Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to (a) identify and (b) remove deteriorating asbestos in (i) schools and (ii) hospitals.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The safety of those using and working in buildings including schools and hospitals is extremely important.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR) require all duty holders to assess whether asbestos is present, what condition it is in and whether it gives rise to a risk of exposure. They must then draw up a plan to manage the risk associated with asbestos, which must include removal if it cannot be safely managed where it is located. Asbestos must also be removed before any major refurbishment work and before demolition.
Responsibility for keeping schools and hospitals safe and well-maintained lies with the respective duty holders and they are expected to have robust plans in place to manage asbestos effectively, in line with their legal duties.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) continues to work with other Government and Devolved Administrations to ensure that public sector duty holders are aware of and comply with their responsibilities for asbestos management, taking enforcement action where necessary.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Government has spent on litigations with the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign group in each year since 2015.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We do not hold yearly breakdowns. Based on the information held, since 2015, the recorded legal costs on litigations with WASPI including disbursements and VAT are £82,700.84.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made on establishing an asbestos census.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Asbestos in non-domestic buildings is a key ministerial priority. As part of its work, I have asked HSE to explore how it can develop our understanding of the legacy of asbestos in Great Britian, by building a more objective and reliable evidence base of the extent of asbestos in the built environment through a census, to inform longer-term strategy for continuing its safe removal over time.
HSE is taking a phased approach to the development of this work, focussing initially on the government estate.
HSE provides regular updates and assurance to ministers about its approach to asbestos management.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive plans to update its Standard Occupational Classification asbestos mortality statistics to include (a) deaths over 75 and (b) non-occupational exposures.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive does not currently plan to change the basis for its mesothelioma and asbestosis mortality statistics by last occupation of the deceased. These statistics use routinely collected data from the Office for National Statistics (for deaths in England and Wales) and National Records of Scotland (for deaths in Scotland) which currently only includes coded information on last occupation up to age 74 for deaths in England and Wales. The accuracy of occupational information is known to decline at older ages.
The purpose of these statistics is to examine the relative frequency of recording of different occupations across this standard age range as evidence about the occupations most likely to be substantial sources of past asbestos exposure. These kinds of analyses cannot directly address the question of non-occupational exposure or provide a definitive assessment of past sources of occupational risk. They do however, together with other research evidence, help to identify the kinds of work associated with the highest risks historically.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on Budgeting Loans (a) overall and (b) in each category in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The total spent on Budgeting Loan awards in the 2023/24 financial year was £260.6 million.
A category breakdown for budgeting loans will be published in due course in the 2023/24 Social Fund annual report. This will include the breakdowns by regions, claimant group, family composition and reason for refusal by application group.
Please see for more information the 2023/24 Social Fund Annual Accounts- Social Fund Account 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK
And previous Social Fund Annual reports- Social Fund accounts and reports - GOV.UK
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit applications her Department received in each region in each of the last three months for which data is available.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We confirm that we do not hold the information you have requested as our systems do not breakdown Pension Credit applications by region.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants for Pension Credit were (a) initially turned down and (b) successful on appeal in each region in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The information requested on the proportion of Pension Credit claims which are initially turned down but are subsequently overturned at Tribunal is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, including Pension Credit appeals, is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
Specifically, information on the number of appeal receipts, disposals and outcomes of Pension Credit appeals can be found in the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tables: SSCS_1, SSCS_2 and SSCS_3 of the Main Tables.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average Pension Credit processing time is (a) per month in the latest three-month period for which data is available and (b) in each region.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Average actual clearance times are shown in the table below from 3 June 2024. Please note, the information is not available monthly.
The table below shows the average (in working days) for each week.
Source | RS PBi App / PC Claims AACT |
03/06/24 | 45 |
10/06/24 | 44 |
17/06/24 | 43 |
24/06/24 | 44 |
01/07/24 | 44 |
08/07/24 | 45 |
15/07/24 | 48 |
22/07/24 | 44 |
29/07/24 | 45 |
05/08/24 | 40 |
12/08/24 | 39 |
19/08/24 | 36 |
26/08/24 | 31 |
02/09/24 | 29 |
09/09/24 | 30 |
16/09/24 | 28 |
23/09/24 | 26 |
30/09/24 | 34 |
07/10/24 | 39 |
Please note, the data shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
The information requested is not collected at regional level and to calculate it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department's review of Universal Credit will include the income threshold used to determine eligibility for (a) free school meals and (b) the NHS Healthy Start scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Eligibility criteria, including earnings thresholds for passported benefits including Free School Meals and Healthy Start payments are owned by Department of Education and the Department of Health and Social care respectively.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to launch her Department's review of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. We will set out the details of this in due course.