Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Disability Employment Advisors were employed by his Department as of 1 June in each year since 2018 in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Data at constituency and borough level is not available. Relevant data for London Region is shown in the table below.
Year | Work Coach - Full Time Staff Equivalent | Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) - Full Time Staff Equivalent |
2018 | 3210 | 69 |
2019 | 3050 | 2 |
2020 | 2040 | 0 |
2021 | 4980 | 120 |
2022 | 3800 | 170 |
2023 | 2770 | 130 |
Source: DWP’s internal Activity Based Model (ABM)
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Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department have made of trends in the distribution of food parcels in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and HM Government does not have any role in their operation. As such, data on trends in the distribution of food parcels in Enfield North constituency, the London Borough of Enfield and London is not available.
This government is committed to understanding and addressing poverty which is why we have published official estimates of foodbank use for the first time in March 2023.
National statistics on food bank use for 2021/22 are available here. We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.
In 2021/22, 3% of individuals, or 2.1m people, were living in households where a food bank has been used in the 12 months prior to the interview.
In 2021/22, 2% of households in London used a foodbank in the 12 months prior to the interview.
Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
This Government is committed to a sustainable long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in 2023/24, including around £124bn on people of working age and children and around £152 billion on pensioners. Of this, around £79 billion will be spent on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. (GB, includes non-DWP spend, prices in 23-24 terms).
Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments totalling up to £900 this financial year. Over 99% of initially eligible households have now been sent their first payment of £301 and more than eight million pensioner households across the UK will receive an additional £300 Cost of Living Payment during winter 2023-24 and over 6 million people across the UK on eligible ’extra-costs’ disability benefits will receive a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment this summer 2023, to help with the additional costs they face.
For those who require extra support Government is also providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable a year-long extension of the Household Support Fund in England this financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding. The London borough of Enfield been allocated £5,695,989 for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 to support those most in need with the cost of essentials, including those who may not be eligible for other Government support.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employers in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London have achieved level (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) three of the Disability Confident scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on providing a cost of living update for the value of Access to Work grant payments.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As all Access to Work grants are tailored to the individual need, there is no automatic uprating. Instead, all increases in support costs are considered and where appropriate awards are increased, up to an upper limit per individual per annum.
To provide support for those at the upper limit of Access to Work, the upper limit is normally increased on an annual basis. It was increased to £66,000 from April 2023.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households were in receipt of housing benefit in each year since 2010 in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is available at the constituency level on Stat-Xplore, which can be found here.
Guidance for users is available here.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children living in poverty in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in the Enfield North Constituency and in the London Borough of Enfield are published in “Children in Low Income Families”, and can be found here.
National and regional statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, and can be found here.
Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of pensioners living in poverty in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
National and regional statistics on the number and percentage of pensioners in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, and can be found at: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
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 who were not awarded the Personal Independence Payment following (a) the initial decision and (b) mandatory reconsideration (i) lodged an appeal which then lapsed in each of the last five years and (ii) were awarded at least one enhanced component in (A) Enfield North constituency, (B) Enfield and (C) Greater London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The tables below show the number and proportion of individuals awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP), due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and a mandatory reconsideration decision to not award PIP by the financial year of the initial decision for the specified geographical breakdown. Volumes and proportions of this group receiving at least one enhanced component of PIP have also been provided.
Table 1: Parliamentary Constituency of Enfield North
Financial Year of Initial Decision | Number of individuals awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP | Proportion of those not awarded PIP following an initial decision and MR decision, that were awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal | Number of individuals awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP and receiving at least one enhanced component | Proportion of those awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP receiving at least one enhanced component |
2018/19 | 10 | 5% | 10 | 60% |
2019/20 | 30 | 17% | 20 | 58% |
2020/21 | 20 | 18% | 20 | 77% |
2021/22 | 10 | 6% | 10 | 50% |
2022/23* | 10 | 6% | - | - |
Table 2: London Borough of Enfield
Financial Year of Initial Decision | Number of individuals awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP | Proportion of those not awarded PIP following an initial decision and MR decision, that were awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal | Number of individuals awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP and receiving at least one enhanced component | Proportion of those awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP receiving at least one enhanced component |
2018/19 | 20 | 6% | 10 | 55% |
2019/20 | 50 | 13% | 30 | 58% |
2020/21 | 50 | 13% | 30 | 68% |
2021/22 | 30 | 8% | 10 | 36% |
2022/23* | 10 | 5% | 10 | 36% |
Table 3: Greater London
Financial Year of Initial Decision | Number of individuals awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP | Proportion of those not awarded PIP following an initial decision and MR decision, that were awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal | Number of individuals awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP and receiving at least one enhanced component | Proportion of those awarded PIP due to a lapsed appeal, following an initial decision and MR decision to not award PIP receiving at least one enhanced component |
2018/19 | 760 | 8% | 410 | 54% |
2019/20 | 980 | 11% | 530 | 54% |
2020/21 | 1,140 | 14% | 630 | 55% |
2021/22 | 960 | 9% | 470 | 49% |
2022/23* | 300 | 5% | 130 | 41% |
Please note:
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
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 adequacy of the cost of living payments for pensioners who are in receipt of State Pension but not Pension Credit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government understands the pressures people including pensioners are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, running from October 2022-March 2023, will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what the energy price would have been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
To ensure stability and certainty for households, the Government is providing a further £26bn in cost of living support for 2023/24.
The Government recognises the rising costs felt by all pensioners and therefore nearly 12 million pensioners will benefit from a 10.1% increase to their State Pension payments from April 2023, under the Triple Lock.
Pensioner households have received a £300 Cost of Living payment in 2022/23. In 2023/24 a further Cost of Living payment will be made. More than eight million pensioner households will receive an additional £300 to help with bills.
Pensioners can also benefit from the discretionary Household Support Fund for which the government has provided total funding of £2.5 billion.
This is a substantial package of support which recognises the current additional costs faced by pensioners.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken since the publication of the Women’s Health Strategy to encourage employers to implement evidence based workplace support for the menopause including introducing workplace menopause policies.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The previous Minister for Employment commissioned the roundtable on older workers to look at the menopause and employment. A subsequent independent menopause and the workplace report was published, to which the Government’s response was outlined in July: Menopause and the Workplace: How to enable fulfilling working lives: government response - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), both documents covering actions and responsibilities of employers.
Alongside this, and separately, the Women’s Health Strategy sets out a range of commitments including encouraging employers to implement evidence-based workplace support and introduce workplace menopause policies.