Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many times has their Department accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since the establishment of DBT in 2023 there have been 0 (zero) ombudsmen decisions for DBT. For this reason there has been 0 (zero) times the Department accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many times has their Department accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology does not keep records of or track all the findings and recommendations made by the PHSO.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap, which currently stands at 28 percentage points, as part of a clear ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%.
We announced in the recent Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1.9billion of new funding by the end of the decade.
We also recognise that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability which is why the Government has asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related economic inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to support businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. All employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments.
The Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. The scheme covers all disabilities, including hidden disabilities.
In addition, DWP has a digital information service for employers, (www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk), which provides tailored guidance to businesses to support employees to remain in work. This includes guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, plus guidance on legal obligations, including statutory sick pay and making reasonable adjustments.
In October 2024 we launched our WorkWell service, which is piloting locally designed and delivered work and health support to meet the needs of local populations in 15 areas in England. Local partnerships of Integrated Care Boards, local authorities / Mayoral Combined Authorities and Jobcentre Plus will support disabled people and people with health conditions who are in or out of work to help them access the range of support they need to be able to work. WorkWell pilots will provide up to 56,000 people with the opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team combining health and work professions to build a personalised action plan addressing a person’s health related barriers to work.
Throughout 2025 our new, locally-led, voluntary Supported Employment programme Connect to Work is opening across England and Wales. It will provide specialist employment support to over 300,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment over the five-year duration of the programme.
In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to support disabled people to find work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.
We are delivering the biggest investment in support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. We announced in the recent Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work. This is backed up by £2.2bn over four years, including £200m in 2026/27 when our benefit changes begin to take effect and as announced in the statement on Welfare Reform (30 June) by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, an additional £300m over the next three years. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.
Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds information on the number of times that defibrillators installed in state-funded schools were used in the last year.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since January 2023, defibrillators provided by the department and installed in state-funded schools have been available for use and deployed in over 12,000 emergency situations where there has been a suspected cardiac arrest.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Israel, (b) Iran and (c) the USA concerning the recent military actions in the Israel-Iran conflict.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK did not participate in recent US or Israeli military strikes. This week alone, the Foreign Secretary has spoken with, amongst others, Secretary of State Rubio, Foreign Minister Sa'ar and Foreign Minister Araghchi. I also met the Iranian Ambassador to the UK on 23 June. In our engagement with these and other nations, the Foreign Secretary and I have stressed that stability, de-escalation and restraint are key, and urged all parties to seize the opportunity for a diplomatic solution.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many organisations that are currently proscribed were prescribed for reasons that did not include that organisation (a) committing, (b) enabling or (c) encouraging (i) serious acts of violence against a person or (ii) any other form of endangerment to people's lives.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The list of proscribed organisations and the reasons for their proscription can be found on GOV.UK, as well as in the Explanatory Memorandums for the Statutory Instruments that have listed proscribed organisations under schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times his Department has accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information regarding complaints received by the Department and subsequently referred to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is published in our annual report. Copies of these dating back to 2010 can be found on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/dhsc-annual-reports-and-accounts
More detailed information on determinations reached by the Ombudsman can be found on their website. The last period for which data is currently available is for 2023/24, with further information available at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times their Department has accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We have looked at the compliance data we hold regarding parliamentary organisations (from 2020/21 onwards) and there are no compliance items listing HM Treasury as a named organisation. The PHSO hasn’t Upheld or Partly Upheld an investigation into HM Treasury in the last 10 years.