Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Baroness Jolly, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
A Bill to make provision for the establishment and publication of a Register of Arms Brokers.
Baroness Jolly has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office.
The Government has been clear that the responsibility for supporting disabled candidates sits with political parties and that the EnAble Fund was an interim measure to give parties time to put their own support in place.
Ministers wrote to the main Parties twice in 2019 to ask them how they intend to support their candidates on a long-term basis.
The Government’s guidance on work and financial support in relation to coronavirus includes information about employment rights as well as other key issues such as how to access financial support, safe working and childcare. This can be found on the GOV.UK website.
Acas also offers guidance and advice for employers and employees. This can be accessed through the Acas website or by calling the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100.
The Government has also provided clear and comprehensive safer workplaces guidance for employers and employees. This guidance has and will integrate, where appropriate, the Department for Health and Social Care’s guidance on protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19. The safer workplaces guidance is non-statutory but does not change existing obligations relating to health and safety, employment, or equalities. Employers have a duty under UK law to protect the health and safety of their workers and other people who might be affected by their business. This includes considering the risks that COVID-19 represents.
The Health and Safety Executive website also has specific guidance on the risk assessment process and the steps businesses should take.
The Government is clear about the benefits of flexible working for employers and their employees. All employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer have the right to request Flexible Working.
In our manifesto we said that, subject to consultation, we would introduce measures to make flexible working the default.
From 1 August, we are giving employers more discretion to make decisions about how their staff can work safely.
This could mean continuing to work from home or it could mean working in a covid-secure workplace. We encourage employers to discuss this with their employees.
The Government has clearly set out how to make workplaces covid-secure in its Safer Workplaces guidance. As we reopen our economy, it’s right that we give employers more discretion while continuing to ensure employees are kept safe.
It is the responsibility of the exporting country to ensure they create and sign off Export Health Certificates that confirm the consignment meets our high animal and public health requirements. GB health certificates required for imports from the EU and the rest of the world have all been made available online, simplifying the EU approach to embedding them in legislation.
Defra has provided £14 million in funding to Port Health Authorities to support the recruitment of staff, including Official Veterinarians, that are needed to carry out SPS checks when these goods arrive. This will include checks to ensure the goods have been certified appropriately.
The quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence at the age 70 and over is to use the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service.
If drivers are unable to use the online service they should submit a paper application in the normal way. However, paper applications will take longer to process in the current circumstances. Some drivers may be able to continue to drive while their application is being processed, provided they have a valid licence and they have not been told by a doctor or optician not to drive.
The department is considering what can be done to help drivers who are unable to use the DVLA’s online service, and will provide more information when available.
It is a driver’s responsibility to ensure that they meet the criteria for driving under the provisions of Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 while their application is being considered.
While there is no specific requirement to visit a doctor for these purposes, if a driver has been told not to drive by a doctor or optician, they should not do so.
The table below shows the number of applications received from those renewing their driving licence at the age of 70 and over either online or by post in the last five financial years. It has not been possible in the time available to break this down by age of applicant.
| Online applications age 70 and over | Postal applications age 70 and over |
2015-2016 | 720,152 | 1,068,060 |
2016-2017 | 843,947 | 1,079,017 |
2017-2018 | 897,577 | 990,243 |
2018-2019 | 907,005 | 1,117,544 |
2019-2020 | 1,128,344 | 1,012,176 |
The UK Government committed to provide £1.3bn over the SR21 period for employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions in the Levelling-Up White Paper. This includes commitments set out in joint DWP-DHSC consultation response “Health is Everyone’s Business” (HiEB). We are working with stakeholders including the Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, UK Research and Innovation and National Institute for Health and Care Research to identify the most efficient and effective way to improve the research infrastructure that supports innovation as outlined in HiEB.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has seen high levels of compliance with the Government’s Covid-19 advice for employers (https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus) including guidance published by Public Health England and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). For example, since 1st April 2020 there have been 3,129* investigations of workplace concerns where an outcome has been recorded in HSE’s operational database and in only 114 cases (3.6%) has it been necessary to take enforcement action either by formally writing to the employer or by serving an enforcement notice.
HSE has reviewed its health and safety inspection regime and has adopted the following approach to checking employer compliance with guidance to ensure that workplaces are safe:
1) spot checks carried out by contact centre staff, with those assessed as non-compliant or who fail to engage then contacted by operational staff and, if they are still considered non-compliant, a site visit is carried out; and
2) a programme of Covid-19 specific site inspections carried out by health and safety Inspectors.
HSE is providing support to Local Authorities in their role as health and safety co-regulators by delivering a series of targeted webinars and supporting guidance in Covid-19 related topics such as social distancing.
*This information was extracted from HSE’s live operational database on 22nd July 2020 and is subject to change e.g. the administrative process of recording the information in the database can take up to 10 days.
We are providing £1.2bn to enhance work search support service in Great Britain and doubling the number of frontline Work Coaches in Jobcentre Plus before the end of the financial year.
In addition, support for older workers also includes:
The online service Find a Job (www.gov.uk/find-a-job) has many of these jobs and can be used to search and apply.
We estimate 1.3 million women were in receipt of Pension Credit and 2.2 million women were entitled to Pension Credit, based on data for 2017/18. These figures are made up of both women who claim as part of a couple or claim alone. These figures are derived from official statistics on the take-up of income-related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, which can be found in the latest ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2017 to 2018’ publication, which is available online at Gov.uk.
The Government wants to make sure that all eligible pensioners can claim Pension Credit. That is why in February this year we launched a targeted twelve-week nationwide campaign, to raise awareness of Pension Credit.
Part of the campaign was to dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility. We wanted to make it clear that even a small award of Pension Credit can provide access to a range of other benefits such as help with rent, council tax reduction schemes, heating costs and for those aged 75 or over, a free television licence.
We continue to work with stakeholders to help spread the key messages from the campaign because we know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. Our online Pension Credit toolkit has been updated to help older people understand how they could claim Pension Credit.
In May this year we also launched an online claim service for Pension Credit to supplement the existing telephone and postal claim services. The new online service provides an additional claim facility and enables pensioners to apply for Pension Credit at a time that suits them.
As at May 2019, the latest data available, the numbers of people in receipt of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases, and the average weekly amount of Adult Dependency Increase they were in receipt of, is shown in the table below.
| Caseload | Average Weekly Amount |
Under 75 years | 1,180 | £61.60 |
75 to 84 years | 8,330 | £57.34 |
85 to 94 years | 1,260 | £53.83 |
95 years and above | 40 | £46.69 |
Total | 10,810 | £57.36 |
By April 2020 this number will already have decreased further as, for example, some adult dependents will reach their State Pension age before then.
As at autumn 2019, 6,440 people were in receipt of, or had an underlying entitlement to, an Adult Dependency Increases for Carer’s Allowance.
Those who lose their Adult Dependency Increase, either in April 2020 or before then, may be able to access income-related benefits to top up their household income, depending on their circumstances. For those already in receipt of income-related benefits, their awards will be adjusted to take account of the removal of the Adult Dependency Increase. Claimants who receive income-related benefits may also be entitled to 'passported' benefits to help with, for example, housing costs or heating costs. Income-related benefits are an important protection for the incomes of some of our most vulnerable people.
We are encouraging people who live overseas to consider if they may be entitled to any additional benefits or support from the country where they reside.
State Pension Adult Dependency Increases were abolished by the Pensions Act 2007 from April 2010. Carer’s Allowance Adult Dependency Increases were abolished by the Welfare Reform Act 2009 from April 2010. However, transitional provisions were included for both benefits which allow existing claimants from April 2010 to continue receiving Adult Dependency Increases until April 2020.
Information about the ending of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases has been available on the Government website at www.gov.uk. Furthermore, State Pension recipients in the UK have also been informed about the changes to State Pension Adult Dependency Increases within the annual uprating notifications, which have been sent to them since 2010. We have also included this information in annual uprating notifications sent to overseas State Pension recipients since 2018.
We sent specific letters to those affected by the State Pension and Carer Allowance changes during May/June 2019, and a further letter was sent out in October 2019.
The ending of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases was part of a package of reforms contained in the Pensions Act 2007 that improved the State Pension position for both women and carers.
The savings from ending the provision of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases are estimated to be £125m between 2020/21 and 2024/25, based on analysis from 2018. This only reflects savings on ADI expenditure and does not take into account any offsetting impacts on other benefits.
We have not done a detailed costing of the costs of tapering provision for Adult Dependency Increases. However, we estimate that the cost of continuing to pay State Pension Adult Dependency Increases until all dependents reach their State Pension age would be in the region of £200m to £250m
As at May 2019, the latest data available, the numbers of people in receipt of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases, and the average weekly amount of Adult Dependency Increase they were in receipt of, is shown in the table below.
| Caseload | Average Weekly Amount |
Under 75 years | 1,180 | £61.60 |
75 to 84 years | 8,330 | £57.34 |
85 to 94 years | 1,260 | £53.83 |
95 years and above | 40 | £46.69 |
Total | 10,810 | £57.36 |
By April 2020 this number will already have decreased further as, for example, some adult dependents will reach their State Pension age before then.
As at autumn 2019, 6,440 people were in receipt of, or had an underlying entitlement to, an Adult Dependency Increases for Carer’s Allowance.
Those who lose their Adult Dependency Increase, either in April 2020 or before then, may be able to access income-related benefits to top up their household income, depending on their circumstances. For those already in receipt of income-related benefits, their awards will be adjusted to take account of the removal of the Adult Dependency Increase. Claimants who receive income-related benefits may also be entitled to 'passported' benefits to help with, for example, housing costs or heating costs. Income-related benefits are an important protection for the incomes of some of our most vulnerable people.
We are encouraging people who live overseas to consider if they may be entitled to any additional benefits or support from the country where they reside.
State Pension Adult Dependency Increases were abolished by the Pensions Act 2007 from April 2010. Carer’s Allowance Adult Dependency Increases were abolished by the Welfare Reform Act 2009 from April 2010. However, transitional provisions were included for both benefits which allow existing claimants from April 2010 to continue receiving Adult Dependency Increases until April 2020.
Information about the ending of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases has been available on the Government website at www.gov.uk. Furthermore, State Pension recipients in the UK have also been informed about the changes to State Pension Adult Dependency Increases within the annual uprating notifications, which have been sent to them since 2010. We have also included this information in annual uprating notifications sent to overseas State Pension recipients since 2018.
We sent specific letters to those affected by the State Pension and Carer Allowance changes during May/June 2019, and a further letter was sent out in October 2019.
The ending of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases was part of a package of reforms contained in the Pensions Act 2007 that improved the State Pension position for both women and carers.
The savings from ending the provision of State Pension Adult Dependency Increases are estimated to be £125m between 2020/21 and 2024/25, based on analysis from 2018. This only reflects savings on ADI expenditure and does not take into account any offsetting impacts on other benefits.
We have not done a detailed costing of the costs of tapering provision for Adult Dependency Increases. However, we estimate that the cost of continuing to pay State Pension Adult Dependency Increases until all dependents reach their State Pension age would be in the region of £200m to £250m
The average clearance times for Attendance Allowance can be found in the following table:
| All Claims |
| Special Rules |
2014/15 | 16.9 days |
| 8.0 days |
2015/16 | 9.7 days |
| 5.4 days |
2016/17 | 17.6 days |
| 6.8 days |
2017/18 | 19.4 days |
| 5.3 days |
2018/19 | 20.5 days |
| 6.0 days |
2019/20 YTD | 29.6 days |
| 8.9 days |
DWP can confirm that the proportion of Attendance Allowance successful claims for the last five years is: -
2019/2020 – 86% award rate
2018/2019 – 85% award rate
2017/2018 – 85% award rate
2016/2017 – 87% award rate
2015/2016 – 89% award rate
The information is not available in the format requested as NHS 111 online was not fully functional and available nationally until early 2019. A copy of information is attached that shows the proportion of people using the NHS 111 online service from 2019 to 2022 that have been recommended self-care in England, by National Health Service region, and by sub-integrated care board level correlating to former clinical commissioning group areas.
Data on the number of people visiting the NHS 111 website in each year since 2017 and the proportion that visited pages relating to minor ailments in each year is not held centrally. NHS 111 online does not provide pages for minor ailments, but triages and directs users to appropriate services or care.
The information is not available in the format requested as NHS 111 online was not fully functional and available nationally until early 2019. A copy of information is attached that shows the proportion of people using the NHS 111 online service from 2019 to 2022 that have been recommended self-care in England, by National Health Service region, and by sub-integrated care board level correlating to former clinical commissioning group areas.
Data on the number of people visiting the NHS 111 website in each year since 2017 and the proportion that visited pages relating to minor ailments in each year is not held centrally. NHS 111 online does not provide pages for minor ailments, but triages and directs users to appropriate services or care.
No formal assessment has been made.
No formal assessment has been made.
No assessment has been made of the merits of appointing named board-level officers with responsibility for innovation. Integrated care boards (ICBs) should have the flexibility to design the membership to meet its needs, while ensuring the appropriate skills and experience necessary to properly discharge their functions.
The Government’s amendment to the Health and Care Bill would require the ICB to consider the skills, knowledge and experience it needs and mitigate against any gaps in expertise, including in its duty to promote innovation.
No assessment of the merits of appointing named board-level officers with responsibility for innovation has been made. Integrated care boards (ICBs) should have the flexibility to design the membership to meet its needs, while ensuring the appropriate skills and experience necessary to properly discharge their functions.
The Government’s amendment to the Health and Care Bill would require the ICB to consider the skills, knowledge and experience it needs and mitigate against any gaps in expertise, including in its duty to promote innovation.
No assessment of the merits of appointing named board-level officers with responsibility for innovation has been made. Integrated care boards (ICBs) should have the flexibility to design the membership to meet its needs, while ensuring the appropriate skills and experience necessary to properly discharge their functions.
The Government’s amendment to the Health and Care Bill would require the ICB to consider the skills, knowledge and experience it needs and mitigate against any gaps in expertise, including in its duty to promote innovation.
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
The Government has already confirmed £300 million for 117 trusts to implement accident and emergency (A&E) upgrades ahead of this winter. Options for a small number of A&Es with more complex estate issues continue to be considered and a further announcement will be made shortly.
Current clinical advice is that asymptomatic testing can be conducted in any setting where clinically appropriate, for outbreak investigation and infection control. For example, we are testing all emergency admissions to hospital, and all care home residents before they are discharged into a social care setting.
For staff, for example, an asymptomatic staff member could be tested when a patient they had been treating unexpectedly tests positive for COVID-19, in order to reduce the risk of spreading infection in healthcare organisations.
It is not always appropriate to routinely test asymptomatic staff, and so we currently suggest a more strategic and specific approach. These decisions are made by local decision makers.
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
The NHS Test and Trace service forms a central part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy, which seeks to return life to as close to normal as possible, for as many people as possible, in a way that is safe and protects the National Health Service and social care.
Our ability to go further in easing restrictions, or the need to reintroduce further restriction measures, will depend on a range of factors, including most critically whether people following social distancing guidance and regulations. The more people follow the instructions, the safer we will be, and the faster we can safely lift the lockdown.
We are continuously assessing the impact of NHS Test and Trace and making improvements to the system. On 11 June, we published data on the first week of operation of the contact tracing element of the system, and we will be updating this on a weekly basis.
Antibody testing is a key part of the Government’s testing programme and will play an increasingly important role as we move into the next phase of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A positive antibody test result indicates that a person has previously had the virus and developed some form of immune response. However, we do not currently know how long an antibody response to the virus lasts, nor whether having antibodies means a person cannot transmit the virus to others. Our understanding of the virus will grow as new scientific evidence and studies emerge.
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Anyone with symptoms can now get a test, regardless of whether they are an essential worker. Essential workers still have a dedicated access route through the essential worker self-referral portal and are able to access testing through multiple channels such as regional test sites, home testing, mobile testing units, and through the care home portal if they are care home members of staff.
The National Health Service COVID-19 app is new technology to assist with the well-established technique of contact tracing, including online and local public experts, supplemented by 25,000 dedicated contact tracing staff.
The test and trace system aims to reduce transmission of the virus by alerting people who may have been exposed to the virus so they can take action to protect themselves, the people they care about and the NHS.
We are supporting people of all ages with a learning disability or autism to live well in the community, rather than in inappropriate hospital care. Building the Right Support is our national plan to develop community services and reduce reliance on mental health inpatient services for people with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour that challenges, including those with a mental health condition.
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to an extra £4.5 billion a year for primary care and community health services by 2023/24. Health and social care staff must have the skills and knowledge to make a positive difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. This is a priority for the Government and we are developing plans to introduce the Oliver McGowan mandatory training in learning disability and autism.
The United Kingdom Government and devolved administrations have published clear guidance on appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and social care workers as well as specific patient use of PPE. This has been written and reviewed by all four UK public health bodies and informed by National Health Service infection prevention control experts and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG).
Our guidance is consistent with World Health Organization guidance for protecting health and social care workers from COVID-19. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Midwives have played a lead role in developing the guidance.
The Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, formerly the Personal Social Services Research Unit, provide long term demand projections for adult social care, based on current service use and trends in disability rates. They estimate that in 2020 there are 330,000 care home residents aged 65 and over in care homes in England. These estimates are not broken down any further by age.
Those identified as extremely clinically vulnerable are put on the Shielded Patient List (SPL), based on a set of specific conditions set out by the Chief Medical Officer. The SPL has been developed based on national data and local clinical judgement.
We only hold sufficient information on the SPL to allow us to identify those people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, to ensure that they have the right guidance and support to help them shield. We do not have additional data on whether that are currently in care settings or not. This means we are unable to identify adults with a learning disability in a care setting from the SPL, nor split the over 70s on the SPL between those in care settings and those not.
The SPL does include date of birth, so as of 7 May we know that 944,134 people aged 70 and over were on the SPL, and therefore should have received a shielding letter.
2018-19 is the latest year for which data on the number of clients with a Primary Support Reason of Learning Disability Support receiving long term support by care setting is available. According to the 2018-19 dataset 2,065 adults with a learning disability lived in a nursing care setting whilst 30,410 adults with a learning disability lived in a residential care setting. Therefore, a total of 32,4765 adults with a learning disability lived in a care setting between 2018-19.