Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many policy reviews and consultations the Department for Work and Pensions has launched since the General Election on 4 July 2024; what the subject of each review is; and what the anticipated timescales are for their completion.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.
As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.
Public reviews will be available on Gov.uk as they are published.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the review of devolution and local government will impact any plans to (1) publish the job entry and sustainability rates for Jobcentre Plus and its contractors, and (2) merge JobCentre Plus and the National Careers Service.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is always exploring ways to publish more information to enrich the public discourse.
DWP published new analysis of Universal Credit (UC) into-work rates and flows between conditionality groups - including what proportion did not flow out of the UC “Searching for work” labour market regime, over a six month period, as part of the recent Get Britain Working White Paper here.
Plans are being developed for regular and proportional update to this analysis.
Additionally, statistics and management information on contracted employment provisions such as Restart and the Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) interventions are published on Gov.UK (Restart Scheme statistics to October 2024 - GOV.UK, Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) Management Information, April 2021 to March 2024 - GOV.UK).
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the job entry and sustainability rates for Jobcentre Plus and its contractors.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is always exploring ways to publish more information to enrich the public discourse.
DWP published new analysis of Universal Credit (UC) into-work rates and flows between conditionality groups - including what proportion did not flow out of the UC “Searching for work” labour market regime, over a six month period, as part of the recent Get Britain Working White Paper here.
Plans are being developed for regular and proportional update to this analysis.
Additionally, statistics and management information on contracted employment provisions such as Restart and the Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) interventions are published on Gov.UK (Restart Scheme statistics to October 2024 - GOV.UK, Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) Management Information, April 2021 to March 2024 - GOV.UK).
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made in the merger of Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. We will design, develop, and test options for the new service in partnership with key stakeholders as we move into policy design and delivery.
As a first step to better integrate employment support and careers advice in England, we will launch a pathfinder in early 2025 to test more enhanced collaboration between Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service. The department has also worked with the Department for Education to put in place a new agreement on data sharing between the National Careers Service and Jobcentre Plus in England. This will be used to encourage closer co-operation in the collective delivery of jobs and careers guidance for adults and promote a simpler and more streamlined process for our customers. Joining up the support a customer receives from both a work coach and national careers advisor can remove unnecessary repetition, link up advice and ensure holistic support for the customer to help improve outcomes.
We currently have two large scale trials in progress contributing towards our vision for the new jobs and careers service. The first, to test providing support for people by telephone and video as well as face to face appointments. The second, to test whether meeting unemployed people less frequently in a Jobcentre would have an impact on their work outcomes and whether this approach is more beneficial for particular groups.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 November 2024 (HL1879), whether they will issue guidance to NHS England and NHS Trusts on reducing equality, diversity and inclusion spending to help deliver the 2-percent administration savings announced at Budget 2024.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance was published on 14 May 2024, and required all departments and arm's length bodies to set controls on all equality, diversity, and inclusion related expenditure. No further guidance was issued by the Department to National Health Service trusts.
The Government is committed to creating a fair health system that tackles health inequalities effectively, whilst deriving maximum value from taxpayers’ money.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 22 November 2024 (HL2411), what was the cost of procuring and erecting the bisexual flags; and which Minister authorised the decision to fly them.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2024, to mark Bisexual Awareness Week, the FCDO flew two bisexual flags within the grounds of its London headquarters. These flags were purchased in 2021 for £285.93 each to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the lifting of the ban on LGBT+ people serving in the Diplomatic Service. The then Permanent Under Secretary of the FCDO approved the flying of the flags on the internal courtyard flag poles.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 9 October 2024 (HL1031), how equality, diversity and inclusion principles are embedded in the duties of NHS staff; and whether they are included in staff contracts, and reflected in the assessment of bonuses, promotion, or performance.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We expect National Health Service organisations to implement policies and procedures that are in line with employment law and good human resources practice, including the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.
NHS leaders are responsible for setting the tone and culture of their organisation, and that is why NHS England’s equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) improvement plan does require chairs, chief executives, and board members to have distinct objectives on improving inclusion in their organisation. There is no national directive to embed EDI duties in staff contracts or systems for pay and performance.
It is right that the NHS addresses prejudice and discrimination where it exists across the NHS workforce, and that staff feel more empowered to tackle health inequalities and deliver great care and patient experience.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Pension Credit applicants are currently waiting for a decision on their eligibility for Pension Credit from the Department for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The total outstanding Pension Credit claims as at the end of week commencing 18th November 2024 was 91,075. This includes 9,343 advanced claims where the application can be started up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age.
These figures are taken from data held on DWP’s Pension Credit system. This is collected for internal departmental operations use only and whilst it is the best source of information available, it is not intended for publication or quality assured to National Statistics standards.
The Department is significantly increasing the resource on Pension Credit to ensure it processes claims as quickly as possible, with around 500 additional staff to support the increase in applications generated from the successful Pension Credit take-up campaign.
If a claim is made by 21 December, Pension Credit can be backdated for three months if the entitlement conditions have been met throughout that period, and if the claimant was eligible, they would also receive a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have applied for Pension Credit since 29 July.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics published on 28 November, show that 150,000 Pension Credit claims were received between 29 July and 11 November Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of Pension Credit applicants were deemed eligible for Pension Credit in the 2023 calendar year.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are unable to provide information on how many claims made for Pension Credit in the calendar year of 2023 were subsequently awarded. This is because the Department currently reports awards numbers by the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.
The total number of Pension Credit awards made in the 2023 calendar year was 145,200.
Please note, the data shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.