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Written Question
Seasonal workers: Agriculture
Wednesday 19th March 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Health and Safety Executive have taken to prevent health and safety hazards on farms employing workers on the Seasonal Worker visa in each of the last five years in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, this includes workplace health and safety risks created in agriculture.

Over the last 5 years, HSE has taken the following steps to address on-farm health and safety hazards and improve the health and safety performance of the industry for the benefit of all farm workers in Scotland, England and Wales, including seasonal workers, by:

  • Working closely with the industry through Britain’s Farm Safety Partnerships (FSPs). Together, HSE and the FSPs use a range of interventions to encourage the industry to take a greater ownership of the health and safety risks that it creates, and work to create sustained improvement from within the industry.
  • Between 2018 and 2024, in partnership with the industry, HSE ran a campaign to offer farmers free health and safety training which was then followed up by an inspection to a selection of the farms invited to take the training.
  • Although HSE has no pre-planned inspections in agriculture in 2024/25, HSE continues to inspect where they receive intelligence to suggest risk is not being managed and investigate incidents in line with its selection criteria.
  • Over the last 5 years HSE has also engaged with the industry through a variety of other methods including industry talks, webinars, presentations, campaigns, media engagement, and producing industry notifications which include safety messaging.
  • HSE’s recent agricultural media campaign “Your Farm Your Future” was a successful example of using HSE and industry voices to reinforce safety messages and reach a wide range of farmers and farm workers. Campaign materials can be found at: https://workright.campaign.gov.uk/campaigns/agriculture/.
  • In addition, HSE also publishes guidance for farmers on how to prevent workplace ill health and injury to their workforce, including seasonal workers. The guidance is freely available on the HSE website at https://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/index.htm.

HSE remains committed to working with the farming industry to help improve health and safety performance for the benefit of all its workers.


Written Question
Seasonal workers: Agriculture
Monday 17th March 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Worker Support Centre's Annual Report 2024, published on 14 February 2025, whether the Health and Safety Executive has plans to commission a review into (a) the use of personal protective equipment and (b) repeated injuries on farms employing seasonal workers.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, this includes workplace health and safety risks created in agriculture.

HSE can confirm that the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 were amended in 2022 to bring all workers into scope. The above regulations will be subject to a post implementation review (PIR) in 2027. These regulations already require that suitable personal protective equipment is provided, at no cost, to the worker and that workers are trained in its use. Therefore, HSE is of the view that the regulations are currently fit for purpose and have no plans to review them before the planned PIR. Farms have a legal duty to ensure that they provide appropriate PPE to all workers, including seasonal workers, and that those workers also use the PPE provided.

Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, dutyholders such as farmers have a legal duty to report certain work-related injuries to HSE. Where required, HSE can and does investigate individual reports of work-related incidents across all industries, including farming. In addition, HSE also monitors the accident data that it receives under the above regulations, and tailors its subsequent engagement with the industry in the best, most efficient way to drive improvement in onsite health and safety standards. HSE has no plans to commission a specific review of injuries on farms employing seasonal workers.


Written Question
Seasonal workers: Agriculture
Monday 17th March 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Health and Safety Executive Inspections of farms employing workers on the Seasonal Worker visa were conducted in each of the last five years in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, this includes workplace health and safety risks created in agriculture.

The table below shows the total number of farm inspections carried out by HSE over the last 5 years in Scotland, England and Wales. HSE’s farm inspection programme over those years focused on health and safety standards on site for all workers. No farm inspection programmes over the last 5 years were focused exclusively on one group of farm workers such as seasonal workers. If during a farm site visit, matters directly affecting a specific group or number of workers on a particular site were identified by the inspector, they would be dealt with accordingly.

Please see the figures for farm inspections conducted in each of the last five years in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales:

:

Number of Farm Inspections*

YEAR**

Scotland

England

Wales

Total

2019/20

143

534

18

695

2020/21

34

174

4

212

2021/22

70

263

59

392

2022/23

105

627

51

783

2023/24

22

424

34

480

2024/25

7

62

7

76

*defined by the Nature of business: Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes

** years commencing 1st April


Written Question
Universal Credit: Multiple Sclerosis
Thursday 6th March 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people with multiple sclerosis who were placed into the Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity group due to meeting the descriptor mobilising unaided Activity 1.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Employment and Support Allowance: Multiple Sclerosis
Thursday 6th March 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people with multiple sclerosis who were placed into the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group due to meeting the descriptor mobilising unaided Activity 1.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Multiple Sclerosis
Monday 24th February 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people with Multiple Sclerosis who are in the Universal Credit (a) Limited Capacity for Work-Related Activity group and (b) Limited Capability for Work group.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Employment and Support Allowance: Multiple Sclerosis
Monday 24th February 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people with Multiple Sclerosis who are in the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group due to scoring 15 points on the Support Group Mobilising activity.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The group of Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) customers affected by the most severe health conditions or disabilities are considered to have limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA). The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) criteria for assessing whether someone has LCWRA is not determined by a point score. To be found to have LCWRA, someone must be assessed as meeting one or more of the LCWRA criteria, which are set out in legislation.

Scoring 15 points against the WCA Limited Capability for Work (LCW) criteria, be that any single WCA activity or in total across the activities, would result in somebody being found to have LCW/being placed in the ESA Work-Related Activity Group.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Multiple Sclerosis
Monday 24th February 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people with Multiple Sclerosis who are in the Universal Credit Limited Capacity for Work-Related Activity group due to scoring 15 points on the LCWRA Mobilising activity.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The group of Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) customers affected by the most severe health conditions or disabilities are considered to have limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA). The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) criteria for assessing whether someone has LCWRA is not determined by a point score. To be found to have LCWRA, someone must be assessed as meeting one or more of the LCWRA criteria, which are set out in legislation.

Scoring 15 points against the WCA Limited Capability for Work (LCW) criteria, be that any single WCA activity or in total across the activities, would result in somebody being found to have LCW/being placed in the ESA Work-Related Activity Group.


Written Question
Employment and Support Allowance: Multiple Sclerosis
Monday 24th February 2025

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people with Multiple Sclerosis who are in the Employment and Support Allowance (a) Support Group and (b) Work-Related Activity Group.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In May 2024 there were around 19,500 people on ESA whose main condition was multiple sclerosis. Of these, around 300 were in the Work-Related Activity Group and around 18,000 were in the Support Group, with the remainder being in the Assessment Phase or receiving National Insurance credits only, and not assigned to a particular group.


Written Question
Pension Credit
Thursday 19th December 2024

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for Pension Credit were received between (a) 29 July 2024 and 30 November 2024, (b) 29 July 2023 and 30 November 2023 and (c) 29 July 2022 and 30 November 2022.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

On 28 November we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK, which is the nearest available data to the 30 November.

This information is updated quarterly and the next update, which will include end of November data is due around the end of February 2025. This release will cover data up to week commencing 10 February 2024.

  • These statistics show that 150,000 Pension Credit claims were received between 29 July 2024 up to 17 November 2024.
  • In the previous year we received around 67,000 applications for the closest comparable period, which was 31 July 2023 to 19 November 2023.
  • The closest comparable period in 2022 shows we received around 87,500 applications between 1 August 2022 and 20 November 2022.

Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards.