Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department allocates Official Development Assistance to any programmes that are targeted at supporting women and girls.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information is not available. DWP’s ODA spend has no initiatives targeted specifically at women and girls.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to implement the recommendations of the Scope's report entitled the Disability Report: Disabled People and the Coronavirus Crisis, published in May 2020.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Disability Unit is working across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the Government’s response to Covid-19. The Government welcomes Scope’s report on 'Disabled People and the Coronavirus Crisis', and will consider its recommendations.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
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 (a) assess the effect of air pollutants on the health of drive-through workers and (b) work with employers, employees and trade unions to ensure that steps are taken protect those workers from the effect of air pollutants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is not currently undertaking any specific steps to assess the effect of air pollutants on the health of drive-through workers.
There is a robust regulatory framework in place to protect workers from exposure to hazardous substances as a result of work activities, including airborne contaminants. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 require employers to prevent or control employee exposure to hazardous substances at work, so far as is reasonably practicable. The Regulations are supported by Workplace Exposure Limits (WELS) for substances hazardous to health including Nitrogen Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Sulphur Dioxide, that are also known airborne contaminants.
Tackling occupational lung disease (OLD) as a result of workplace exposure to hazardous substances is one of HSE’s health priorities. HSE works with a broad range of stakeholders including trade associations, employers, trade unions, third sector and professional bodies to reduce the incidence rate of OLD.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
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 minimise the frequency of assessment for recipients of employment support allowance and personal independence payment; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the light touch benefit reviews introduced for disabled people of pension age to (a) claimants with life-long disabilities and (b) all claimants.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Changes have been made to the benefit reassessment process for those with the most severe and lifelong health conditions.
In Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit, since September 2017 we have stopped routinely assessing those whose level of function would always mean that they are unlikely ever to be able to move into work. And in 2018 we introduced updated guidance for Personal Independence Payment health professionals and case managers to ensure that people who already receive the highest level of support and whose needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten-year point.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many families have claimed bereavement support since 6 April 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department publishes quarterly Bereavement Support Payment statistics that show the volume of claims being paid broken down by standard rate and higher rate payments. Claimants with dependent children and entitled to Child Benefit, or who were pregnant, when their husband, wife or civil partner died will get the higher rate. The latest statistics are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistical-summaries-2018.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
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 savings to the Exchequer since the introduction of the Bereavement Support Payment Regulations 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Initially we will be investing extra funds into the reform to bereavement benefits and significant savings are not anticipated during the course of this Parliament.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the Bereavement Support Payments Regulation 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We intend to assess the impact of Bereavement Support Payment once sufficient evidence is available to assess all aspects of the policy.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobcentres were closed in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.
Answered by Damian Hinds
In 2014/15 DWP closed 17 jobcentres, of which 4 were not relocated or co-located; and in 2015/16 closed 16 of which 6 were not relocated or co-located.