional help this winter as we enter the final stages of recovery from the pandemic and covers the period 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 inclusive. There are currently no plans to increase the funding provided.
Cold Weather Payments of £25 are paid to vulnerable households on qualifying benefits for every week of severe cold weather between 1st November and 31st March. There are currently no plans to increase the Cold Weather Payment rate.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reversing the reintroduction of the Minimum Income Floor.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
The suspension of the Minimum Income Floor was a temporary measure to support self-employed claimants through the pandemic, kept under review in light of the latest economic and public health context. Since 31 July 2021, the pre-pandemic rules for the self-employed have started to apply again.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution of 7 September 2021, Official report, column 185, whether her Department has made an assessment of the level of wage growth which discounts the impact of furlough during the covid-19 outbreak; and if she will publish the legal advice referred to in her oral contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Legal advice is privileged. This has been the situation under successive governments.
As the Office for National Statistics have stated, there is no single accepted approach to assessing underlying growth. They have published information that identifies temporary factors, called base and compositional effects, which have been caused by the pandemic and have increased the headline growth rate in earnings above the underlying rate. They have published a range of possible growth rates, but stressed that these should be treated with caution
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an estimate of the impact of removing the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit on child poverty levels in England.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
The Government has always been clear that the £20 increase was a temporary measure to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19.
Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and we announced the temporary uplift as part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Our focus now is on our multi-billion Plan for Jobs, which will support people in the long-term by helping them learn new skills and increase their hours or find new work.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish data by ethnicity on the number of jobs created by the Government's job creation schemes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given for PQ 21984.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of current levels of subsidised childcare on the ability of mothers to return to work.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made and it would require disproportionate costs to do so.
The Government recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. Working families claiming Universal Credit (UC) can therefore reclaim up to 85 per cent of their eligible childcare costs each month, up to £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children, compared to 70% in legacy benefits.
Eligible claimants can also get help from the Flexible Support Fund with initial up-front fees and costs as they move into work. Alternatively, help with upfront costs may also be available through Budgeting Advances.
UC childcare aligns with the wider government childcare offer. This includes the free childcare offer which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, doubling for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week. The UC childcare cost element can be used to top up a claimant’s eligible free childcare hours if more hours are worked and childcare is required. This means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish data by sex, ethnicity and disability on the number of jobs created by the Government's job creation schemes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For information regarding the gender and the disability status of those who have begun Kickstart placements I refer the honourable member to PQ 16981 and PQ 6283.
The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart Scheme throughout and after its implementation. We will gather data on the ethnicity of Kickstart participants through the planned Kickstart participant survey and using information recorded on UC systems. We will publish the findings of the evaluation once complete.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timetable is for publication of her Department's Health and Disability Green Paper.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Given the necessary focus on the departmental response to Covid-19, we are working to a longer timescale than previously anticipated. We continue to engage with disabled people and their representatives and plan to publish the formal consultation document in the coming months.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) increase the rate of sick pay and (b) introduce immediate, automatic payment to people required to self-isolate as a result of a positive covid-19 test.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This government has a strong safety net that helps people who are facing hardship and are unable to support themselves financially and we have taken steps to strengthen that safety net as part of the government’s response to the pandemic.
As part of strengthening this safety net we have made Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) payable from the first day of sickness absence from work, rather than the fourth – where an individual is self-isolating due to coronavirus and meets all SSP eligibility conditions.
SSP provides a minimum level of income for employees when they are sick or incapable of work. Employers are legally required to pay SSP to eligible employees who are off work sick or incapable of work, where employees meet the qualifying conditions. Some employers may also decide to pay more, and for longer, through Occupational Sick Pay. More than half of employees receive more than SSP from their employer.
SSP is just one part of our welfare safety net and our wider government offer to support people in times of need. Where an individual’s income is reduced while off work sick and they require further financial support, they may be able to claim Universal Credit and new style Employment and Support Allowance, depending on their personal circumstances.
Working people on low incomes who are required to remain at home by NHS Test and Trace to help stop the spread of the virus and cannot work from home could be eligible for a £500 payment to financially support them while self-isolating.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on trends in the level of poverty among single-parent families.
Answered by Will Quince
We have strengthened the welfare system, spending £7.4 billion on measures such as the Universal Credit uplift, on top of additional support such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
We have built on this extra support through the introduction of our Covid Winter Grant Scheme, now running to the 20th June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, backed by £220 million, has already provided support during the Easter holidays this year, and will continue to do so during the summer and Christmas holidays.