Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform Access to Work and Disability Confident; whether any reviews of these schemes will be chaired by disabled people; and what proportion of the review panels will be disabled.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper, published 26 November 2024, set out the Department’s plans for labour market transformation, including more support for workers and employers. In the Spring, we will set out our proposals for significant reforms to health and disability benefits in a Green Paper. We appreciate the real importance of this topic for disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives and so many others and so we will be carefully considering our approach and listening to their views.
The Disability Confident scheme needs to be more robust, and we acknowledge the need for reform. Officials are currently exploring options to enhance the criteria, and we will collaborate closely with employers, disabled people’s organisations, and disabled individuals themselves to fully realise the scheme's potential.
Our independent review into the role of employers in supporting healthy and inclusive workplaces will also make recommendations for change, and as part of this we are committed to working closely with disabled people. As set out in the White Paper, we will establish a disability panel to ensure the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms.
As in all policy areas, any further reform proposals would be announced in due course in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what methods they plan to employ to engage with disabled people and people with long-term health conditions and their representative organisations in developing the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.
In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.
We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.
The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.
We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.
In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces will have proper regard to the proposals in the Disability Employment Charter.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.
In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.
We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.
The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.
We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.
In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces will be chaired by a disabled person; whether their appointment process will be subject to the Nolan principles; and what proportion of the review panel will be disabled.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.
In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.
We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.
The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.
We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.
In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to commence the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.
In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.
We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.
The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.
We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.
In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish their response to the consultation Disability workforce reporting, which closed on 8 April; and when they plan to publish the findings of their review of the Disability Confident scheme.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The commitment to consult on disability workforce reporting was set out in the National Disability Strategy. In January 2022, the High Court declared that the strategy was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.
The Department aims to minimise the risk of acting inconsistently with the Court’s declaration, without compromising on the ambitious agenda we are delivering for disabled people. As such, we have paused a limited number of policies referred to in the Strategy or directly connected with it, including the planned findings report and next steps publication for the Disability Workforce Reporting consultation and work directly related to the Disability Confident review.
We are committed to disability policy that supports all areas of life, and to taking action to create a society that works for everyone.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 11 November (HL3461), whether in their view the removal of the Universal Credit uplift meets the public sector equality duty tests set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 for any of the nine protected characteristics; what evidence informs their view that the public sector equality duty does not apply to ‘temporary’ measures; and what legal advice they have sought to confirm this view.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Government recognises that the Public Sector Equality Duty set out in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 is ongoing. As such, a full equality impact assessment was completed prior to the introduction of the uplift to Universal Credit and that equality impact assessment was reviewed and updated prior to implementation of the temporary six-month extension announced by the Chancellor at the Budget on 3 March 2021.
Consideration of the impact of the end of the uplift was implicit in those equality impact assessments, because the uplift was always intended as a temporary measure only. No separate assessment was therefore needed when the uplift came to an end.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 11 November (HL3461), what assessment they have made of the number of disabled households living in poverty following the end of the Universal Credit uplift; what assessment they have made of the impact of increasing inflation and cost of living on disabled households; and what plans they have to support disabled people who are unable to work.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
No assessment has been made. Official poverty statistics for individuals living in disabled families, covering the period 2020/21, will be published in March 2022, as part of the Department’s Households Below Average Income publication, subject to the usual checks on data quality. This is an annual publication.
As well as receiving support through ESA or UC Health, disabled people may be eligible for Personal Independence Payment, which helps towards some of the extra costs arising from having a long-term health condition or disability. Spending on benefits for disabled people and people with long-term ill health has never been higher and is set to increase further. In 2021/22 we are forecast to spend £59 billion.
Vulnerable households in most need of support will also benefit from the £421m Household Support Fund (HSF), a new grant made by DWP to upper tier Local Authorities across England. The Devolved Administrations will receive £80m through the Barnett Formula.
We are reviewing responses to the Health and Disability Green Paper and intend to publish a White Paper next year, setting out changes to the benefits system that will better meet the needs of claimants now and in the future by improving claimant experience of our services, enabling independent living and improving employment outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an equality impact assessment was completed prior to the removal of the £20 Universal Credit uplift; and if so, what reference this had to disabled people.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Department has not completed an equality impact assessment of the removal of the Universal Credit temporary uplift as it was introduced as a temporary measure.
The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced. With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, it is right that our focus is on helping people back into work.
Through our existing programmes such as Work and Health Programme and the Intensive Employment Support Programme we are keen to see disabled people progress in work. Over the last 8 years the number of disabled people in employment has increased by 1.5m.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what evaluation they have made of their supported employment schemes and employment support programmes for (1) disabled people, and (2) young people, since February 2020.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Department for Work and Pensions’ two main employment support programmes for disabled people are the Work and Health Programme (WHP) and Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES). Both programmes are subject to ongoing evaluation to capture a full range of employment, health and wellbeing outcomes for programme participants.
Alongside these employment schemes, DWP continues to evaluate labour market interventions targeted at disabled people and those with health conditions, including:
The Plan for Jobs includes specific support for young people, including Kickstart, which funds the direct creation of jobs for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart scheme, alongside the wider DWP Youth Offer, throughout and after implementation.