To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Employment and Support Allowance: Homes for Ukraine Scheme
Wednesday 23rd March 2022

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance will face any deductions to their benefits in the event that they support a Ukrainian refugee under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The Government is grateful to individuals who wish to play their part in supporting Homes for Ukraine. DWP is working at pace with DLUHC and the Home Office to ensure benefit claimants who feel they can support the scheme are able to do so.


Written Question
Employment Schemes
Wednesday 30th June 2021

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sector-based Work Academy Programme starters there were in financial year 2020-21 in each region and nation; and how many of those have started a new job as a result.

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

Data for the financial year 2020 – 21 shows that there were a total of 64,500 starts to a Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP). The breakdown of these starts by nation and region is displayed in the following tables:

Table 1: SWAP starts by nation

Nation

Starts

England

58,320

Scotland

6,120

Unknown

60

Total

64,500

Table 2: SWAP starts by region

Region

Starts

West Midlands

5,000

Central, East & North Scotland

4,340

South & West Scotland

1,780

London & Essex

12,950

North & East Midlands

7,800

North Central

6,960

North East

5,550

North West

5,340

South East

8,200

South West

6,510

Unknown

60

Total

64,500

Note on above: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10; components may not sum due to rounding. These figures reflect the number of starts by claimants in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support (IS). We do not hold data on the number of participants who have started a job as a result of starting a SWAP.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Dudley
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department's new temporary site on High Street Dudley, will be used to support (a) new and (b) existing customers; and whether that site will be made a permanent location.

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

The Department has seen an increase in demand for its services and, as a result, is rapidly expanding the space available, on a temporary basis. These offices will supplement the existing Jobcentre network and will serve both existing and new customers.

As the economy recovers and/or social distancing requirements are eased, the Department will look to close the temporary sites, ensuring there is balance in providing essential services for customers with value for money for taxpayers. If, however, any of the new sites offer better, more suitable accommodation than our existing offices the Department may look to retain them.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Tuesday 15th June 2021

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to investigate the matter of unclaimed child maintenance payments made by fathers when the child and mother have moved abroad.

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

The Child Maintenance Service is only able to make a maintenance calculation when the paying parent, receiving parent and qualifying children are all habitually resident in the UK.


Written Question
Civil Service: Dudley North
Thursday 15th April 2021

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to deliver civil service jobs in her Department to Dudley North constituency.

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

Our Jobcentre Employment Advisers within Dudley North work closely with other Government Departments located in the area to ensure any planned recruitment is fully supported. Work Coaches undertake job-matching to identify customers in the area who have indicated an interest in joining the Civil Service, and provide assistance to register on the Civil Service Jobs website, including support with searching for vacancies and setting up job alerts.

Jobcentres across Dudley Borough have a partnership with the ‘Skills Shop’ at the Merry Hill Centre, where customers can be referred for further assistance with Civil Service applications and interview techniques. They also have a partnership with Go Train, a local provider, to provide support to customers with applying for the recent Work Coach recruitment exercise, including help and advice with the application process.


Written Question
Jobcentres: West Midlands
Monday 11th January 2021

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job work coaches her Department is planning to deploy in (a) Dudley, (b) the Black Country and (c) the West Midlands region.

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

The Department currently has 71 Work Coaches allocated to two Jobcentres in the Dudley North constituency; 21 at Tipton and 50 at Dudley. A proportion of a further 55 new entrants are due to be deployed by early 2021.

In the Black Country as a whole we are looking to deploy a total of 574 by early 2021, and there is projected to be a total of 1702 Work Coaches across West Midlands by the time that our current recruitment concludes.


Written Question
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Tuesday 27th October 2020

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

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 merits of reclassifying (a) myalgic encephalomyelitis and (b) chronic fatigue syndrome as a disability rather than as an illness for the purposes of (a) benefit assessments and (b) employee rights.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

Entitlement to health and disability-related benefits is determined by the functional effects of a person’s disability or health condition. Classification of the disability or condition is irrelevant for the purposes of benefit assessment.

With regard to employee rights, though they are not automatically treated as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome can be treated as disabled depending upon the effect it has on their daily life. ME is specifically listed amongst “impairments with fluctuating or recurring effects” in the 2010 Act Guidance document

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85010/disability-definition.pdf.

Any employment rights would then flow from being classified as disabled under the Equality Act 2010.


Written Question
Employment: Dudley North
Monday 19th October 2020

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to help ensure equality of employment opportunity in Dudley North constituency.

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

DWP offers significant support to unemployed people across Great Britain to access employment opportunities through our network of Jobcentres. Our Work Coaches provide support on finding a job, help with retraining or skills advice, CV, job applications and access to the new vacancies we record every day, as well as signposting to our new Jobhelp website. We adopt a blended approach of channels to connect with customers, to reflect current restrictions and comply with COVID safety.

The Department is working closely with other government departments, external organisations and local partners to support people into work.

The Kickstart scheme was recently launched to help young people aged 16-24 find 6-month work places in Dudley, and we have developed Youth Hubs locally to provide outreach support. There are two Youth Hubs which can be accessed by young people in Dudley, one at The Archives in Dudley Town Centre and one at the Merry Hill Centre in Brierley Hill. We have also partnered with employers in the area to deliver Mentoring Circles and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.


Written Question
Employment: Mental Illness
Tuesday 24th March 2020

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people with mental disabilities (a) into and (b) to remain in employment.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap and seeing a million more disabled people in work by 2027.

We help disabled people, including those with mental health conditions and learning disabilities, return to and stay in work through programmes including the Work and Health Programme, the new Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme, Access to Work and Disability Confident.


Written Question
Carers: Coronavirus
Tuesday 24th March 2020

Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Government has plans to extend financial support for people that need to take time off work to care for vulnerable relatives suffering from covid-19.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

It is likely that many employees who have received a shield letter will be able to work from home and therefore be entitled to normal pay. We would encourage employers to make this happen where possible. For those that cannot work from home, we would encourage employers to furlough these staff.

Under the scheme employers will be eligible to apply for a government grant of 80% of workers’ salaries up to £2,500 a month. The scheme will be backdated to 1st March and available for at least three months, with the first grants expected to be paid within weeks.

There is also the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme which will help eligible freelance workers receive up to £2,500 per month in grants for at least three months.

The Government has set up an advice contact centre and website exclusively to help those who have been identified as shielding to access support.

A new Local Support System in England will make sure those individuals that have been identified by the NHS to stay at home, and who are without a support network of friends and family, will receive essential supplies such as groceries and medicine.

Everyone infected with Covid-19 or required to self-isolate will be treated as having Limited Capability for Work in ESA and UC without the requirement for fit notes or undergoing a Work Capability Assessment. Those applying for Contributory ESA will be able to claim from day 1 – as opposed to day 8 - and we have removed the need for face-to-face assessment.