Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to (a) the disability employment gap remaining at 28.7 percentage points and (b) the Leonard Cheshire research finding that 69 per cent of disabled people have had their work impacted by covid-19, whether he has made a recent assessment of the need for additional funding to support disabled people entering and remaining in work.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to seeing one million more disabled people in work between 2017 and 2027 and reducing the disability employment gap. The disability employment gap
has closed by around 5 percentage points since 2013 (the earliest comparable date, when the current way of measuring disability began) and in the last four years, the number of disabled people in employment has increased by 850,000. This is good progress, however, we know we need to go further to help more disabled people and people with health conditions start, stay and succeed in work, where it is right for them.
We have committed in both the recent Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper and the National Disability Strategy, to continue to improve employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions to help support more people to move towards and into work. We are reviewing Green Paper responses now and will come forward with a White Paper next year.
The Spending Review committed £339 million per year for the continued funding of existing disability employment programmes such as the Access to Work scheme and the Work and Health programme.
In addition to this, £156 million has been agreed over the Spending Review 2021 period to provide job finding support for disabled people, with a focus on additional work coaches. We are continuing to develop detailed plans for a range of disability employment support to best support disabled people towards and into work across the Spending Review period.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the £156 million committed in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 to provide job finding support for disabled people, what services that funding will support, in addition to the work coaches referenced in part 4.99 of that document.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to seeing one million more disabled people in work between 2017 and 2027 and reducing the disability employment gap. The disability employment gap
has closed by around 5 percentage points since 2013 (the earliest comparable date, when the current way of measuring disability began) and in the last four years, the number of disabled people in employment has increased by 850,000. This is good progress, however, we know we need to go further to help more disabled people and people with health conditions start, stay and succeed in work, where it is right for them.
We have committed in both the recent Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper and the National Disability Strategy, to continue to improve employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions to help support more people to move towards and into work. We are reviewing Green Paper responses now and will come forward with a White Paper next year.
The Spending Review committed £339 million per year for the continued funding of existing disability employment programmes such as the Access to Work scheme and the Work and Health programme.
In addition to this, £156 million has been agreed over the Spending Review 2021 period to provide job finding support for disabled people, with a focus on additional work coaches. We are continuing to develop detailed plans for a range of disability employment support to best support disabled people towards and into work across the Spending Review period.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to publish its National Strategy for Disabled People before the summer recess.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The National Disability Strategy will be published in the coming months. The strategy will take into account the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on disabled people and will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life, including employment, transport, housing and education.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
How many Child Maintenance Service cases with pre-existing arrears have continued to accrue arrears since covid-19 lockdown restrictions were introduced in March 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Whilst this information is not readily available, we can see from official statistics a gradual and steady increase in paying parent compliance (from March 15 at 56% to March 20 at 68%).
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many families with children have received the £20 per week uplift in universal credit standard allowance payments in Bath in each month since that uplift was introduced.
Answered by Will Quince
The available information on the number of households with children with Universal Credit in payment, by parliamentary constituency, is published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what welfare support she plans to make available to UK citizens living in the EU who are no longer entitled to that support from EU member states after the transition period.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
UK nationals living in an EEA state or Switzerland by 31 December 2020 are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, EU rules on social security coordination will continue to apply to them for as long as they remain in scope of the Withdrawal Agreement.
UK nationals who are currently being paid a pension or benefit by an EEA state or Switzerland will need to check with the organisation that pays them to find out what they will need to do to continue receiving any benefits or pension after 31 December 2020. For example, they may be required to register their residence. Country specific guidance can be found at:
The rules for UK nationals who are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement and move to live in an EEA state or Switzerland from 1 January 2021 will depend on the outcome of negotiations with the EU and may change.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to restore the automatic eligibility of 18-21 year old people to claim universal credit for housing costs.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We want to make this change as soon as is practicable. This change needs to be made in regulations and also built into the Universal Credit operating system
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals on restoring the automatic eligibility of 18 to 21 year olds to claim universal credit for their housing costs.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We want to make this change as soon as is practicable. This change needs to be made in regulations and also built into the Universal Credit operating system.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the categories of decisions for turning down applications from 18 to 21 year olds for universal credit claims for housing costs .
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department holds no record of reasons for claimants being refused housing costs. Eligibility for housing costs is assessed against the exemption criteria for the policy. Claimants which do not meet any of the exemption criteria are not eligible for housing support.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the savings accrued to the public purse in 2017-18 as a result of the removal of the automatic eligibility of 18 to 21 year-olds to claim universal credit for housing costs.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As a result of the removal of the automatic eligibility of 18 to 21 year olds to claim universal credit for housing costs the Department estimates savings of £5 million in welfare spending in 2017/2018.