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 integrate a life cycle approach that reaches older women and men into its work to help disabled people.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government recognises how important it is to take account of individual circumstances, and this is built into our approach to both disabled people and older workers. Work coaches provide an individual and personalised service, supported by specialist roles like our Disability Employment Advisers and Older Claimants Champions.
Employers have an important role to play, and to enable them to provide the right conditions for people to thrive in the workplace, we have extended the right to request flexible working, promoted core standards for supporting employees with mental health issues, and consulted on a package of measures aiming to reduce ill-health related job loss. In February 2019, we launched an online offer of the mid-life MOT intended to act as a vital prompt to engage more people at work in planning more actively for later life.
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 guidance her Department provides to employers on support to employees with migraines.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Fit for Work advice service (FfW), the remaining part of the wider Fit for Work service which closed in 2018, is a government-funded initiative that provides free, general work and health advice to employees, employers and GPs. The advice service is there to support people in work with health conditions, for example workers with migraines (see https://fitforwork.org/blog/supporting-sufferers-of-migraine-at-work/).
The Government’s current consultation on work and health: ‘Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill-health related job loss’, seeks views on how advice and information to support the management of health in the workplace should be provided in the longer term.
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, with reference to The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2019 (S.I., 2019, No. 552), for what reasons the increases in carers allowance and the policy of not uprating the pensions of 510,000 overseas UK pensioners were not provided for in separate Statutory Instruments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The increase in the weekly rate of Carer’s Allowance from £64.60 to £66.15 from 8 April 2019 was provided for in The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2019 (No. 480). The Up-rating Regulations 2019 contain provisions adjusting aspects of the benefit system in light of the Order, and include an increase in the weekly earnings limit in Carer’s Allowance from £120 to £123. This was to avoid the need for an additional Statutory Instrument in light of demands on Parliamentary time due to EU exit.
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, when Government last held discussions with the Governments of (a) India and (b) Pakistan on reciprocal pensions agreements; and will she make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Successive governments – Labour, Coalition and Conservative have not entered into any new reciprocal social security agreements with non-EU countries since 1992. Any requests for a new agreement would be considered carefully to ensure maximum benefit and reciprocity for both parties
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 1 November 2018 to Question 183319 on Conditions of Employment, what assessment she has made of the ability of the definition of (a) worker and (b) world of work to be ratifiable by as large a number of ILO membership as possible.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government supports the adoption of an International Labour Convention on ending violence and harassment in the work of work. The Government is fully engaged in discussions in the International Labour Organisation on the scope and content of the proposed Convention and as part of that is in regular contact with other states on this issue.
The text of the Convention under negotiation includes formal workers and, if universally ratified, would apply to the world’s poorest workers. The Government’s position on the definitions and scope of the Convention is that it should provide broad coverage, whilst being ratifiable by as large a number of the International Labour Organisation’s membership as possible.
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 plans she has to ensure that the proposed June 2019 ILO Convention includes (a) informal workers and (b) the world’s other poorest workers.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government supports the adoption of an ILO Convention on ending violence and harassment in the world of work. The Government is fully engaged in discussions in the ILO on the scope and content of the proposed Convention and as part of that is in regular contact with other states on this issue. The text of the Convention under negotiation includes informal workers and, if universally ratified, would apply to the world’s poorest workers. The Government’s position on the definitions and scope of the Convention is that it should provide broad coverage, whilst being ratifiable by as large a number of the ILO’s membership as possible.