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Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Health and Safety
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to comply with principle (d) of schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The MoJ customises its working conditions and processes to meet the needs and capabilities of all its staff. These include, but are not limited to, the physical layout and structure of the workplace, adjustable desks and chairs, providing equipment that is ergonomically designed, easy to use, and suitable for the tasks that workers need to perform, allowing flexibility in work schedules and reducing monotonous tasks, and ensuring that workers are not required to work at an excessively fast pace.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Health and Safety
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether all (a) buildings and (b) workplaces staff from their Department occupy have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice has a Health and Safety policy and Occupational Health and Safety Management System in place, which requires suitable and sufficient risk assessments to ensure all occupational health and safety hazards and risks are adequately identified, assessed, controlled and monitored.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Appeals
Monday 8th January 2024

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of appeals to the Tribunals Service for (a) personal independence payment, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) jobseekers allowance and (e) tax credits were successful in (i) Glasgow South West constituency, (ii) Glasgow, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Great Britain in (A) 2021-22 and (B) 2022-23.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. Glasgow Tribunal Centre is the only SSCS venue serving the Glasgow South West constituency. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information about the outcomes of (a) Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and (b) Employment Support Allowance (ESA), for (i) Glasgow South West constituency (this is covered by the Glasgow data), (ii) Glasgow, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Great Britain in (A) 2021-22 and (B) 2022-23.

The tables below contain the requested information for Glasgow and Scotland for (c) Income Support, (d) Job Seekers Allowance and (e) Tax Credits for 2021 – 22; and 2022-23:

INCOME SUPPORT

Glasgow Venue1

Scotland HMCTS Region1

No. Cleared at Hearing

No. Decision in Favour

% Decision in Favour2

No. Cleared at Hearing

No. Decision in Favour

% Decision in Favour

2021_20223

15

5

53%

30

14

47%

2022_20233

4

~

~

8

~

~

JOB SEEKER’S ALLOWANCE

Glasgow Venue

Scotland HMCTS Region

No. Cleared at Hearing

No. Decision in Favour

% Decision in Favour

No. Cleared at Hearing

No. Decision in Favour

% Decision in Favour

2021_2022

9

~

~

26

9

35%

2022_2023

9

~

~

25

5

20%

TAX CREDITS

Glasgow Venue

Scotland HMCTS Region

No. Cleared at Hearing

No. Decision in Favour

% Decision in Favour

No. Cleared at Hearing

No. Decision in Favour

% Decision in Favour

2021_2022

9

~

~

21

13

62%

2022_2023

3

~

~

11

5

45%

Notes:

1. SSCS data is normally registered to the venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. We cannot retrieve data based on the appellant’s actual address but can produce reports detailing the numbers of cases that were dealt with at one of our Regional centres or heard at a specific venue. 2. Proportion based on the number of cases found in favour of the appellant at a tribunal hearing as a percentage of the cases heard at a tribunal hearing. 3. 1st April – 31st March

~ Suppressed in line with official published stats. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available. These data may differ slightly to that of the published statistics as these data were run on a different date.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Women
Monday 13th November 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of civil servants on temporary contracts in his Department are women.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The information is already available in the public domain:

Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Women
Monday 13th November 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of SCS2 civil servants on full-time equivalent contracts in his Department are women.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As of 30 June 2023, 42% of the SCS 2 cohort within the Ministry of Justice were declared as women.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Access to Work Programme
Thursday 22nd June 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether an Access to Work scheme has been implemented in their Department.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Access to Work is a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions, which contributes to the disability-related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition in the workplace that are beyond standard reasonable adjustments. It does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments.

In April 2022, all government departments, including the Ministry of Justice, took over responsibility for providing adjustments that would previously have been funded through Access to Work for civil servants working in their department.

The Ministry of Justice has not replicated the Access to Work Scheme but has increased the scope, volume and funding of its workplace adjustments provision for its staff, including an in-house workplace adjustment service. The department also provides adjustment support for candidates applying for roles based on their individual needs.

The Ministry of Justice provides individual focused support, with similar aims to those of the Department for Work and Pension`s Access to Work Scheme, which is dedicated to fully supporting our people by ensuring they have workplace adjustments they require.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Holiday Leave
Thursday 18th May 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in the 2017 case of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts & Ors for the calculation of holiday pay entitlement for staff in her Department; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry and its associated arm's length bodies have considered the impact of the judgement referred to. The calculation of holiday pay was subsequently applied to all forms of voluntary overtime and is still in payment across the department and its arm's length bodies.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Disability
Thursday 2nd March 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice is a Disability Confident Scheme Leader and operates at Level 3; the highest level a department can be accredited at.

As required under the Scheme, MoJ operate a Disability Confident Interview Scheme. Candidates with a disability have an option to opt-in and out of the scheme, which is in place for all advertised roles and applies to all candidates, including those internally in MoJ and Civil Service applying on lateral transfer or on promotion.

Unfortunately, the MoJ does not currently analyse application data on Disability Confident candidates specifically applying for promotion and lateral transfer opportunities. In order to retrieve the data as requested, we would need to perform a matching process between monthly staff records and application data. The data covering the MoJ would be a substantial amount to review and would therefore exceed the appropriate cost limit.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Disability
Thursday 2nd March 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice is a Disability Confident Scheme Leader and operates at Level 3; the highest level a department can be accredited at.

As required under the Scheme, MoJ operate a Disability Confident Interview Scheme. Candidates with a disability have an option to opt-in and out of the scheme, which is in place for all advertised roles and applies to all candidates, including those internally in MoJ and Civil Service applying on lateral transfer or on promotion.

Unfortunately, the MoJ does not currently analyse application data on Disability Confident candidates specifically applying for promotion and lateral transfer opportunities. In order to retrieve the data as requested, we would need to perform a matching process between monthly staff records and application data. The data covering the MoJ would be a substantial amount to review and would therefore exceed the appropriate cost limit.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Conditions of Employment
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The MoJ consults with Trade Unions in accordance with best practice and adherence to employment legislation. Equality Impact Assessments are developed for MoJ policies and published internally.

The MoJ has no legal or business reason to externally publish an equality impact assessment as this is not required to comply with the obligations set out in the Equality Act 2010.