Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish an (a) impact statement and (b) equalities impact assessment of means-testing the winter fuel payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Regulations entered into force on 16 September, the first day of the Winter Fuel Payment qualifying week.
A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this legislation because the effect is on individuals and private households rather than businesses or voluntary sector organisations.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the Government had regard to an equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements. The equality analysis was published on Friday 13th September, and can be found here: FOI2024_65546_13_09_24.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority work in (a) Scotland and (b) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There are two Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) officers who work in Northern Ireland and one officer who works in Scotland. The GLAA can deploy their officers working in other regions to support the officers in Northern Ireland and Scotland in undertaking regulatory activity when there is capacity and a need to do so.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to align (a) pay, (b) terms and (c) conditions of facilities management employees contracted to his Department by OCS with those of comparable directly-employed staff.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Pay, T&C of OCS employees is managed by OCS. On all GPA Facilities Management contracts, we have a requirement for the payment of the Real Living Wage and London Living Wage.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle the smuggling of (a) horses, (b) ponies and (c) donkeys.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Exporting horses and other equines from Great Britain for slaughter is banned under the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act 2024.
More broadly, the Government is reviewing options to improve equine identification and traceability.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of changes to the winter fuel payment on the number of people living in fuel poverty.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A statistical publication estimating the rate of fuel poverty for those in receipt of Winter Fuel Payment in 2023, and the proportion of households who would be in fuel poverty under new eligibility criteria, will be published in due course.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential health impacts of means-testing the winter fuel payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to pensioners – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.
Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.
Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80.
We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply. This will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Allowance alongside other benefits – hundreds of pounds that could really help them. We will ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need.
Our continued commitment to the triple lock means the full new state pension is forecast to increase by a further £1,700 over the course of the parliament.
We are also providing support through our Warm Homes Plan which pensioners will benefit from. This will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. Our long-term plan will protect billpayers permanently, reduce fuel poverty, and get the UK back on track to meet our climate goals.
The Government is committed to a preventative approach to public health. Keeping people warm and well at home and improving the quality of new and existing homes will play an essential part in enabling people to live longer, healthier lives and reducing pressures on the NHS.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the government had regard to the equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, If she will collect information on potential links between the fitness for work test and (a) suicides, (b) other deaths and (c) harm.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not collect or record the cause of a customer’s death and will not usually be made aware of how a customer died. Cause of death is determined by a doctor or a coroner. There is no requirement for a Coroner to inform the department of the outcome of an inquest unless they are named as an Interested Person at that inquest - or the coroner decides to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the department. This means the department is not able to collect the information suggested.
Attempted suicides and suicides are tragic and complex issues. The department takes very seriously any suggestion that its actions, including any related to the fitness for work test, may have contributed to one. Where appropriate the department will undertake an Internal Process Review to establish if anything should have been done differently or if there are any lessons the department can learn.
Thematic learning from these serious cases is fed into the departments Serious Case Panel, which has an external chair, and considers a range of evidence from across the department. We are looking at ways to increase the amount of information made public about the work of the Serious Case Panel without jeopardising the privacy of the customers whose cases have been reviewed.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for Pension Credit took longer than six weeks to process in the last 12 months.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not routinely capture data aligned to a 6-week clearance rate. However, we do capture data against a 50-day clearance rate and our performance is published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Of 248,000 Pension Credit claims cleared in performance year 2023/24. 192,000 were cleared within the planned 50-day timescale, equating to 77.7%. 56,000, 22.3% were cleared outside of the of the 10-week planned timescale.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 effectiveness of the steps her Department has taken to increase take-up of Pensions Credit since January 2019.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The latest available take-up estimates Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial yearending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) cover the financial year 2021/2022 and suggest an overall Pension Credit take-up rate of 63%. The next take-up estimates covering the financial year 2022/2023 are due to be published in October.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to continue the nationwide rollout of the Mandatory In-Work Progression offer.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Getting people into work and helping them to progress at work is central to growing the economy. As part of our growth mission, the Government will produce a Get Britain Working White Paper, to set out the policy framework for delivering on our manifesto commitments.