Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether income-related ESA claimants who are re-assessed upon moving to Universal Credit through Managed Migration after 2025 will be subject to the existing or new Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no automatic referral for reassessment for customers at the point that they move from Employment Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC). If a customer has an existing ESA Work Capability Assessment decision, they will not be required to have another assessment in order to get the health-related additions of Universal Credit, unless their health condition has changed.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation entitled Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors, published on 5 September 2023, if he will make an estimate of the number of claimants that would no longer be found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity in (a) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom if each of the proposals in that consultation were implemented.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
DWP’s consultation on changes to the Work Capability Assessment closed on Monday 30 October. Over 1300 individuals and organisations submitted a response and 14 public consultation events were held, both face-to-face across Great Britain, and virtually. The consultation responses are now being considered and decisions will be taken in due course.
The department has developed estimates of the impacts of these proposals on disabled people. We are continuing to refine these estimates as responses to the consultation are considered. This analysis is not available at a subnational level.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 impact of proposals in the Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors consultation on the number of disabled people living in poverty.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The consultation closed on Monday 30 October and covered a range of options on the Work Capability Assessment. We received over 1,300 responses to the consultation and these are now being considered.
The department has developed estimates of the number of claimants impacted across the range of options being considered in the Work Capability Assessment activities and descriptors consultation.
Assessing poverty impacts would involve projecting forward every household’s income and individual circumstances, which is not possible to do with confidence.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will launch a public awareness campaign on the requirement for UK citizens to apply for European Travel Information and Authorisation System travel authorisation in order to travel to Europe from 2024.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Government continues to engage with the European Commission and EU Member States to understand the impact the EU's European Travel Information and Authorisation System will have on British citizens, and to understand their plans for public communications.
Entry requirements for British citizens travelling to the EU are set out in FCDO travel advice. These requirements are based on information provided by EU Member States. FCDO travel advice is regularly updated to reflect our latest understanding of EU Member State requirements.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many organisations are waiting to be added to the redundancy modification order list as of 25 August 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
There are 34 bodies waiting to be added to the Redundancy Modification Order.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will undertake a review of the proportion of patients with communication needs who can access their health information in a format suitable to their personal needs.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no plans to undertake such a review. Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged.
Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations are required to comply with the Accessible Information Standard. The Standard sets out a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.
The standard sets out that NHS organisations must ask people if they have any information or communication needs and take steps to ensure that people receive information which they can access and understand and receive communication support if they need it.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Your life and CF, published in June 2023 by Cystic Fibrosis Trust, if he will make an assessment of the impact of hospital car park charges on the proportion of appointments missed by people with (a) cystic fibrosis and (b) other long term conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
We have no current plans to make a specific assessment. Through the Government’s commitment, all trusts that charge for hospital car parking now provide free parking to in-need groups, which include National Health Service staff working overnight, frequent outpatient attenders, disabled people and parents of children staying overnight in hospital. An assessment of in-need groups was undertaken during the development of this policy to capture as wide a range of patients as possible.
To minimise the risk of patients missing appointments owing to parking issues, NHS England advise trusts that they should consider installing ‘pay on exit’ or similar schemes so that drivers pay only for the time that they have used when they leave.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability employment advisors there are in the UK; and how many of those advisors there are per job centre.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There are currently over 770 Disability Employment Advisers in the UK. Disability Employment Adviser resource is allocated at district level and covers every Jobcentre in England, Scotland and Wales. We are ensuring that every Work Coach in every Jobcentre continues to have access to a Disability Employment Adviser.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work coaches there are in Job Centres in the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of 1st April 2023 there are:
12,171 – Universal Credit Work Coaches
1,868 – Legacy Benefit Work Coaches
805 – Disability Employment Advisor (DEA)
Total Work Coach, including DEA, is 14,844
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work coaches in job centres have specialist disability training.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All new DWP Work Coaches undergo comprehensive learning to support customers with additional or complex needs, particularly disabilities and they continue to build on this in the workplace through accessing point of need learning products.
The learning provides the work coach with an understanding of assisted digital, and how they can effectively coach claimants who find using digital services a challenge.
Work coaches are also signposted to tools, guidance support and websites to effectively use resources from both internal and external sites. This ensures that they access the most up to date advice and expertise on a particular health condition.
In addition, within DWP, there are staff who undertake the Disability Employment Advisor (DEA) role. Staff who undertake this role are expected to have completed the Work Coach Learning Journey prior to commencing specific learning for the DEA role.
DEAs support Work Coaches by providing expert knowledge on how to support disabled customers, building the skills and capability of Work Coaches, and influencing employer engagement in local communities. DEA’s can also directly support customers with a health condition or disability where additional support can benefit the customer.