Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will provide guidance to customer service teams to ensure that written responses are available upon request.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Customers can contact DWP by telephone or post, face to face and via digital channels.
DWP continues to develop services that are easy to find and navigate, ensuring that the people feel confident and protected when they are relying on us.
The department is modernising to allow customers to interact with the department across multiple channels and in a way that suits them, enabling customers to self-serve online, while retaining non-digital channels for those that need them, avoiding digital exclusion and ensuring that everyone gets the level of support they need. Of course, if a customer cannot access digital services and specifically requests a written response, the department will provide this.
Developing secure digital channels for both the customer and the department is a key foundation of the work to modernise its services and using email as an outbound channel to communicate with customers is being progressed, the department is developing more secure and effective inbound digital channels for customers to use.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40633 on Social Security Benefits: Reform, when her Department plans to publish the full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The remaining accessible formats of the Green Paper have now been published and can be accessed here: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK. A full suite of accessible versions is available including Audio, British Sign Language, Braille, Large Print and Easy Read.
The consultation will close in 12 weeks on 30 June 2025, to ensure that everyone has sufficient time to engage with and respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure energy suppliers are resolving noncommunicating smart meters.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Over 90% of smart meters are sending automatic readings to energy suppliers. To drive this percentage up further we are working at pace alongside industry partners to share best practice and improve smart meter connectivity across Great Britain.
Ofgem is currently conducting compliance engagement into six energy suppliers in relation to their obligations to keep smart meters operating in smart mode. Ofgem is also currently consulting on new Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSOPs) that will further strengthen consumer protections in cases where a smart meter is not sending automatic readings.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the delay for a bipolar diagnosis and (b) bring it in line with early intervention targets for other conditions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for people with bipolar disorder. We are determined to change that.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, create a network of open access community Young Futures hubs, recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment, and modernise the Mental Health Act.
We are also committed to new models of care for mental health, including reforming care for people experiencing a mental health crisis. We are testing neighbourhood mental health centres for people aged 18 years old and over with serious mental illness. These six pilot schemes are based in Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Sheffield, York, Birmingham, and Whitehaven.
These models will offer 24/7 open access care closer to home, with an integrated service which includes healthcare providers, local authorities, and the voluntary sector. These pilots build on international evidence that shows that similar models have led to a reduction in hospitalisation and waiting times, and support our efforts to move more care into the community.
Since 2021, all areas of the country have been transforming and increasing access to community mental health services for all people with severe mental illness, including people with bipolar disorder. The vision for the transformation programme was set out in the Community Mental Health Framework, which included ensuring that services were needs led, rather than requiring people to have a specific diagnosis to access care.