Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many a) deaths and b) injuries have been caused by illegal gas works in i) England and ii) London in each year since 2020.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Flammable gas incidents resulting in death and injury are reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under Regulation 11(1) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). RIDDOR Reports notify HSE of deaths and major injuries arising in connection with flammable gas, which are recorded as fatalities and non-fatalities and the breakdown is published at ridgas.xlsx.
The breakdown for region and the root cause of each incident is not held.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to tackle illegal gasworks on private properties.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the enforcing authority for gas businesses and engineers (including self- employed gas engineers) who work in private properties. Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) requires engineers undertaking gas work to be competent, registered with Gas Safe Register (GSR), to work in accordance with the appropriate standards and in a way that does not put people in danger.
HSE regulate this in private properties through enforcement powers set under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Enforcement powers available to regulators include prosecution, prohibition notices and improvement notices.
GSR also has a dedicated team to investigate allegations of gas work by unregistered engineers and businesses (illegal gas fitters) and provides HSE with evidence of these activities. In addition to this, GSR publishes a range of gas safety information and guidance on its website and regularly runs media campaigns to promote key gas safety messages to the public.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to improve access to the English for Speakers of Other Languages scheme.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), the Department for Work and Pensions supports adults aged 19+ in England who speak English as a second or additional language to access English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision.
Government publishes statistics on participation in ESOL provision through its Further Education and Skills publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/084d1d31-4477-488e-b95b-08de28d609b2
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her department collects data on (a) race and (b) ethnicity and c) religion from benefit claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The purpose of collecting race and ethnicity data is because it they are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
All public bodies have a requirement under the Public Sector Equality Duty to pay due regard to the impacts of policies to those who share protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act.
To do so requires that meaningful data be collected in a harmonised form, as set out by the Cabinet Office. Claimant declarations of their protected characteristics are optional, and not mandatory.
Data collected on protected characteristics is solely used for analytical and statistical purposes in aggregate form and has no part in decisions relating to benefit claims.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of universal credit received additional consideration due to (a) racial, b) ethnic and (c) religious data in each of last three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support employment businesses in verifying Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) eligibility in circumstances where agency workers may be registered at multiple agencies and claim SSP from each party.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, agency workers can sign up to work for multiple agencies and, once they have done some work under that contract, are eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from each individual employer during periods of sickness absence. This will not change. Guidance on gov.uk already provides support to employers in verifying an employee’s eligibility to SSP.
The changes being made to SSP through the Employment Rights Act ensure that people who work through employment agencies and employment businesses have comparable rights and protections to their counterparts who are directly employed. The changes to SSP are limited and do not change the existing eligibility criteria beyond removing the waiting period and Lower Earnings Limit.
The Government intends to conduct a post-implementation review (PIR) of the Employment Rights Act within five years of implementation. The impact of the measures to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay will be monitored on employers and employees alike. This can include considering the impact on workers in the agency sector.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support neurodivergent individuals in the workplace.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have in place a range of measures to support employees with a disability or long-term health condition, including neurodivergent individuals, in the workplace.
Our digital information service for employers, Support with Employee Health and Disability provides tailored guidance to employers to support employees to remain in work, including guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, legal obligations, including statutory sick pay, and making reasonable adjustments.
We continue to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, which encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. This includes resources around employing people with hidden disabilities including autism and other neurodivergent conditions.
DWP also operates Access to Work, which provides grant funding to support Workplace Adjustments that go beyond an employer's duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The grant provides personalised support and workplace assessments, travel to work, support workers, and specialist aids and equipment. In March 2025, we published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, to consult on the future of Access to Work. We are considering responses to the consultation and will set out our plans in due course.
Furthermore, in the plan to Make Work Pay (October 2024), government committed to raising awareness of all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace. Early this year DWP launched an Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity to advise government on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The Panel considered why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate. We have received the Panel’s report and are considering its findings alongside the Keep Britain Working Review, which has now entered its Vanguard Phase testing new employer-led approaches to improving support for individuals to stay in work.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support people living with mental health conditions and on benefits into the workplace.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.
Disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with mental 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. Existing 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 WorkWell. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, and has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
In recognition of employer’s vital role in addressing health-related economic activity we appointed Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead the Keep Britain Working independent review, which was published on 5 November. In partnership with DBT and DHSC colleagues we are immediately launching Vanguards to test new employer-led approaches to support individuals to stay in work, putting his key recommendations into action from day one. In the review, Sir Charlie has recommended that mental health in young people should be a priority area as a deep dive for the Vanguards.
The NHS 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, stated the Government’s intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to stop illegal gas installation in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) forms the basis of the Health and Safety Executive’s approach to ensuring the safety of gas appliances and systems within England (a) and Romford (b). This includes taking enforcement action against those who do not comply with their legal obligations, including unsafe gas work or carrying out gas work whilst unregistered.
GSIUR also allows for the establishment of the Gas Safe Register (GSR). GSR aims to protect the public from unsafe gas work through:
GSR will apply appropriate sanctions on those businesses found carrying out unsafe gas work as per their Sanctions Policy.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many asbestos-related deaths have occurred in England in the last year; and what steps the Health and Safety Executive is taking to help reduce the number of asbestos-related deaths in England.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Government recognises the devasting impact on those who have asbestos related disease and their families.
In total, there were over 4000 deaths due to asbestos-related diseases in England in 2023, the latest year for which statistics are available, due to past exposures to asbestos. This total includes 1975 mesothelioma deaths, and a similar estimated number due to asbestos-related lung cancer. There were in addition 401 deaths where the death certificate mentioned the non-malignant asbestos-related disease of asbestosis.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is actively tackling Great Britain’s asbestos legacy using a variety of regulatory interventions including licencing of removal contractors and inspection of the management of asbestos in situ, stakeholder engagement, public campaigns (including, ‘Asbestos & You’ for trades people to know what to watch for and what to do when they come across asbestos) as well as research activities.
Collectively, this supports dutyholders and other stakeholders to manage asbestos safely to avoid further exposure to risk and work towards an asbestos-free built environment. HSE is giving further consideration to the recommendations in the 2022 Work and Pensions Select Committee report, “The Health and Safety Executive’s Approach to asbestos management”.