Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Written Statement by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 18 September (HLWS1021), following the Court of Appeal judgment of 11 July, has any implication for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Disability Strategy contains commitments from departments across the UK Government; where these commitments involve Reserved or Partially Reserved matters, there may be implications for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as is usual in policy changes on reserved or partially-reserved matters. Departments leading on such issues are responsible for engaging with devolved administrations as necessary on specific issues where the policy is not fully devolved.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with former Allied Steel & Wire employees regarding the non-payment of those employees' industrial pensions for the past 21 years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Allied Steel and Wire pension scheme was among the earliest of the major schemes to benefit from the Financial Assistance Scheme. The former Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman, met with members of the Allied Steel and Wire pension scheme on 16 June 2021 to discuss the financial assistance payments they have been receiving, in lieu of their pensions.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take in response to representations made to them by the Pensioners Action Group on behalf of persons now of pensionable age whose sponsoring companies closed in the 1990s through insolvency and who consequently suffered substantial pension losses.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The taxpayer funded Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) has been operational since 2005. It was set up to award financial assistance to members of eligible defined benefit pension schemes which started to wind up underfunded between 1 January 1997 and 5 April 2005. Since it was established, the FAS has been extended and improved several times, making the financial help more generous and encompassing more schemes and members. Therefore, the Government does not intend to take any steps in response to the Pensions Action Group.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 8 June (HL Deb, col 1312), what steps they are taking to prioritise, in addition to need assessment, the provision of specialist job coaches for people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Department is committed to supporting claimants with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism move closer to the labour market or into work.
The increased number of work coaches will help the newly unemployed and also enable us to continue supporting those with complex needs, and to work with partners to ensure they get the help they need. People in particular disadvantaged groups will continue to benefit from support via the increased Flexible Support Fund and priority early access to the Work and Health Programme. In addition, claimants with learning disabilities are also able to access Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) if they are further from the labour market.
From April 2021, we have strengthened our Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) role to include delivering direct support to claimants who require additional work related support and advice above our core work coach offer. DEAs continue to support all work coaches to deliver tailored, personalised support to all claimants with a disability or health condition. Since May, we are increasing our DEA resource from 685 nationally with the aspiration to reach 1000.
We have a number of initiatives and schemes to support claimants with health conditions such as:
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many payments under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 were made during each of the last three years in response to applications relating to persons who had been employed in the slate quarrying industry; and what was the total payment to this group in each of those years.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total amount of money paid by way of compensation under the provisions of the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 in (1) 1990–99, (2) 2000–09, and (3) 2010–19.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The available information is shown in the table below:
Industrial injuries benefits expenditure, of which Pneumoconiosis 1979
| £ million, nominal terms | £ million, real terms, 2019/20 prices |
1994/95 | 3 | 6 |
1995/96 | 4 | 6 |
1996/97 | 5 | 8 |
1997/98 | 5 | 7 |
1998/99 | 8 | 12 |
1999/00 | 11 | 16 |
2000/01 | 12 | 17 |
2001/02 | 14 | 21 |
2002/03 | 20 | 28 |
2003/04 | 19 | 27 |
2004/05 | 21 | 28 |
2005/06 | 47 | 61 |
2006/07 | 33 | 41 |
2007/08 | 27 | 34 |
2008/09 | 32 | 38 |
2009/10 | 35 | 42 |
2010/11 | 38 | 44 |
2011/12 | 38 | 43 |
2012/13 | 42 | 47 |
2013/14 | 45 | 50 |
2014/15 | 45 | 49 |
2015/16 | 46 | 50 |
2016/17 | 42 | 45 |
2017/18 | 41 | 43 |
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2018/19 | 43 | .. |
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Sources: 1994-2018 DWP Historic and forecast benefit expenditure and caseload data:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables
2018/19 Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit: quarterly statistics:
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cases of compensation under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 were paid to workers employed in (1) slate quarrying and slate mining, (2) coal mining, (3) the textile industries, (4) the pottery industries, and (5) other industries, in the last year for which figures are available; and how many, if any, of those cases were related to diffuse mesothelioma.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, under the provisions of the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979, how many new applications for compensation were made in the last year for which figures are available; what was the corresponding number of payments that were made; and what was the total cost of those payments.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The available information is shown in the table below.
IIDB 3.1 | Pneumoconiosis (Worker's Compensation) Act 1979 by type of claimant and payment, Oct 2018 – Sep 2019 | ||||||
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| Dependant | ||
| Month |
| Number of claims | Total Payments made £ |
| Number of claims | Total Payments made £ |
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2018 | October |
| 310 | 4,043,400 |
| 30 | 226,852 |
| November | 300 | 3,270,613 |
| 40 | 278,222 | |
| December | 210 | 2,756,460 |
| 20 | 177,240 | |
2019 | January |
| 300 | 3,686,361 |
| 30 | 221,249 |
| February |
| 240 | 2,724,420 |
| 20 | 139,378 |
| March |
| 290 | 3,471,191 |
| 30 | 242,787 |
| April |
| 240 | 3,348,735 |
| 30 | 217,586 |
| May |
| 250 | 3,435,557 |
| 10 | 91,024 |
| June |
| 260 | 3,321,152 |
| 20 | 157,177 |
| July |
| 270 | 3,651,931 |
| 30 | 206,222 |
| August |
| 210 | 3,119,361 |
| 30 | 217,707 |
| September | 220 | 3,046,575 |
| 20 | 180,725 | |
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Notes:
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Draft Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, published on 22 November, which aspects of social security will be co-ordinated with the EU.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The details of which aspects of social security will be coordinated with the EU under the future relationship are subject to further negotiation with the EU.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest estimate of the expected deaths from mesothelioma over the next 25 years.
Answered by Lord Freud
Based on the latest projections of annual mesothelioma deaths by the Health and Safety Executive, the best estimate is that there will be around 53,000 mesothelioma deaths in Great Britain over the 25-year period 2013-2037.
The statistical model used suggests an uncertainty range of 49,000 to 58,000 deaths on that estimate. However, the true uncertainty range may be wider as longer-range predictions are reliant on assumptions about asbestos exposures that cannot currently be fully validated.