Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the number of (1) disabled people, and (2) elderly people, who will be unable to heat their homes this winter.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Priority Service Register (PSR) records domestic customers who, due to their personal characteristics or otherwise being in a vulnerable situation, may require Priority Services. In Ofgem’s Consumer Protection Report: Autumn 2021 the Priority Service Register (PSR) had recorded 7,032,854 consumers for electricity and 5,935,528 consumers for gas in 2020.
Elderly and disabled consumers are protected. As per Ofgem’s rules, in winter, energy suppliers must not disconnect domestic premises where the customer is of pensionable age. Additionally, suppliers must take all reasonable steps to avoid disconnecting a premise if the occupants include a person who is of pensionable age, disabled, or chronically sick. Vulnerable customers who feel they are struggling to pay their energy bills should contact their energy supplier as soon as possible to agree on a payment plan.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 18 November (HL3652), who assessed all permanent and temporary venues at COP26 as fully accessible; and whether they will put into the Library of the House a record of the input of the Disability Inclusive Working Group into COP26.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Inclusivity and accessibility were key priorities for the COP26 summit and the venue was designed to facilitate that. The SEC venue has been awarded the Gold Charter of Best Practice by the charity Attitude is Everything.
The COP26 permanent structures were fully wheelchair accessible, and the venue holds gold level accessibility status. A complete accessibility audit for the temporary structures was completed by the production company, Identity. The structures were all fully compliant.
The COP26 Unit Civil Society Engagement Team established an officials-led Disability Inclusive Working Group, composed of disability Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and disabled people’s organisations. This group provided helpful guidance to the unit in the run up to COP26, which was incorporated into our planning.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the STATS19 data published on 19 October on road casualties; and particularly any casualties involving e-scooters.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The STATS19 data on road casualties published on 19 October is summarised in the Department’s Reported Road Casualties Statistics Great Britain 2020 annual report published on 30 September 2021.
E-scooter casualties during 2020 based on data reported to the police are summarised in a separate factsheet published alongside the annual report, which shows that in 2020 there were 460 reported accidents involving e-scooters resulting in 484 casualties, of which 384 were e-scooters users. The majority of casualties involved minor injuries.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the outcome of the consultation on the Review of The Highway Code to improve road safety for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders, when they plan to introduce legislation to confirm the changes to the Highway Code; and whether rules for e-scooters will be included in the upcoming changes to the Highway Code.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The consultation on the proposed changes to The Highway Code closed in October 2020, with nearly 21,000 replies received, and the Government response to the consultation was published in July 2021. Given the feedback received, we will be seeking to introduce all the proposed changes and will lay the revised version of The Highway Code in Parliament shortly.
E-scooters were not part of the consultation on the proposed changes. E-scooter trials are live in 31 areas. The evidence gathered during the trials will inform whether e-scooters should be legalised in the future, and how we can ensure their use is as safe as possible. Until we have that evidence we cannot commit to a legislative timetable.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government which minister was responsible for ensuring equal disability access to the COP26 summit; what discussions they had regarding disability access to the summit with (1) the Scottish Government, and (2) event organisers, prior to the opening of the summit; and whether they will publish their communications with (a) the Scottish Government, (b) the office of Karin Elharar, the Israeli Energy Minister, and (c) event organisers, concerning disability access to the summit.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We remain committed to an inclusive COP26, accessible to all, and the venue was designed to facilitate that. When officials were made aware of the issue in question, which was a genuine mistake, they worked urgently with the Israeli delegation to resolve this and the UK Government apologised to Minister Elharrar.
The COP26 permanent structures were fully wheelchair accessible and the venue holds gold level accessibility status. For the temporary structures a complete accessibility audit was completed and they were fully compliant.
The COP26 Unit Civil Society Engagement Team established an official-led Disability Inclusive Working Group, composed of disability Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), who provided helpful guidance to the unit in the run up to COP26.
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
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
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.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any long-term, disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment of (1) disabled people, and (2) young Black people; and what steps they are taking to address those effects.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Since 2013 (the earliest comparable year using the current definition of disability) up to the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the general trend in disability employment had been positive. There had been strong growth in the number and rate of disabled people in employment and a narrowing of the gap, between the rate of disabled and non-disabled people in employment.
While quarterly statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the pandemic initially reversed these trends, there are now signs of the trends improving, with the disability employment rate returning to its pre-pandemic level in Q2 2021. The disability employment gap has also started to narrow again during Q1 and Q2 of 2021. This suggests that, in the long term, disability employment rates have not been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
We continue to monitor the data and annual statistics, published by the Department on 4 November 2021, provided a more detailed view of disabled people in the labour market. These included breakdowns by a number of individual and work-related characteristics and covered the first 12 months of the pandemic. The number of disabled people in employment continued to increase (year-on-year) throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but at a slower rate than seen in previous years. The number of disabled people in employment is now above pre-pandemic levels.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have provided specialist employment support remotely and made programmes easier to access. A range of DWP initiatives are supporting disabled people to start and stay in work. These include the Work and Health Programme, the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, Access to Work, Disability Confident and support in partnership with the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services.
Data from the Annual Population Survey shows the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on young Black people in relation to employment. Before the Covid-19 pandemic (July 2018 - June 2019) the employment rate for 16-24 year-old black people was 36.3%. This fell during the pandemic to 27.4% between July 2020 - June 2021.This is the latest available published data and therefore we cannot yet see how the employment rate of young black people has changed as the economy recovers from the pandemic.
Throughout these unprecedented times, the Government has provided crucial support to record numbers of claimants. . This includes the Youth Offer, which has been developed to ensure that 18-24 year olds claiming Universal Credit have the skills they need to look for, find and keep employment. We also have a national programme of mentoring circles, involving employers offering specialised support to young jobseekers from ethnic minority backgrounds, including young black people.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish a cross-Government equality action plan; and what role (1) the Equality Hub, and (2) the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, will have in any of those plans.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Equality Hub is part of the Cabinet Office, and therefore its work is covered by the Cabinet Office’s wider Outcome Delivery Plan. All departments’ Outcome Delivery Plans for the current year were published on 15 July 2021. The Equality Hub’s work includes development and delivery of specific strategies across government, for example the National Disability Strategy.
Each department is responsible for the equality work relating to their portfolio. This will be reflected in their Outcome Delivery Plan, Equality Objectives, and other relevant strategies, and equality considerations will be factored into their wider work in line with the public sector equality duty.
The creation of the new Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities reflects the Government’s commitment to levelling up and will be instrumental in driving forward the agenda across government, ensuring we are geared up to deliver on our ambitions. This is a transformative agenda and the Department’s priority is to produce a White Paper which matches our ambition and which will drive change for years to come. The links between levelling up and equality work will be even stronger given the Minister of State for Equalities is now based in that Department.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) penalties, and (2) suspension of drivers' licences, have been given to e-scooter riders for misuse in (a) designated trial zones, and (b) all other areas.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of motoring offences in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin. However, information on the type of vehicle issued with a motoring offence is not collected.