Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the potential (a) mortality rate and (b) number of suicides among benefit claimants in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department does not record mortality rates or information on the causes of benefit claimants’ deaths, as there is no causal relationship between somebody claiming a benefit and their death.
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.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who will fall into the relative low income bracket if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.
Answered by Will Quince
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the Backbench Business Committee debate on Mental Health First Aid on 17 January 2019 Official Report columns 1366-1395, what steps her Department is taking to ensure employers are aware of the the Health and Safety Executive's guidelines on existing requirements to consider mental health alongside physical health when undertaking a first aid needs assessment, published in November 2018.
Answered by Sarah Newton
On the 21 November 2018 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published revised guidance for employers on compliance with the existing Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (http://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/needs-assessment.htm). HSE developed this revised guidance with Mental Health First Aid-England to clarify and increase employer understanding that mental health should already be considered alongside physical health when undertaking a first aid needs assessment. The findings from this assessment will help direct employers to decide what measures they need to put in place. There are a range of actions that employers can undertake, but their choice should be guided by the outcomes of their first aid needs assessment and will depend on factors such as employee needs, the type of work and size of company.
HSE has communicated this clarified guidance directly to key stakeholders involved in the design and delivery of first aid at work training courses.
HSE is also taking opportunities to raise awareness through existing activity under its Health and Work programme, where preventing work-related mental ill health is a key priority. There is also related wider government activity led by the Joint DWP/DHSC Work and Health Unit to promote mental health core standards from the Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer ‘Thriving at Work’ review published in October 2017, to help employers implement a comprehensive approach to managing mental health in the workplace.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Table A08 of the recent Labour Market Bulletin published by the Office for National Statistics, what assessment she has made of the reasons for people with disabilities having an employment rate of 30.4 percentage points lower than people without disabilities between April to June 2018; and what plans her Department has to address that disability employment gap.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The employment rate gap between disabled and non-disabled people fell from 33.1% in April-June 2013 to 31.3% in April-June 2017.
We remain committed to further improving outcomes for disabled people. The manifesto commitment to get one million more disabled people in work by 2027 gives us a clear, ambitious, and time bound goal.
We set out our continued commitment to improving employment rates for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions in Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability. We believe people should get the support they need whatever their health condition or disability, whether that’s from their employer, from the health system or from the welfare system.
We have invested in our Personal Support Package, which includes £330 million of funding over four years with a range of new interventions and initiatives designed to provide support that is tailored to the individual needs of claimants. We have recruited 300 additional Disability Employment Advisers and we are introducing 200 new Community Partners, bringing specialist advice and support into the Jobcentre.
We are supporting employers to help them recruit and retain disabled people and people with health conditions through Disability Confident, the Access to Work scheme, and specialist advisers in Jobcentres.
Recognising the importance of keeping people in work, we want to reform the Statutory Sick Pay system so that it more effectively supports returns to work, and we are exploring how to shape, fund and deliver transformational change to provide effective occupational health services that can support people in work.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the report, Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers, published by her Department in October 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government responded to Thriving at Work: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers in the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability which was published on 30th November 2017. The joint DWP and DHSC Work and Health Unit is now overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.
We have made significant progress on ensuring the public sector leads the way: the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which was published on 16th May 2018 and shared with NHS organisations, and the Civil Service has benchmarked all main government departments and their agencies/NDPBs against the core and enhanced mental health standards to identify best practice and areas requiring further action. We also held a Public Sector Summit on 18th July 2018 which brought together public sector leaders and experts to share best practice on mental health support and how the review’s recommendations are being implemented and championed.
We have also been progressing a range of policy work on which we will report in due course.
We have promoted the standards to private sector employers through a range of communication channels and supported Mind in the development of their mental health at work online gateway, but data on numbers of businesses who have adopted the core and enhanced standards is not held centrally. We will continue to work with key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many businesses have adopted the core standards set out in the report, Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers, published by her Department in October 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government responded to Thriving at Work: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers in the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability which was published on 30th November 2017. The joint DWP and DHSC Work and Health Unit is now overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.
We have made significant progress on ensuring the public sector leads the way: the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which was published on 16th May 2018 and shared with NHS organisations, and the Civil Service has benchmarked all main government departments and their agencies/NDPBs against the core and enhanced mental health standards to identify best practice and areas requiring further action. We also held a Public Sector Summit on 18th July 2018 which brought together public sector leaders and experts to share best practice on mental health support and how the review’s recommendations are being implemented and championed.
We have also been progressing a range of policy work on which we will report in due course.
We have promoted the standards to private sector employers through a range of communication channels and supported Mind in the development of their mental health at work online gateway, but data on numbers of businesses who have adopted the core and enhanced standards is not held centrally. We will continue to work with key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many large businesses have adopted the enhanced standards set out in the report, Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers, published by her Department in October 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government responded to Thriving at Work: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers in the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability which was published on 30th November 2017. The joint DWP and DHSC Work and Health Unit is now overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.
We have made significant progress on ensuring the public sector leads the way: the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which was published on 16th May 2018 and shared with NHS organisations, and the Civil Service has benchmarked all main government departments and their agencies/NDPBs against the core and enhanced mental health standards to identify best practice and areas requiring further action. We also held a Public Sector Summit on 18th July 2018 which brought together public sector leaders and experts to share best practice on mental health support and how the review’s recommendations are being implemented and championed.
We have also been progressing a range of policy work on which we will report in due course.
We have promoted the standards to private sector employers through a range of communication channels and supported Mind in the development of their mental health at work online gateway, but data on numbers of businesses who have adopted the core and enhanced standards is not held centrally. We will continue to work with key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals on workplace health and safety regulations to ensure that employers provide appropriate first aid training for their staff.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for regulating first aid provision in the workplace, as set out in the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. The Regulations require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work. The Regulations apply to all workplaces including those with less than five employees and to the self-employed.
Employers should undertake a needs assessment, to ensure that first aid provision adequately reflects the needs of their particular workplace or organisation and that appointed first aid personnel receive appropriate training. It is the responsibility of employers to choose their training providers and apply due diligence in doing so.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
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 suitability of the universal credit single payment in cases of financial abuse towards one person in a couple.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We have made an assessment about the suitability of Universal Credit single payments in cases of financial abuse towards one person in a couple. This was outlined in the attached letter, dated 15 May 2018, to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to prevent exceptional split payments of universal credit that require the disclosure of abuse.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We do not require formal disclosure of abuse to establish split payments for Universal Credit claimants, and we do not ask for any evidence relating to the abuse. An individual can be accompanied by a representative from a third party organisation to provide expert support when disclosing domestic abuse to a work coach.
All personal information is treated in confidence, and we do not disclose information to third parties without explicit consent. If requested, we can provide access to a private area where information can be disclosed.