Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting a target for the level of food bank usage by the end of this Parliament.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling poverty and ending the mass dependence on emergency food parcels. We will be considering the best way to achieve these important objectives over the coming weeks and months working through the new Ministerial Taskforce on Child Poverty which will oversee the development of a cross-government Child Poverty Strategy.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the proposed child poverty strategy will examine the potential impact of (a) trends in the use of food bank usage and (b) the No Recourse to Public Funds policy on levels of childhood poverty.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling child poverty and ending the mass dependence on emergency food parcels. The new Ministerial Taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the Opportunity Mission.
After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin and we will publish a Full Terms of Reference in the coming weeks. We will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were on the WorkWell pilot on 15 May 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
WorkWell, backed by £64m investment, will provide support for up to 59,000 disabled people and people with health conditions to start stay and succeed in work.
The 15 successful WorkWell pilots were announced on 7 May 2024. The pilot areas will now develop a delivery plan with a view to services going live from October 2024.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department holds data on the number of job offers for disabled people withdrawn due to the time taken to arrange Access to Work packages.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The information requested about the number of job offers for disabled people withdrawn due to the time taken to arrange Access to Work packages is not available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, applications which have a start date of 4 week or less are prioritised to ensure customers are able to enter and remain in the labour market.
The Access to Work statistics includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2021/23.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be found on Access to Work statistics on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the press release entitled 25,000 people to be helped into work as Government ramps up roll-out of flagship Universal Support scheme, published on 13 September 2023, what recent estimate his Department has made of when it will reach its target of assisting 25,000 disabled people through the Universal Support scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
We have interpreted your question as referring to the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative and Work and Health Programme (WHP) Pioneer, both of which form part of the first phase of Universal Support.
We explained in our press release that we expect to help 25,000 people by September 2024. Progress will be reported in the WHP official statistics publication on GOV.UK. Information relating to IPSPC is not currently available; however, the Secretary of State has committed to the publication of data for the IPSPC initiative as part of the first phase of Universal Support. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.
The next release of published statistics for the WHP is planned for 30 May 2024. This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer. Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were on the Individual Placement and Support programme on 15 May 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
We have interpreted your question as referring to the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative and Work and Health Programme (WHP) Pioneer, both of which form part of the first phase of Universal Support.
We explained in our press release that we expect to help 25,000 people by September 2024. Progress will be reported in the WHP official statistics publication on GOV.UK. Information relating to IPSPC is not currently available; however, the Secretary of State has committed to the publication of data for the IPSPC initiative as part of the first phase of Universal Support. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.
The next release of published statistics for the WHP is planned for 30 May 2024. This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer. Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are being assisted through Universal Support.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
We have interpreted your question as referring to the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative and Work and Health Programme (WHP) Pioneer, both of which form part of the first phase of Universal Support.
We explained in our press release that we expect to help 25,000 people by September 2024. Progress will be reported in the WHP official statistics publication on GOV.UK. Information relating to IPSPC is not currently available; however, the Secretary of State has committed to the publication of data for the IPSPC initiative as part of the first phase of Universal Support. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.
The next release of published statistics for the WHP is planned for 30 May 2024. This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer. Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on its Disability Confident employer scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The Disability Confident scheme is delivered by a small policy team within the department, and by colleagues across the Jobcentre Plus network, who engage with employers and partner organisations as part of their day-to-day business. Total scheme expenditure is not separately recorded within departmental budgets.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of disabled people receiving Personal Independence Payment are in work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
In March 2023, 475,000 people in receipt of PIP in England, Wales, or outside the UK were in employment in the UK, including self-employment. The proportion of people in receipt of PIP who are in employment was published in Modernising Support for Independent Living - The Health and Disability Green Paper found here.
These figures contain all PIP claimants, including claimants with disabilities and long-term health conditions, and those over pension age.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to settle Access to Work payments owed to Icarus Theatre Collective in Southwark to support a disabled actor.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
We are unable to comment on individual cases.
Claims for Access to Work payments can be submitted via our online portal or through the post and this is clearly explained in customer letters. Approved claims submitted through the proper channels are typically processed within 10 days.