Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2023 to Question 189864 on Public Lavatories: Men, what the expected timescale is for when the Health and Safety Executive will have concluded its review of the guidance on the disposal of sanitary dressings in toilets; and whether the guidance will be open to public consultation.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Officials at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will ensure web-based guidance is clear that provisions must be made for any workers with a disability to enable them to have access to facilities which are adjusted to their use if necessary. This work is in hand and will be completed in the autumn. As this is a simple clarification, it will not be open for public consultation.
HSE is the workplace regulator therefore the legislation and guidance will apply to toilets for used by workers in workplaces, made available to them as a place of work.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to take steps to update the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) 1992 Regulations and Approved Code of Practice to ensure that there are sufficient toilets in workplaces for men experiencing incontinence following a radical prostatectomy to (a) dispose of their incontinence products hygienically and (b) not have to use facilities for disabled people.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Regulation 2(3) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulation 1992 aims to ensure that workplaces meet the health, safety and welfare needs of any worker. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has informed me that they believe the Regulations are fit for purpose in this respect.
Additionally, the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) (para 189) already states that provision must be made for any workers with a disability to enable them to have access to facilities which are adjusted to their use if necessary.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people lost their Carer’s Allowance because they had reached pensionable age in each of the last 20 years .
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested on how many people lost their Carer’s Allowance because they had reached pensionable age in each of the last 20 years is not held. The department does not hold data on the reason Carer’s Allowance claimants lose their Carer’s Allowance award.
There is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, however, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension.
It has been a long-held feature of the UK’s benefit system that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid. Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances, they are nevertheless paid for the same contingency – as an income replacement: Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person, while the State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.
If a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance, which is currently £76.75. Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £42.75 a week and even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, he or she may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many men in England are classified as disabled due to incontinence.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
I can confirm that the department does not hold the information requested. The department does not hold health records for each individual in England. In relation to disability benefits, the department does not classify or register disabilities or hold a disability register. The information held for disability benefit claimants is usually based on the primary disabling condition and claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to (a) amend the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and (b) recommend changes to the Code of Practice and Guidance published by the Health and Safety Executive to ensure provision of and access to hygiene bins in men's toilets equal to that in women's toilets.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Regulation 20 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (‘Workplace Regulations’) state that toilets should be kept in a clean and orderly condition. The Approved Code of Practice covers provisions of a disposal method for sanitary dressings in toilets used by women.
Regulation 2(3) of the Workplace Regulations aims to ensure that workplaces meet the health, safety and welfare needs of each member of the workforce, therefore, HSE believe the current Workplace Regulations are fit for purpose in this respect though they intend to consider whether the guidance regarding disposal of sanitary dressings in toilets fulfils that aim.
Provisions for public toilets, including hygiene bins in men’s toilets, would be the responsibility of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that reducing parental conflict services forms a core element of the support being made available to parents and families through family hubs.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Family Hubs are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, improve the connections between families, professionals, services, and providers, and put relationships at the heart of family help. Family Hubs can include both physical locations and virtual offers, with a range of services for families with children of all ages, and a great Start for Life offer at their core.
It is essential that all local services for families work together effectively. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Education (DfE) and the National Centre for Family Hubs are working closely together to ensure that policy alignment nationally facilitates local joined up working to support children and families to thrive. This includes joining up work on Reducing Parental Conflict with Family Hubs.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in which local authority areas the £39 million is being spent in reducing parental conflict through evidence-based interventions; over what time periods that money is being spent; whether there are plans to make service universal; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
There are 31 local authorities (listed below) who will be testing DWP-funded face-to-face interventions to reduce parental conflict. We are spending approximately £12m on these face-to-face interventions, which will be targeted at disadvantaged families – especially workless families, who face triple the risk of experiencing damaging parental conflict. The first referrals will be in April 2019 and interventions will take place for two years.
By 31 March 2019, we will also have made available approximately £9m to build local capability in reducing parental conflict. We are providing all local authorities in England with funding to work with their local partners to increase their strategic capability in embedding proven parental conflict support, and we will also be funding training for frontline practitioners, to help them to identify relationship distress; provide initial support; and to refer appropriately.
On 23 April 2018 the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Work and Pensions announced £6m for a jointly funded package of measures to support children of alcohol dependent parents. This package will run for three years and includes:
The areas which have been successful in their Innovation Fund bids are due to be announced shortly.
We will also be working closely with all local authorities in England, including providing expert advice and support through a team of Regional Integration Leads to help local areas to integrate support to reduce parental conflict into mainstream provision for children and families. This will help to ensure that more mothers and fathers can access support to reduce parental conflict.
Further announcements will be made on other aspects of the programme in due course.
Local Authorities where Face to Face Interventions will be delivered:
Westminster, Brent, Croydon, Lambeth, Kensington & Chelsea, Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham, Gateshead, Stockton, Sunderland, South Tyneside, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, Newcastle, Northumberland, Hartlepool, Durham, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Southend, Essex, Buckinghamshire, Peterborough, Dorset, Somerset, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Devon, Wiltshire, Poole, Torbay.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) passports and (b) driving licenses have been removed from people for non-payment of child maintenance; and how many people received a custodial sentence for non-payment of child maintenance in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Child Support regulations recently laid in Parliament include changes to enable the Child Maintenance Service to disqualify a paying parent with child maintenance arrears from holding or obtaining a UK passport. These changes are expected to come into force in November subject to them gaining Parliamentary approval.
The number of driving licences removed and the number of custodial sentences as a result of non-payment of child maintenance for the period of June 2017 to June 2018 is as follows:
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will credit to victims of modern slavery the National Insurance contributions that were unpaid during the period of their slavery.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department for Work and Pensions recognises the difficulties faced by people found to be victims of modern slavery. The Department is currently exploring potential ways to ensure people who are victims of modern slavery are not disadvantaged in respect of their National Insurance records.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to ensure that charities in the Relationships Alliance will be allocated funding from the public purse for existing relationship support contracts until funding allocations have been made under the Reducing Parental Conflict programme.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We are exploring options with respect to the next steps for the current contracts DWP hold with the Relationships Alliance.
We are currently implementing the new Reducing Parental Conflict Programme, which aims to integrate proven help with parental conflict into local services. We will be offering support to all 152 top-tier English local authorities to help them - including making available funding to develop their strategic approach; and for training frontline practitioners.
We have announced £6m of joint funding with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England, aimed at improving the outcomes of children of alcohol-dependent parents. This programme includes an Innovation Fund, which is seeking up to eight local authority bids, to address parents’ alcohol issues and reduce conflict. The closing dates for bids is 17 July. Funding is also available for the voluntary sector, where we are seeking to build capacity nationally to support children in families where parents are alcohol dependent and experiencing conflict. We expect to make announcements on the allocation of funding for these opportunities in the Autumn.
And we will build the evidence base for what works to reduce parental conflict by commissioning face-to-face support in 30 local authorities across England. We recently published a Prior Information Notice which outlined the timescales for the upcoming procurement of face-to-face interventions. These contracts will be open to all interested parties as an open competition.