Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job work coaches her Department is planning to deploy in in Wolverhampton.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Department currently has 131 Work Coaches allocated to two Wolverhampton Jobcentres, with a 55 further new entrants due to be deployed by early 2021.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking with Birmingham 2022 and the West Midlands Combined Authority to ensure that the Commonwealth Games generates local opportunities for employment and training.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP and WMCA are working closely with Birmingham City Council and the Organising Committee for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games to secure new opportunities for residents. WMCA have recently launched a Commonwealth Games Jobs and Skills Academy to link local residents to the thousands of training, volunteering and employment opportunities expected to be generated through the Games.
The Jobs and Skills Academy will be supported by a joint team of DWP and WMCA staff who will work closely with Games contractors, local authorities, local Jobcentres and the region’s college and provide network to match local people in to the opportunities generated.
To date, we have already supported a number of local residents into construction training and jobs linked to the Games and WMCA has invested over £1m in higher level skills training to help local businesses prepare for Games related opportunities.
DWP are supporting through the secondment of staff to support the Academy and in considering the opportunities our Flexible Support Fund may offer to engage with communities to break down barriers to accessing these opportunities
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to encourage eligible people to apply for pension credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman
While over 1.5 million pensioners currently receive Pension Credit, the Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled.
In February we launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and help dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility. We are also continuing to work with our stakeholders to help spread the messages from the campaign.
Our online Pension Credit toolkit (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit) has been updated with the recent awareness campaign materials to supplement the resources it already contains for those working with pensioners, such as guides and information designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit.
In May this year we launched an online claim service for Pension Credit to supplement the existing telephone and postal claim services (https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit). The online service enables pensioners to apply for Pension Credit at a time that best suits them.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to help ensure equity of employment opportunity in Wolverhampton South West constituency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP offers significant support to unemployed people across Great Britain to access employment opportunities through our network of Jobcentres. Our work coaches provide support on finding a job, help with retraining or skills advice, CV, job applications and access to the new vacancies we record every day, as well as signposting to our new Jobhelp website.
The Department is working closely with other government departments, external organisations and local partners to support people into work. The Kickstart scheme was recently announced to help young people aged 16-24 find 6-month work places in Wolverhampton. We have also partnered with employers in the area to deliver Mentoring Circles and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 increasing the level of the cap on the carer's allowance income threshold to help support greater participation in the workforce.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Carer’s Allowance (CA) does not have a general income test. Rather it has a weekly earnings limit which acts as the test as to whether the carer is in gainful employment or not (this is a basic qualifying condition for CA).
Whilst the Government does not link the earnings limit to any other particular factor, it does keep it under regular review and increases it when it is warranted and affordable. The increase in the CA earnings limit from £123 to £128 a week in April 2020 was in line with average earnings growth.
DWP is undertaking research into carers employment and potential barriers to working. We will look at any findings from the research and other evidence with an open mind when the level of the earnings limit is next considered.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that older workers are able to contribute to the economic recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP has been working with employer organisations – including CIPD, British Chambers of Commerce, ACAS, Local Enterprise Partnerships and the Government Business Champion for Older Workers – to reach small and medium enterprises by hosting webinars to spread important messages about the need to support their older workers in order to retain them in the workforce and maintain their well-being and productivity.
Government has also provided £1.2bn to enhance work search support service in Great Britain, which includes doubling the number of frontline Work Coaches in Jobcentre Plus by the end of the financial year, increasing the flexible support fund, extending the rapid response service, increasing the number of Sector Based Work Academies, and expanding the work and health programme.
Government recognises the importance of planning effectively for the future and in encouraging productive workplace conversations. We therefore support the mid-life MOT and launched a webpage in 2019 which offers support to those considering a change in career in its stock-take across the key areas of work, health and finances.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of universal credit applicants who (a) do not have access to a computer and (b) are self-isolating due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey from June 2018 found that 96 per cent of claimants have regular access to the internet. Of these, 9 in 10 claimants have access at home via a computer or through a mobile phone. This can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey
For those claimants who are unable to access or use our digital services, there is assistance available to make and maintain their claim using the Freephone Universal Credit helpline.
Running alongside the national Jobcentre offer from 1 April 2019 is the Citizens Advice Help to Claim which support claimants in making a Universal Credit claim. Help to Claim offers tailored, practical support to help people make their claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time. It is widely available online, through a freephone number and face to face through local Citizens Advice services.
Information on the number of Universal Credit applicants who are self-isolating due to Covid-19 is not available.