Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether compulsory redundancies will result from the closure of the Durham House site in Washington.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The changes the Department is making to estates will both improve the working environment for staff, become greener by becoming smaller, helping meet the Government’s carbon reduction target, and provide value for money for the taxpayer.
As of March 2022, 905 colleagues located in Washington Durham House are being asked to relocate, with their role, to Sunderland Wearview House. Each colleague will have a discussion with their line manager to assess the impact of the move on them and if they are able to relocate. The Department’s priority will be to retain, retrain and redeploy colleagues either within DWP, or within other Government Departments in the area. As a responsible employer, we will make provision for redundancies if it is necessary. However, this will be a very last resort after all efforts to redeploy have been exhausted.
An overarching Equality Assessment has been completed which considers the impact on colleagues. This has been made available in the House Library. Individual site Assessments have also been prepared. The planning of an office closure includes consideration of factors including the ‘Index of Multiple Deprivation’ for each location, which considers many factors, including:
The Department currently expects to exit Washington Durham House by November 2022. Should redeployment mean additional travel costs, colleagues may qualify for an Excess Fares payment to cover those costs. These costs would be paid for up to three years.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of jobs that will be affected by the closure of the Durham House site in Washington.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The changes the Department is making to estates will both improve the working environment for staff, become greener by becoming smaller, helping meet the Government’s carbon reduction target, and provide value for money for the taxpayer.
As of March 2022, 905 colleagues located in Washington Durham House are being asked to relocate, with their role, to Sunderland Wearview House. Each colleague will have a discussion with their line manager to assess the impact of the move on them and if they are able to relocate. The Department’s priority will be to retain, retrain and redeploy colleagues either within DWP, or within other Government Departments in the area. As a responsible employer, we will make provision for redundancies if it is necessary. However, this will be a very last resort after all efforts to redeploy have been exhausted.
An overarching Equality Assessment has been completed which considers the impact on colleagues. This has been made available in the House Library. Individual site Assessments have also been prepared. The planning of an office closure includes consideration of factors including the ‘Index of Multiple Deprivation’ for each location, which considers many factors, including:
The Department currently expects to exit Washington Durham House by November 2022. Should redeployment mean additional travel costs, colleagues may qualify for an Excess Fares payment to cover those costs. These costs would be paid for up to three years.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the profile of the civil servants affected by the closure of Durham House is by (a) age, (b) race, (c) gender and (d) disability.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The following depicts the profile of colleagues based at Washington - Durham House.
Age – 1.7% aged 16-24, 14.4% aged 25-34, 25.2% aged 35-44, 28.3% aged 45-54, 27.2% aged 55-64, 3.1% aged 65+
Race – 1.7% of colleagues are of an ethnic minority
Gender – 31% male, 69% female
Disability – 14.4% of colleagues have declared a disability
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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 consolidation of Durham House on levels of hybrid working among affected civil servants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The adoption of hybrid working practices has been carefully and fully considered. The introduction of hybrid working arrangements by the Department for back of house functions means that staff will only need to work on average 40% of their working week in the new location. DWP aims to utilise its hybrid working policy to help facilitate more inclusive workplaces, which are capable of adapting to the needs of employees and the Department.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether home assessments for people claiming disability benefits can be offered to claimants living with cancer.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Currently, all claimants to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be offered a telephone or video assessment where a paper-based assessment is not possible and a face-to-face assessment at an assessment centre is not appropriate. Home assessments were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and we are working towards re-introducing these where other assessment channels are not possible. Attendance Allowance care needs are assessed on paper-based evidence alone, with extra support available for vulnerable customers. Disability Living Allowance for children does not assess children and all decisions are taken on the basis of paper-based evidence.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of delays in the work capability assessment process for claimants who are living with cancer.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Supporting all claimants, including those living with cancer, remains an absolute priority for the department. We are committed to assessing claimants as quickly as possible in order that they receive the benefits and support they are entitled to in a timely manner.
The Capability for Work questionnaire incorporates a 'light touch' evidence gathering process for people who are having, waiting for or recovering from chemotherapy or radiotherapy. We would expect that most claimants to whom this applies would be assessed using the paper evidence provided by the claimant and/or their treating clinician. However, in cases where the evidence does not support any debilitating effects of treatment, they may need to attend a telephone, video or face to face assessment.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including witness statements as part of the disability benefits decision-making process for people living with cancer.
Answered by Chloe Smith
In the context of claims for health and disability-related benefits, for all health conditions and disabilities, a claimant can provide to the Department any evidence, including a witness statement, which they consider supports that claim. All evidence, whatever the source or type, is considered and weighed accordingly as part of the decision-making process.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of reported delays to personal independence payments for people living with cancer.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. People with the same condition or impairment can have very different daily living or mobility needs. New claims from claimants who are terminally ill are currently being cleared in an average of three days.
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through PIP in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service, including using a blend of phone, video and fact-to-face assessments to deliver a more efficient and user-centred process. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment her Department has undertaken of the potential effect of the end of the £20 uplift to universal credit on young women.
Answered by Will Quince
No impact assessment has been made.
The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March 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 the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The latest poverty figures (2019/20) demonstrate that absolute poverty rates (both before and after housing costs) for working-age adults in working families have fallen since 2009/10. In 2019/20, 8% of working age adults in working families were in absolute poverty (before housing costs), compared to 9% in 2009/10.
There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced. With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, it is right that our focus is on helping people back into work.
Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for UC claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; Restart, which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to UC claimants who are unemployed for a year; and JETS, which provides light touch employment support for people who are claiming either Universal Credit or New Style Jobseekers Allowance, for up to 6 months, helping participants effectively re-engage with the labour market and focus their job search. We have also recruited an additional 13,500 work coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job. In total, our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.