Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend the reform of the child maintenance service to be part of the Child Poverty Taskforce’s agenda in developing its child poverty strategy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.
The publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.
Beyond the Child Poverty Taskforce, the Department for Work and Pensions has recently concluded a public consultation on Child Maintenance Service (CMS) reform, with a government response to be published in due course and is reviewing the child maintenance calculation.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered taking steps to reduce the single tiered registration fee to the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists for small consultant lobbyists or businesses working with charities below the level levied on larger companies working with profit making organisations; and, if not, why.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government believes it is right that registrants contribute to the costs of administering the lobbying register and we continue to keep the registration fee level under review. There are currently no plans to introduce a banded fee structure.
We look forward to the findings of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the operation of the Lobbying Act 2014 and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, for statistical collaboration between the UK and the EU as set out in the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, with regard to data related to (1) poverty, and (2) living standards.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the noble peer’s Parliamentary Question of 03 March is attached.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
Baroness Lister of Burtersett
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
14 March 2022
Dear Lady Lister,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking about plans for arrangements for statistical cooperation between the UK and EU, as set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, in regard to data on poverty and living standards (HL6621).
The UK Statistics Authority has been engaging with Eurostat on arrangements for statistical cooperation that would fulfil the role set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. It is our ambition that a future arrangement on statistical cooperation will cover a range of areas of mutual interest, though further engagement will be needed before the scope of any arrangement can be confirmed. The details of any arrangement will be made available once discussions conclude.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many men have (1) worked for their current employer for less than 26 weeks, (2) become unemployed, or (3) become self-employed, for each month (a) this year and (b) last year; and what estimate they have made of the equivalent figures for each month of 2021.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Dear Lady Lister,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many men have (1) worked for their current employer for less than 26 weeks, (2) become unemployed, or (3) become self-employed, for each month (a) this year and (b) last year; and what estimate they have made of the equivalent figures for each month of 2021 (HL9375).
Labour market estimates are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is a survey of people resident in households in the UK. The LFS asks respondents which year and month they started working continuously for their current employer. For the purposes of answering this question, we are therefore defining 26 weeks as 6 months.
In the LFS, respondents are interviewed for five consecutive quarters over a 12-month period, which allows us to track respondents’ labour market status over their time in the survey. By comparing the labour market status reported by respondents in two consecutive calendar quarters, we can estimate the number of people who become unemployed or self-employed. Unemployed people are those without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.
The LFS only provides these estimates for three-month periods, rather than single months, and so estimates for the number of men who have worked for their current employer for less than 6 months are presented on a rolling quarter basis. It is not best practice to make direct comparisons between adjacent rolling quarters due to sample overlap. However, these estimates still provide an indication of recent trends in the data. Estimates of the number of men becoming unemployed or self-employed are only available for calendar quarters. All estimates are not seasonally adjusted.
Unfortunately, as we do not produce forecasts, we cannot provide estimates for 2021.
Table 1 contains estimates of the number of male employees, aged 16 years and over, who have been working continuously with their current employer for less than 6 months. These estimates are provided for each rolling quarter from January to March 2019 to June to August 2020, which is the most recent data available. Table 2 contains estimates of the number of men, aged between 16 and 64 years, who have become unemployed or self-employed since the previous quarter. These are provided for each calendar quarter from January to March 2019 through to April to June 2020, the latest estimates available. Note that, as with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a level of uncertainty.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Estimated number of men who are employees, aged 16 years and over, who have been working continuously with their current employer for less than 6 months prior to their interview, January to March 2019 to June to August 2020[1]
UK, thousands, not seasonally adjusted | |
Period | Thousands |
Jan-Mar 2019 | 1,090 |
Feb-Apr 2019 | 1,002 |
Mar-May 2019 | 933 |
Apr-Jun 2019 | 1,016 |
May-Jul 2019 | 1,065 |
Jun-Aug 2019 | 1,095 |
Jul-Sep 2019 | 1,099 |
Aug-Oct 2019 | 1,132 |
Sep-Nov 2019 | 1,189 |
Oct-Dec 2019 | 1,209 |
Nov-Jan 2020 | 1,207 |
Dec-Feb 2020 | 1,169 |
Jan-Mar 2020 | 1,082 |
Feb-Apr 2020 | 992 |
Mar-May 2020 | 881 |
Apr-Jun 2020 | 846 |
May-Jul 2020 | 831 |
Jun-Aug 2020 | 809 |
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Table 2: Estimated number of men, aged between 16 and 64 years, who have become unemployed or self-employed since the previous quarter, January to March 2019 to April to June 2020
UK, thousands, not seasonally adjusted | ||
Period | Unemployed | Self-employed |
Jan-Mar 2019 | 311 | 198 |
Apr-Jun 2019 | 347 | 210 |
Jul-Sep 2019 | 381 | 179 |
Oct-Dec 2019 | 311 | 248 |
Jan-Mar 2020 | 342 | 168 |
Apr-Jun 2020 | 351 | 167 |
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
[1]Quality indicator
Shaded estimates are based on a small sample size. This may result in less precise estimates, which should be used with caution.
Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the intersection between relevant dimensions of inequality and the impact of COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
This Government is learning as much and as quickly as possible about this virus, who it affects and how best to keep everyone safe and protect those who may be more vulnerable to COVID-19.
The Government is committed to supporting all people affected by COVID-19, including those that are disproportionately affected by it. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to monitor the virus’ impact using existing and new data sources.
The Government commissioned Public Health England to review how different factors - including ethnicity, gender and obesity - can impact on people’s health outcomes from COVID-19. The review was published on 2 June, and the Prime Minister has asked the Minister for Equalities, Kemi Badenoch, to act on its findings. On 4 June, the Minister for Equalities set out the Terms of Reference for this work, which include commissioning further data, research and analytical work to clarify the scale, and drivers, of the gaps in evidence highlighted by the report.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why there is a lower age limit of 18 on members of the public allowed to ask a question at the daily coronavirus briefing.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
We are mindful of the value of young people being able to contribute their views on policy matters, including those relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, members of the public who ask questions, particularly those filmed, are placed in the public eye to a significant extent on television, and are subsequently subject to comment on social media.
There are practical issues with children being subjected to such scrutiny, without parental consent and involvement. As it stands, parents and carers can ask questions on behalf of under-18s as a way for them to raise issues in the daily press conferences.
The Government continues to actively consider alternative options for under-18s to submit questions to ministers. For example, the Prime Minister met with students aged 10 – 11 on Friday 19 June to answer their questions on coronavirus and returning to school.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to establish the Office for Tackling Injustices, created in July 2019; and what are that Office’s priorities.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
We are considering how best to take forward the work of the Office for Tackling Injustices in the light of the Government’s domestic priorities.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK’s working population, broken down by gender.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Dear Baroness Lister,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what plans have been made to publish data on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the UK’s working population, broken down by gender (HL3269).
Labour market statistics are produced every month and include analysis of the working population by sex. The main source for these statistics is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS’s latest estimates[1] were published on 21 April 2020 and cover the period prior to the implementation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) social distancing measure (December 2019 to February 2020). The next publication is scheduled for 19 May 2020 and will cover the period from January to March 2020.
In addition to scheduled publications, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a dedicated page[2] on the COVID-19 pandemic and any additional analysis is published there. We have also included some specific questions relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the LFS from April 2020 and launched an online Labour Market Survey from April, as announced in a statement[3] from the ONS. Both these sources will provide information by sex. We aim to publish as much as possible, as data becomes available, to aid understanding of the impact of the pandemic on the working population.
Our Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS) asks firms a number of questions about employment, including whether they had laid off staff, their employment expectations, and take-up of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Latest survey estimates are available here[4]. Although the data does not enable a breakdown by sex, the sectoral information does show the variation across female-dominated versus male-dominated industries. We have recently published an article on furloughed workers, based on BICS data[5]:
In addition, the weekly Opinions and Lifestyle Survey publishes survey responses by sex[6].
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what requirements, if any, there are to take people's lived experience into account when developing policy.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Civil Service Professional Development Framework for Policy Professionals describes the skills and knowledge required by policy professionals in bringing together the evidence base to advise decision makers.
There are three broad themes: 'Analysis and the Use of Evidence', “Politics and Democracy” and “Policy Delivery”. Section 3.5 (Page 18) highlights the importance of ‘User Centred Design’ in policy, “developing policy with the impact of end users at the forefront of thinking.”
We continue to build the capability of the policy professionals advising decision makers across government – through teams such as Policy Lab, who support many projects across government on user centred design in policy development.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the formal remit of the new Office for Tackling Injustices; and what are its immediate priorities.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Opposition Deputy Chief Whip (Lords)
We are considering how best to take forward this work in the light of the new Government’s domestic priorities and will provide an update in due course.