Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to announce proposals for the renewal of the Household Support Fund provided to local governments in England for essential assistance to families and individuals, including for the needs of children outside of term time, to alleviate crises.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has provided over £2 billion in funding for the Household Support Fund since October 2021.
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
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 3 March (HL5641), what is the average wait time for new claims for a new job where the claimant received Access to Work support in their previous employment.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Applications with jobstarts in the next four weeks are prioritised; however, the specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
However, the Access to Work statistics includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2021/22.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here: Access to Work statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
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 14 February (HL5193), whether that figure includes (1) claims made within a person's Access to Work agreement, and (2) new claims for a new job where the claimant received Access to Work support in their previous employment.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The figure provided on 14th February (HL5193) is inclusive of both, claims made within a person’s Access to Work agreement and new claims for a new job where the claimant received Access to Work support in their previous employment.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the average length of time taken to process claims under the Access to Work Scheme was from 1 January to 31 December 2022.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The average length of time taken to process claims under the Access to Work Scheme for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 was 52.1 days
The time taken to process different application types can vary, some can be cleared very quickly, and decisions made in a day, whereas others, if complex, may take longer and require a Workplace Assessment to recommend a tailored package of support for individual customers.
Access to Work has received a significant increase in applications over the last year. In response, we have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make decisions, and we are continuing with this over the year. We are also transforming the Access to Work service through increased digitalisation, that will make the service more efficient, make the application process easier, and improve the time taken from application through to decision.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the future of (1) the Kickstart programme, or (2) its successor scheme.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Department for Work and Pension’s Kickstart Scheme has now seen over 130,000 jobs started by young people. Young people can still start a Kickstart job until the 31st March and our priority remains to get as many young people who need one into a Kickstart job by that date.
1) The Department for Work and Pensions is monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart scheme throughout and after its implementation, and will continue to evaluate the longer term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month jobs. Fieldwork for the commissioned evaluation will continue until at least 2023 and we will publish the findings of the evaluation once complete.
2) Building on our experience of the Kickstart Scheme and the many new relationships we have established with employers, we have launched the Way to Work campaign. This is a new concerted national drive to help half a million people who are currently on benefits and job ready to move into jobs by the end of June 2022, supporting them to take their next step to building a more secure and prosperous future.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that occupational health services are in place to support people with long-term effects from COVID-19 with adjustments and rehabilitation to facilitate their return to work.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Government recognise the important role that OH professionals play in supporting people with health conditions and their employers. In the Health is Everyone’s Business consultation we asked for views on how to increase access to occupational health services that can support people with disabilities and long term health conditions. We are considering the next steps in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and anticipate that a response will be available shortly.
Access to Work offers substantial practical support to disabled people and people with heath conditions, which include people affected by Long COVID. The scheme has rolled out a number of easements to ensure that those who are eligible for support can receive it.
As research into the long-term health symptoms and impacts of Covid-19 is ongoing, we will continue to monitor and consider the Government’s support provisions and approach as evidence emerges.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a White Paper in response to the Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss consultation,which closed on 7 October 2019; and what plans they have to include in any such White Paper proposals to reduce the costs of ill health and absence from work for (1) individuals, and (2) businesses. [T]
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
We plan to publish the response to the consultation ‘Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss’ later this year. The consultation set out proposals to encourage all employers to take positive action to support employees who are managing health conditions in work, and to manage sickness absence more effectively.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which reports commissioned by his Department from external bodies between 1 September 2010 and 31 December 2014 have not yet been published; when each such report was commissioned; what the nature of the research so commissioned was; from which individual or body each such report was commissioned; what the value was of each report so commissioned; on what date each such report was received by his Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each such report.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of funding allocated to the Youth Contract programme for 2014-15 has been disbursed to date; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Total figures for the final year are still being finalised.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the second report from the Work and Pensions Committee, Improving access to work for disabled people, HC481.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
I will write to Dame Anne Begg MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, in early March 2015.