Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal on her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In May, the UK concluded a landmark economic deal with the US. This deal protects jobs in the automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors - sectors that employ over 320,000 people across the UK. In addition, an estimated 260,000 jobs are supported by the auto industry in the wider economy.
The Government remains focused on making sure British businesses can feel the benefits of the deal as soon as possible.
The Government is continuing discussions on the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal which will look at increasing digital trade, enhancing access for our world-leading services industries and improving supply chains.
My Department stands ready to support the ongoing negotiations with the US, led by the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether their Department offers its staff shared parental leave from their first working day.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions applies the statutory eligibility criteria for shared parental leave, which includes the parent or parents we employ working for at least 26 weeks up to a relevant date. DWP does not offer its staff shared parental leave from their first working day, with the possible exception of existing civil servants who join DWP with continuous/linked service in another government department.
As with any changes to employment legislation, internal policies and processes will be updated as appropriate in preparation for when the Employment Rights Bill 2024 comes into effect.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were (a) awarded Pension Credit and (b) paid Winter Fuel Allowance in West Worcestershire constituency in (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2023-24.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension Credit and Winter Fuel Payments are household level benefits.
Pension Credit caseload statistics are routinely published and made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. In February 2024, 1,929 households were claiming Pension Credit in West Worcestershire. Data for 2024-25 is only available up to May 2024. At this point in time, there were 1,933 households claiming Pension Credit in the West Worcestershire constituency.
In Winter 2023 to 2024, 18,868 pensioner households received the Winter Fuel Payment in the West Worcestershire constituency. (Source: Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK).
Official Winter Fuel Payment statistics for Winter 2024 to 2025 are expected to be released by the end of 2025.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much European Social Fund money has been spent in Worcestershire in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the England 2014-2020 European Social Fund (ESF) Programme. The amount of ESF Programme funding paid to ESF projects in the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership area in the past 5 financial years is provided below. This relates to the payment of claims submitted quarterly by projects operating in the LEP area, for expenditure incurred. Claims are paid in arrears and therefore the data may include expenditure which was incurred by projects in previous financial years.
Financial Year | ESF payments to ESF projects in Worcestershire LEP area (by date paid) |
2017/18 | £ 513,088.59 |
2018/19 | £ 2,634,140.85 |
2019/20 | £ 2,019,650.43 |
2020/21 | £ 3,306,512.91 |
2021/22 (up to 01/03/2022) | £ 1,857,378.87 |
Total | £ 10,330,771.65 |
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the level of opt-out from auto-enrollment into workplace pensions during the covid-19 lockdown period.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department does not yet have suitable data to make an assessment of the number of employees who have reduced their contributions, or have stopped saving, since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown period.
We are monitoring the impacts of covid-19 on workplace pension participation and saving levels and are working closely with the pensions industry and across government to understand the impact of the emergency.
Helping people to save for their futures remains a key priority for this Government. We put in place an unprecedented package of support to strengthen job and income security during the emergency; this included help to ease workplace pension saving for businesses with furloughed workers. As part of the next phase of its response, the Government’s goal is to support, create and protect jobs; and giving businesses confidence to retain and hire workers supports the capacity for retirement saving.