Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the full report of the UK's Voluntary National Review on its progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals will include an assessment of how the Government is working to address inequality between countries.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
In July, the UK will present a Voluntary National Review (VNR) to the United Nations, setting out the UK’s contribution to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at home and abroad. The report will include how the Government is supporting delivery of Goal 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries).
The UK’s commitment to Leave No-one Behind means ensuring the inclusion of the poorest and most marginalised people. Furthermore, DFID’s Data Disaggregation Action Plan and Inclusive Data Charter Action Plan set out our goal to increase the level of disaggregated data we collect, report and use to ensure a deeper understanding of who is at risk of being left behind, where they are, and why.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the full report of the UK's Voluntary National Review of its progress on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals will include an assessment of the effect of the Government's domestic and international policies on reducing economic inequality (a) domestically and (b) globally.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The UK’s forthcoming Voluntary National Review (VNR) will take stock of the UK’s contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at home and abroad, since they were agreed in 2015. It will highlight the areas where the UK is performing well and also identify the areas where we need to further reinforce our efforts. The VNR will cover all 17 Goals, including Goal 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries), and will demonstrate the UK’s domestic and international activity. It will be underpinned by data, to ensure it is robust and credible.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March to Question 234216 on Universal Credit: Disability, what plans the Department has for improving data collection to capture accurate, aggregate data on claimants, including claimants with vulnerabilities.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has already introduced a function on the Universal Credit system to ‘pin’ key profile notes so they are instantly visible to all staff helping a claimant. The Department continues to develop its approach to capturing accurate, aggregate data on claimants, including those with complex needs.
Further work on understanding any vulnerabilities our claimants may have, and apply this learning to the design of Universal Credit is ongoing. This has been prioritised for the current Universal Credit development phase. The Department will report back to the Work and Pensions Select Committee with an update on its progress in late Spring 2019.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons funding for the Community Partner Programme will be withdrawn from March 2019; and what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the provision of disability employment support for people with mental health problems of the withdrawal of that programme.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Community Partner roles were time limited and funded for a two-year period, which comes to an end in March 2019.
The Community Partners have made a valuable contribution including helping us understand good provision better, helping build disability awareness and working with local employers to inform them of advice available and good practice in employing disabled people.
A review of existing roles identified that there was some overlap in the support provided. In order to remove the overlap and focus on key areas, two new job roles will be introduced from April 2019:
These new roles will be instrumental in driving the government’s commitment to providing high quality support to disabled people and those with health conditions. The new roles are initially funded for two years and will be fully embedded in the Jobcentre network. They will be fully evaluated to inform future discussions about how the support they deliver may be continued.
There will be no reduction in resources and we anticipate that these changes will improve the support offered to disabled people, including those with mental health conditions.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to undertake an evaluation of (a) the Community Partner Programme and (b) that programme’s effect on claimants with mental health problems.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We currently have no plans to conduct an external evaluation of the work of the Community Partners and the contribution that they have made, but an internal review of the Community Partner role and other disability employment enabling roles identified that there was some overlap in the support provided to claimants. In order to remove the overlap and focus on key areas we are introducing new disability employment roles from April 2019.
We are committed to continually improving the employment support we offer disabled people, including those with mental health conditions, and will ensure valuable learning from the Community Partners is built into the ongoing support we provide through our Jobcentres. We will not be reducing the amount of resource devoted to supporting disabled people into work.
We are investing up to £115 million of programme funding to support the work and health agenda to enable investment in new models and to build the evidence of what works. This includes mental health trials - more than doubling the number of Employment Advisers in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services - and the £3.9 million Challenge Fund, which was launched in November 2018.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether data collected by her Department on universal credit claimants is disaggregated to take account of disabilities.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The self-reported health condition or disability of individual Universal Credit claimants are recorded on our system and can be viewed by work coaches. However, it is not centrally collated in a way that allows aggregated analysis to be undertaken.
Universal Credit provides enhanced personalised support for all claimants, including those with a disability. All claimants receive continuous tailored support managed through personal work coaches, who know each person. Our work coaches receive extensive training to ensure they can offer effective support to different claimant groups.
We continue to develop our approach to capturing accurate, aggregate data on claimants, including care leavers and claimants with vulnerabilities. This work is ongoing and has been prioritised for the current Universal Credit development phase.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what mental health training is provided to work coaches supporting claimants of universal credit; and what assessment has been made of the adequacy of that training.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
DWP is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants, including the most vulnerable in society. We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs.
Work Coaches undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service to all claimants. Specific training and guidance is provided for working with different vulnerable groups and those with complex needs including claimants with mental health conditions.
We are providing all Work Coaches with an additional two day workshop, designed by experts in mental health and psychologists, and delivered where possible alongside external mental health partners. The training began in November 2017 and will be completed by end of March 2019. Next month we will start delivering this training to staff across the entire organisation who are employed in a claimant facing role, whether this is engaging with claimants by telephone, face to face or digitally.
In June and July 2018, activity was undertaken in a number of operational sites where the Mental Health training had been delivered in order to evaluate the learning provided to work coaches and ensure it was delivering the requisite skills and behaviours originally envisaged.
The outputs of that activity were used to refine the training products, where required, and supported decisions on the delivery approach for the training that will commence in April 2019.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to increase animal welfare standards after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has been very clear that leaving the EU will not lead to a lowering of our high animal welfare standards, and is making good on our commitment to make the UK a world leader in the care and protection of animals as we leave the EU.
Our regulatory system will offer at least the same level of assurance of animal welfare following our departure from the EU as it does now. The EU Withdrawal Act will ensure that existing EU standards are maintained once we leave the EU. For instance, existing bans on imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone beef have been transferred into UK law and will remain in place after we leave.
We are actively exploring options for strengthening the UK system moving forward. These include plans to increase maximum penalties for animal cruelty from six months’ to five years’ imprisonment. We are also considering what more can be done to improve animal welfare standards in the context of our future agricultural policy and are looking to control exports of live animals for slaughter.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) prevent microplastics from entering the natural environment and (b) tackle the damage caused by microplastics that are in the natural environment.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra funded a 5-year-long study to investigate the potential harm caused by microplastics in the marine environment. On the basis of the results of this study, last year we introduced one of the world’s strongest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products. Microbeads, like other microplastics, do not biodegrade and therefore accumulate in the environment.
To address the evidence gaps surrounding other sources of microplastics, we are funding research by the University of Plymouth into textiles and tyres which are estimated to be significant sources of microplastics in the marine environment.
Water infrastructure is an important pathway for contaminants, including microplastics, to enter the aquatic environment. We are working with water companies and researchers to understand the scale of the issue, evaluate the effectiveness of treatment systems at removing microplastics and assess the impacts of microplastics in aquatic environments.
Our priority will continue to be preventing plastic entering the environment in the first place and eliminating avoidable plastic waste over the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan. The Resources and Waste Strategy, published in December last year, sets out our plans to eliminate avoidable plastic waste. We will take action at each stage of the product lifecycle: production, consumption and end of life.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to phase out the (a) production and (b) use of unneeded plastics.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
This Government is taking action to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. We have introduced one of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, and have significantly reduced the use of plastic bags by around 86% with our 5p carrier bag charge. We recognise that more needs to be done, which is why we have set out an ambitious approach in our 25 Year Environment Plan.
The Resources and Waste Strategy, published December last year, sets out our plans to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. We will take action at each stage of the product lifecycle: production, consumption and end of life. At the production stage, this includes encouraging producers to take more responsibility for the environmental impact of their products and making sure plastic items are more carefully designed. At the consumer stage we want to reduce demand for single-use plastic. At the end of life stage, we will make it easier for people to recycle and increase the amount of plastic being recycled.
The Government has set out proposals to reform the current packaging producer responsibility regulations, invoking the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle to financially incentivise producers to take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of packaging they place on the market. This includes mechanisms to incentivise better design, encourage the use of recycled material and ensure that producers pay the full costs of disposal for packaging they place on the market. These measures aim to reduce the amount of unnecessary and difficult to recycle packaging and increase the amount of packaging that can and is recycled, including plastic packaging. We are currently consulting on these proposals in conjunction with the Scottish Government. The consultation will close on 13 May and can be accessed at: www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-plans-to-overhaul-waste-system.