Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date her Department sent letters to people eligible for Pension Credit to inform them that they must apply for Pension Credit to continue receiving winter fuel payments.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The department sent letters between 7th October and 4th November 2024 to pensioners who, under previous rules, would have received a Winter Fuel Payment this year. The letters informed customers of the change in eligibility for receiving the payment and urged them to check their potential entitlement to Pension Credit which would provide them with a range of additional benefits, including the Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse of winter fuel payments to overseas residents was in 2023/24.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Annual statistics on the number of Winter Fuel Payments made to individuals and households are publicly available via GOV.UK. The latest statistics cover winter 2023 to 2024.
The winter 2023 to 2024 Winter Fuel Payment expenditure for residents in eligible European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland was £17.6 million.
Source: Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 -GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received a Universal Credit migration notice in St Albans district; and how many and what proportion of these people submitted a new claim.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The first migration notices for St Albans were issued from 1 Feb 2024.
The number of individuals in St Alban’s that had received a migration notice by Dec-23 was nil/negligible. We are therefore unable to provide the requested data to prevent releasing potentially disclosive information about individuals.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have received tax credit overpayments since their migration to Universal Credit in St Albans district.
Answered by Jo Churchill
A claim for Universal Credit (UC) closes any tax credit claim with any associated overpayment arising from tax credits passed to DWP for recovery.
The number of individuals in St Alban’s that had received a migration notice by Dec-23 was nil/negligible. We are therefore unable to provide the requested data to prevent releasing potentially disclosive information about individuals.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people lost their entitlement to benefits during their transition from legacy benefits to Universal Credit in areas where that process had been completed.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Latest official statistics on the Universal Credit Managed Migration process can be found at: Move to Universal Credit statistics, July 2022 to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of average waiting times for autism assessments on employment rates.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
There are no plans for DWP to make this specific assessment. Whilst we recognise the importance of early identification of autism, a diagnosis is not required to be eligible for reasonable adjustments and the provision of workplace support. These are made, in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, based on functional need.
We are encouraging employers to adopt more neuro-inclusive working practices, which benefit neurodiverse employees irrespective of whether they have a diagnosis. The Buckland Review into Autism Employment, published on 28 February this year, has created a focus for action to improve the recruitment and retention of autistic people. It has identified workplace barriers, and the working practices and initiatives that can reduce them, in order to create a more inclusive working environment for autistic employees and autistic jobseekers.
This is supported by Disability Confident, our scheme to increase employers’ understanding of how to recruit, retain and support disabled employees and the Support with Employee Health and Disability online service which guides employers through health and disability scenarios at work, including making reasonable adjustments.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Action 1 in her Department's Disability Action Plan, published on 5 February 2024, whether he plans to establish a temporary fund in 2025 to support disabled general election candidates in England and Wales with their disability-related costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Disability Action Plan aims to support more disabled people into elected office roles. As part of this, the Government has committed to establishing a new fund, which will be launched in 2025 following design and development work and close engagement with disabled people. Importantly, this will ensure that we create a long term solution that meets the needs of its users and learns lessons from previous elected office funds.
In the meantime, while this work is underway, the Disability Unit will develop and publish new guidance by summer 2024 on how political parties can best support disabled candidates. This will help to improve support in the short term while we establish a new long-term approach.
Political parties still have responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their disabled members who contest any political position are not disadvantaged and can take part in the same processes and opportunities as non-disabled people.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a comparative assessment of (a) the Local Housing Allowance and (b) average rental costs for four bedroom properties in St Albans District Council area.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The LHA rates are set based on the Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) each household lives in. The current LHA rates (2023/24) for each BRMA and bedroom type can be found here. The Secretary of State reviewed Local Housing Allowance rates for 2024/25 and announced in his written ministerial statement on 22nd November that, across GB, LHA rates should be increased to the 30th percentile based on rents from September 2023.
The Department does not collect data on rental costs for accommodation in each BRMA, the Valuation Office Agency collects data on rental costs in England to produce the 30th percentile of market rents and publishes the list of rents utilised to calculate the LHA rates. The latest list of rents for the period 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2022 is published here.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission entitled Seven Years On: disabled people’s rights to independent living, employment and standard of living in the UK, published on 17 August 2023, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the conclusions of that report on the Government's progress in implementing the recommendations of the report by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entitled Inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland carried out by the Committee under article 6 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, published in October 2017.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We note the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission entitled “Seven Years On: disabled people’s rights to independent living, employment and standard of living in the UK”, published on 17 August 2023.
This Government is committed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to improving the lives of disabled people.
We have implemented numerous policies and programmes to tackle the barriers faced by disabled people, including investing in employment support initiatives, improving social care support and better the accessibility of homes and transport. In March, the Department for Work and Pensions published the Health and Disability White Paper, which sets out the Government’s plans to reform the welfare system and make it better meet the needs of disabled people in Great Britain.
The Government supported the passage of the British Sign Language Act 2022, which recognises BSL as a language of England, Wales and Scotland in its own right. To further improve accessible communication, we have appointed the non-statutory BSL Advisory Board.
In July, we launched an accessible 12-week consultation on our new Disability Action Plan, which is part of this Government’s commitment to create a society that works for everyone, where all can participate and be fully included. The Disability Action Plan will set out the immediate action the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change, and it complements the long-term vision set out in the National Disability Strategy.
We will be shortly setting out our plans for taking forward individual commitments in the National Disability Strategy, to make the greatest possible impact for disabled people.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he has made an assessment the potential merits of (a) adjusting and (b) abolishing the 2.5% cap on inflation related increases for recipients of the Financial Assistance Scheme.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the Financial Assistance Scheme indexation rules. The Secretary of State has therefore made no such assessment.