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Written Question
Household Support Fund
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 3.35 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on extending the Household Support Fund beyond September 2024.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants have an advance attached to their claim during the five-week wait for their first payment in (a) Lewisham East constituency, (b) England and (c) the UK as of 18 September 2023 by claimant age group.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The information requested is not available for this period.


Written Question
Energy Bills Rebate: Travellers
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2023 to Question 198571 on Energy Bills Rebate: Travellers, if his Department will provide local authorities with assistance to enable Gypsy, Roma and Travellers whose main residence is not on a permanent site to apply for the Housing Support Fund.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Local Authorities have the ties and local knowledge to best determine how the Household Support Fund should be provided to their local communities in England.

Under the current Household Support Fund scheme, we are aware that some Local Authorities are providing energy and food support specifically targeted at the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

The Household Support Fund guidance sets out that Local Authorities are expected to identify and provide support to a wide range of low-income households in need, making use of data and other sources of information, including through engaging with third party organisations who may come into contact with people in need.

As part of their delivery Local Authorities must operate an application-based service to ensure those in need have a route to emergency support.


Written Question
Carer's Allowance: Lewisham East
Thursday 20th April 2023

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

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 people in receipt of Carer's Allowance in Lewisham East constituency.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The most recent caseload statistics for Carer’s Allowance refer to August 2022 and are available on DWP Stat-Xplore. In August 2022, the Carer’s Allowance in payment caseload in Lewisham East constituency was 1,481 claimants.

The link to access Stat-Xplore is https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

Guidance for using Stat-Xplore is available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html


Written Question
Cost of Living: Sickle Cell Diseases
Wednesday 15th March 2023

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including sickle cell patients in the support package for households to deal with the increase in living costs.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

No one is excluded from the Government’s cost of living support as a consequence of a health condition or disability. Those with needs arising from such a condition may be entitled to the full range of support depending on their circumstances, including access to an extra costs disability benefit such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The Government understands the pressures people, including disabled people, are facing with the cost of living, and has taken further, decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs in addition to other cost of living support delivered last year, which includes:

  • The £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme;
  • A Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 to six million people in recognition of the extra costs they face, including with energy costs;
  • Up to £650 in Cost of Living Payments for the eight million households in receipt of a means-tested benefit; and
  • A one-off payment of £300 through, and as an addition to, the Winter Fuel Payment from November to pensioner households.

For those who require additional support, the current Household Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula.

The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows local authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for local authorities for this next iteration has now been published and can be found here: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024: Household Support Fund guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The devolved administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.

In April, we are uprating benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.

In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits, including PIP, will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.


Written Question
Maternity Leave and Maternity Pay: Multiple Births
Thursday 25th November 2021

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what extra statutory maternity pay and leave provisions are available for parents of multiple births.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Statutory Maternity Pay is paid in respect of each pregnancy. This provides a measure of financial security which allows a pregnant working woman to take time off from work towards the end of her pregnancy, and in the months following childbirth in the interest of her own and her babies' health and wellbeing.


Written Question
Chemicals: Health Hazards
Thursday 23rd July 2020

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government has taken to implement recommendation 15 of the Environmental Audit Committee's Twentieth report of Session 2017-19 entitled, Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life, HC1805.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

When deciding whether to prescribe new diseases under the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Scheme Minsters are guided by the recommendations of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (“IIAC”). IIAC are independent of government,

Following the recommendation of the Environmental Audit Committee IIAC launched an investigation into the cancers likely to be suffered by fire fighters, building on the extensive commissioned review it carried out in 2010. To inform its investigation, IIAC engaged with the University of Central Lancashire and conducted a detailed search of the published scientific literature in this field in order to scrutinise the available evidence. Having analysed the evidence in depth, IIAC is currently in the process of concluding its deliberations and expects to be able to respond to the Environmental Audit Committee in due course. IIAC plans to publish a position paper setting out its findings.

Fire and Rescue Services have duties to prevent and control risks (so far as reasonably practicable) to the health of their employees due to exposure to hazardous substances, and the Health and Safety Executive expects Fire and Rescue Services to ensure that measures are in place to control exposure and minimise contamination, as this may lead to health risks. Such measures would include the provision and maintenance of suitable personal protective equipment, facilities for storing and cleaning such equipment and providing information, training and appropriate supervision to their employees on potential risks.

The Health and Safety Executive is monitoring the progress of all current research which seeks to improve the working environment for firefighters, and will ensure that Fire and Rescue Services continue to identify and control risks to their employees. HSE are also aware that United Kingdom Fire and Rescue Services (UKFRS) are also researching health risks and effects from contaminated kit. HSE have provided support at National Level to ensure that this is kept near the top of the priority list.

Background info:

House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee

20th Report: “Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life”

Recommendation 15 (page 47):

94. We recognise that firefighters have a greater risk from environmental contamination from fires and support the research being undertaken by the University of Central Lancashire and the Fire Brigades Union. This is still in its early stages. However, research from the US has already shown that firefighters suffer higher instances of cancer in carrying out their duties than the normal population. The Government should update the Social Security Regulations so that the cancers most commonly suffered by firefighters are presumed to be industrial injuries. This should be mirrored in the UK’s Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits Scheme. We also recommend that the Health and Safety Executive monitors the progress of the Fire Brigades Union research and provides assistance in implementing recommendations which seek to improve the work environments of UK firefighters. This should include measures to minimise contamination from clothing and equipment and reduce the overall exposure of firefighters, their families and the public.


Written Question
Period Poverty Task Force
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what progress the Government's period poverty task force has made in its objectives since it was established.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The cross-sectoral Period Poverty Taskforce launched on 23rd July 2019 and has established three workstreams: Access for All, Research & Evidence and Stigma & Education. The workstreams have met twice and begun to identify: access barriers and the groups that are most affected by them; a programme of work to tackle stigma and shame surrounding menstruation; and research priorities to improve the evidence surrounding period poverty and menstrual stigma in the UK.


Written Question
Bereavement Support Payment
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to implement the ruling of the Supreme Court on extending bereavement support payments to unmarried couples.

Answered by Will Quince

The Supreme Court ruling related to Widowed Parent's Allowance which can be claimed for deaths before April 2017.

We recognise that we currently have incompatible legislation on the statute books relating to Widowed Parent's Allowance. We are actively considering possible options but there are complex issues to consider which will take time to work through. We will report back to Parliament once we have agreed our approach.


Written Question
Redundancy: Brexit
Friday 4th October 2019

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to prepare for potential jobs losses in the event the UK leaves the EU without a negotiated withdrawal agreement.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The Government has been clear that leaving the EU with a deal is its preferred option. The Government is, however, continuing to plan for a range of scenarios, including a no deal exit from the EU.

These contingencies ensure that DWP can continue to provide our vital services and that individuals will continue to be able to access DWP benefits and services on the same basis as they do now.

The labour market remains resilient and our employment rate is at a joint record high, but we need to be prepared for changing circumstances, including potential economic impacts of different EU Exit scenarios as well as impacts not related to EU Exit. DWP is working across Government to build the most up to date picture of the labour market, using all available information.

We are committed to helping everyone access fulfilling work while ensuring vulnerable people get the support they need, and leaving the EU on October 31 will not change that.