Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of making the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State responsible for disabled people on the representation of disabled people in Government.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I can confirm that I have been appointed as Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work. This role has always been, and remains, an important ministerial post.
A summary of my responsibilities can be found here: GOV.UK. My responsibilities put disability policy and disabled people at the heart of what this Government wants to achieve. I will continue to work closely with the Secretary of State to ensure this work remains a central pillar in the department’s mission, to improve outcomes for disabled people.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to reinstate the pensions of Yemeni workers that worked in Britain and who have had their pensions stopped.
Answered by David Rutley
The Department is working closely with the banking sector to reinstate State Pension payments for Yemeni workers that worked in Britain and who have had their pensions stopped due to the banking issues in Yemen. Reinstatement of State Pension payment will be dependant on individual personal circumstances.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she is having with her Canadian counterpart on uprating British State Pensions paid to people living in Canada.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are two separate social security arrangements in place between the UK and Canada, made in 1995 and 1998. The UK Government is not intending to change the social security relationship with Canada.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to encourage employers to pay above the statutory minimum for sick pay.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Occupational sick pay schemes are a contractual matter between employer and employee. Many employers pay more and for longer than the statutory minimum through occupational or contractual sick pay arrangements and we continue to encourage employers to do so.
There is information on type of sick pay paid normally from surveys of employers and employees. The most recent of these are a survey of employers conducted in 2018 (last published in 2021) and a survey of employees conducted in 2014 (published in 2015). Links to both of these surveys can be found below.
Health and wellbeing at work: a survey of employees, 2014 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 workers that are entitled to sick pay at a rate higher than statutory sick pay.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Occupational sick pay schemes are a contractual matter between employer and employee. Many employers pay more and for longer than the statutory minimum through occupational or contractual sick pay arrangements and we continue to encourage employers to do so.
There is information on type of sick pay paid normally from surveys of employers and employees. The most recent of these are a survey of employers conducted in 2018 (last published in 2021) and a survey of employees conducted in 2014 (published in 2015). Links to both of these surveys can be found below.
Health and wellbeing at work: a survey of employees, 2014 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2022 to Question 143642, how many people are eligible for pension credit in Great Britain as of 24 March 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman
According to the latest data, 2,260,000 people were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain for the financial year ending 2020. The published data tables can be accessed here: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people (a) are eligible for and (b) claim pension credit in (i)Ealing Southall and in (ii) the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The number of people eligible for Pension Credit is only available at the Great Britain level.
In August 2021, 2,827 people were in receipt of Pension Credit in Ealing Southall and 1,420,085 in Great Britain.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential steps to protect low income families from inflation.
Answered by David Rutley
Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions engage regularly with their Ministerial counterparts in other Departments, taking a collective approach to the policies and interventions that can make a difference.
This Government is wholly committed to supporting low-income families, including through spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 and by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022.
With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support people into and to progress in work. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.
In addition, Universal Credit recipients in work are now benefitting from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, while eligible in-work claimants can also benefit from changes to the Work Allowance. These measures represent, for the lowest paid in society, an effective tax cut of around £2.2b in 2022-23 and are now benefitting almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1,000 a year on average.
We are helping people with energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments. We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country can access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million.
To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English Local Authorities.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support disabled employees during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
A range of DWP initiatives are supporting disabled people to stay in work. These include Access to Work, Disability Confident and support in partnership with the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services. We have made it easier to access programmes which help disabled people to enter work, such as the Work and Health Programme and the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme.
DWP has also put in place measures to ensure that its own staff, including those who require reasonable adjustments, have been able to safely work from home during the Covid-19 outbreak, or from COVID-safe departmental locations where necessary or if that is their preference. These measures include arranging for specialist furniture and equipment to be delivered to individuals’ homes; allowing individuals to purchase such items and then reimbursing them; and ensuring that DWP workplaces are COVID safe for those who use them.