Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on steps to end child poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have set out a clear approach to tackling child poverty based on evidence about the important role of work, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty.
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work. This is why our focus is firmly on supporting parents into and to progress in work.
We have no plans to reintroduce an approach to tackling child poverty focused primarily on income-based targets. This can drive action that focuses primarily on moving the incomes for those ‘just in poverty’ just above a somewhat arbitrary ‘poverty line’ whilst doing nothing to help those on the very lowest incomes or to improve children’s outcomes.
The Department for Work and Pensions currently works across Government to support the most vulnerable households. Ministers and officials work with their counterparts in other departments and external stakeholders to better understand the multidimensional nature of poverty. This includes a cross-government senior officials’ group on poverty.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has targets for ending child poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have set out a clear approach to tackling child poverty based on evidence about the important role of work, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty.
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work. This is why our focus is firmly on supporting parents into and to progress in work.
We have no plans to reintroduce an approach to tackling child poverty focused primarily on income-based targets. This can drive action that focuses primarily on moving the incomes for those ‘just in poverty’ just above a somewhat arbitrary ‘poverty line’ whilst doing nothing to help those on the very lowest incomes or to improve children’s outcomes.
The Department for Work and Pensions currently works across Government to support the most vulnerable households. Ministers and officials work with their counterparts in other departments and external stakeholders to better understand the multidimensional nature of poverty. This includes a cross-government senior officials’ group on poverty.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, who the specialist work and health professionals are that will be responsible for issuing fit notes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The trailblazers announced at Autumn Statement 2023 will be delivered in NHS Integrated Care Systems and fit notes will continue to be issued by the registered healthcare professionals working within the NHS who are specified in legislation – Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.
Our ambition is to co-develop a new fit note process delivered through multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together the issuing of fit notes with health and work advice to support people who are at risk of falling out of work or who have already fallen out of work due to ill health.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for an initial assessment for people on the Access to Work Scheme in 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The average waiting time for a decision on an AtW application for the financial year 2023/24 was 45.1 days.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to ensure that his Department's (a) policy and (b) guidance is (i) trauma-informed and (ii) co-produced with lived-experience experts.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP is committed to being a more Trauma Informed organisation. We have a dedicated programme which will integrate the six key pillars of the approach as defined by the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (December, 2022) which are safety, trustworthiness, choice, empowerment, collaboration and cultural consideration. Our programme looks at these six pillars within the contexts of application to our colleagues, our customers, our culture, and the context of our interaction- whether that is a physical, telephony, digital or postal interaction. We are learning from best practice demonstrated by organisations such as NHS Education Scotland, Work Services Australia and the Wales ACES Hub to shape the future prioritisation of this work.
The integration programme is in its early phases, and we appreciate that it will take time to realise the benefits of changes we implement. We are learning from the continued progress of leaders in the field including programmes such as the Scottish National Trauma Transformation Programme. We recognise that an important aspect of many programmes is policies and procedures and intend to replicate this focus within our own work whilst recognising that the programme does not seek to change what the department does, instead we are impacting how we do this, which will extend to supporting our policy development.
We recognise that any truly trauma informed system is shaped by lived experience experts and we fundamentally believe in the co-production of this programme. This is why we have an extensive network of diverse internal and external stakeholders who are engaged in shaping the programme through ongoing forums and insight activity. We are also currently collaborating with the University of Salford on research which explores how trauma informed the department is through conversations with customers, colleagues and external stakeholders. The outcome of this research will help to shape the future priorities of the programme. Finally, we are currently exploring how we establish our own co-production forums for the programme taking advice from expert stakeholders to ensure we create a safe, empowering space for lived experience experts to whilst establishing trust in the ongoing aims and progress of the programme.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Disability Confident scheme on the disability employment gap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Disability Confident (DC) is one of a range of policies to support disabled people into work and to close the disability employment gap. It is difficult to isolate the direct impact of individual policies on the disability employment gap as numerous, interacting factors are at play, including overall labour market trends and changes to the composition of the disabled population, in addition to the effects of disability employment policies and programmes in themselves.
When an employer signs up to DC, they agree to commitments which encourage employers to think differently about disability and to take positive action to address issues disabled employees face in the workplace. There are currently over 19,000 DC members and they estimate 11.5 million employees in total working in their businesses.
In September 2023, the Department published findings from a survey with members of the DC scheme, conducted by an independent research agency[1]. The research explored the effect that signing up to the DC scheme had on members’ recruitment and retention attitudes towards disabled people.
The DWP and Cabinet officials regularly meet with Ministerial Disability Champions to drive this agenda across Government. The Champions’ role is to ensure disability inclusion is a priority in their Department’s work. They are helping to deliver our commitment to support disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society.
[1] The survey was conducted in February to March 2022. In total 1,233 survey interviews were conducted with scheme members.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the outcomes of the (a) pre-testing phase, (b) phase one and (c) phase two of the additional job centre support pilot.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An evaluation of the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot is ongoing.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 27 March (HL3520), why it is not possible to undertake a robust assessment of the impact of the two-child limit.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not have the data to fully measure health and well-being behavioural impacts that may have resulted from the two-child limit.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trussell Trust and Joseph Rowntree Foundation report entitled Guarantee our Essentials, published on 27 February 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of that report's findings on levels of essential costs for single parent families claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many school leavers who had been in receipt of free school meals were on Universal Credit six months after leaving school in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available.