Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question 152230 on Department for Work and Pensions: Publications, what steps he is taking to advertise Touchbase to staff in his Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March to Question 152230 on Department for Work and Pensions: Publications, what recent assessment his Department made of the effectiveness of Touchbase at communicating Department activity to Job Centre Plus staff.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question 152230 on Department for Work and Pensions: Publications, if he will make it his Department's policy to routinely send the Touchbase newsletter to all staff in his Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of claimants to afford to travel to their Job Centre Plus for daily appointments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure that claimants can attend these appointments, our Work Coaches will continue to tailor support based on the claimant’s needs and the eligibility criteria set for the pilot.
Claimants can request to be reimbursed for additional travel costs to Jobcentre appointments, over and above their weekly/fortnightly attendance, during the two-week period of intensive support using the flexible support fund. This follows our usual process.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has make of the ability of Universal Credit claimants to be able to afford dietary recommendations outlined in Public Health England's Eatwell Guide.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people participated in the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot at each pilot site.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the pilot started on 27th February, it is too early to report on the number of participants in the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot. The Department will monitor the pilot internally on an ongoing basis. The evaluation strategy is being finalised and the Department is currently considering what information will be released and when.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job starts have been recorded by (a) Pontefract, (b) Partick, and (c) Coalville Job Centre Plus in each month since January 2021; and if he will provide a breakdown by month.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the pilot started on 27th February, it is too early to report on the number of participants in the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot. The Department will monitor the pilot internally on an ongoing basis. The evaluation strategy is being finalised and the Department is currently considering what information will be released and when.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job starts were recorded by each Job Centre Plus site participating in the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot in each month since their establishment.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the pilot started on 27th February, it is too early to report on the number of participants in the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot. The Department will monitor the pilot internally on an ongoing basis. The evaluation strategy is being finalised and the Department is currently considering what information will be released and when.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his Department's policy to publish online editions of its Touchbase newsletter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites.
DWP has no plans at present to publish the email newsletters on GOV.UK because:
Anyone can subscribe to receive Touchbase at Touchbase editions after March 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming Personal Independence Payments have covid-19 classified as their primary reason for claiming that benefit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As of March 2021, a new code, ‘Coronavirus Covid 19’, has been added to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) disability coding system in Infectious disease, Viral disease B01-B10 section with other viral diseases.
Claimants under ‘Coronavirus Covid 19’ are a group of people who remain unwell at 12 weeks, with a wide variety of symptoms whose long-term prognosis is unknown. These people meet the diagnostic criteria for post Covid-19 syndrome. Some may recover in a few more months, some may recover over a longer time period. Others may remain unwell or become more unwell over time. Fluctuating functional impairment and wide-ranging symptoms that change over time seem to be a feature of the condition. It is those claimants who have significant functional impairment at 12 weeks, who do not seem to be recovering, who may have entitlement to PIP. Claimants do not have to have had a positive test result to be diagnosed with the syndrome. Testing has not always been easily available.
Data on PIP applications can be found on Stat-Xplore.
In particular, the PIP cases with entitlement dataset allows you to view the number of cases with entitlement split by primary condition. ‘Coronavirus Covid-19’ can be selected by expanding ‘Infectious disease’ then ‘Viral diseases’. Please note that there may be other claimants where the ongoing impact of a Coronavirus infection has influenced the award of PIP. Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. There may be claimants with long Covid who came onto the benefit before March 2021 who are not recorded under the new code.
You can log in, or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user, which still gives instant access to the main functions, and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.