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 her Department is taking to ensure that Motability vehicles benefit the person they are intended to support.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Foundation (Motability) is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to help disabled people with their mobility and transport needs. Only those claimants in receipt of an eligible benefit can choose to join the Motability Scheme. When a claimant elects to join the Scheme, the Department directly transfers the mobility allowance to Motability Operations on behalf of the eligible claimant. Any misuse of a scheme vehicle is taken very seriously, and Motability Operations has a dedicated unit that works to prevent, detect and handle such cases, taking action as appropriate.
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 her Department ensures the adequacy of Motability vehicles for users.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Foundation is independent of government and regulated by the Charity Commission so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme.
As Motability is independent of government, the management of the scheme rests with them and their respective Boards of Governors. As such, any questions regarding the
adequacy of Motability vehicles should be directed to the Motability scheme.
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 her Department has plans to change supported housing rules and regulations to allow disabled people to work more hours if they can; and whether she has plans to (a) monitor and (b) enforce how employers implement reasonable adjustments to work practices for disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those living in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department will consider the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.
Despite this challenge, the Housing Benefit taper ensures a person is better off in work than wholly reliant on benefits. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, improved confidence and independence, as well as a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health.
It is recognised that employers play an important role in supporting disabled people and those with health conditions. Our support to employers includes a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident Scheme. Employers must comply with the Equality Act 2010, including making reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and job applicants. The Government keeps the Equality Act 2010 under review, but no formal review is planned at this time.
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 (a) housing benefit and (b) equivalent benefit as part of Universal Credit was paid to housing associations in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested for Universal Credit is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The information requested for Housing Benefit may be found by using the Detailed Housing Type and the Payment Destination fields in the “Housing Benefit - Data from April 2018” dataset in Stat-Xplore (Stat-Xplore - Log in (dwp.gov.uk)). Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore; the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
The Department is working towards developing these statistics internally so that we will be in a position to answer similar Parliamentary Questions in the future.
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 she will review her Department's use of the term customer for claimants.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department keeps its policies and procedures under regular review, including how it communicates with users of its services.
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 (a) housing benefit and (b) UC equivalent allowance was paid directly to councils in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested for Universal Credit is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The information requested for Housing Benefit may be found by using the Detailed Housing Type and the Payment Destination fields in the “Housing Benefit - Data from April 2018” dataset in Stat-Xplore ((Stat-Xplore - Log in (dwp.gov.uk)). Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore; the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
The Department is working towards developing these statistics internally so that we will be in a position to answer similar Parliamentary Questions in the future.
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, when the Occupational Health Taskforce (a) last met and (b) is scheduled to next meet.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As outlined in the previous Government’s response to the Occupational Health: Working Better consultation (published on 23 November 2023), an expert occupational health taskforce led by Dame Carol Black was established in February 2024 to explore the development of a new voluntary framework for OH provision.
The taskforce last met on 26th April 2024 and Government is reviewing how best to progress the evidence, stakeholder views and insights gathered as part of the policy development previously undertaken for this work.
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 assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report by Christians Against Poverty entitled Deficit budgets: The cost to stay alive, published in September 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling poverty and good quality work will be the foundation of our approach.
We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty, but too many people are being denied the security and dignity that comes with being in good work. The Get Britain Working White Paper, to be set out in the Autumn, will develop measures to reduce inactivity and help people to find better paid and more secure jobs.
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025 and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. This will include listening to the voices of children living in poverty and their families.
We need a modern and effective social security system that is fit for purpose which is why we have committed to reviewing Universal Credit and listening to the full range of views on potential changes.
For those most in need, we have extended the Household Support Fund for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual. As has been done for previous schemes, the Fund is available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the cost of essentials.
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 she plans to meet with the Safe Sick Pay campaign to discuss the rate of Statutory Sick Pay.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My officials met with representatives from the Centre for Progressive Change to discuss measures to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay on the day of the Employment Rights Bill introduction.
As announced in the Next Steps to Make Work Pay, the Government will shortly publish a consultation on what the percentage replacement rate for those earning below the current flat rate of Statutory Sick Pay should be. I welcome responses from the Centre for Progressive Change and other stakeholders to this consultation.
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 she will take steps to ensure that deductions from social security payments do not leave people in relative poverty.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The primary aim of deductions in Universal Credit is to protect customers by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services, such as, housing, electricity and gas. The policy also enables social obligations, such as, paying Court Fines to be enforced when other repayment methods have failed, or are not cost effective, and ensures that benefit debt is recovered in a cost-effective manner.
The Department has an established process to support anyone experiencing financial hardship and encourages customers unable to afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact DWP Debt Management at the earliest opportunity. Departmental agents will, where applicable, negotiate an affordable and sustainable repayment plan. Furthermore, there is no limit on the number of times a person can request a change to their repayment rate. In exceptional cases, based on individual circumstances, a temporary suspension of recovery may be agreed.
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to.