Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to reply to the letter of 21 June 2021, resent on 8 September 2021, from the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, regarding the Personal Independence Payment application process.
Answered by Guy Opperman
A reply was sent to the Honourable Member on 02/11 2021.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of eligible universal credit claimants in Blackpool North and Cleveleys are claiming for childcare.
Answered by David Rutley
The number of households on Universal Credit and those with Child Care entitlement, broken down by Parliamentary Constituency, can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has made on its review of lung cancer and COPD in former employees of the health and beauty industry.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council have recently commissioned a comprehensive review and evaluation of the literature, including epidemiology, on work-related malignant and non-malignant respiratory diseases, primarily focussing on lung cancer and COPD. The broad remit of the review will cover former employees of the health and beauty industry and associated exposures. The review, which is about to commence, will inform the prescriptions for the purposes of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits. The review is expected to take up to two years to complete, after which time the Council will report on its findings.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on implementation of the recommendations of the Paul Maynard taskforce on inclusive apprenticeships published in July 2016.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government accepted all 14 recommendations put forward by the Maynard taskforce and have introduced legislation which allows for the minimum English and Maths requirements for apprenticeships to be adjusted for people with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to entry level 3.
We remain committed to ensuring that more people from underrepresented backgrounds undertake and achieve an apprenticeship and benefit from their progression opportunities.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the Local Restriction Support Grant paid by local authorities to businesses is taken into account for self-employed tax credit claimants but not for self-employed universal credit claimants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The tax credits system is designed to work closely alongside the tax system. This is why the general measure of income for assessing claims to tax credits is any income which is charged to income tax.
The Local Restriction Support Grant is a taxable payment made to businesses. As such, it is considered as income for tax credits purposes. This is consistent with other forms of taxable business support available during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the Self-Employment Income Support Grant and Small Business Grants.
DWP legislation provides that Covid-19 related grants which are intended to cover loss of business income and to aid business recovery, will be disregarded for Universal Credit purposes for 12 months.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2020 to Question 76930, what progress has been made in laying the remedial order governing (a) widowed parent's allowance and (b) bereavement support payment.
Answered by Guy Opperman
We are currently considering the detail and implementation of the draft remedial order and will update the House in due course.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unpaid carers lost eligibility for carer's allowance as a result of increased minimum wage payments in the 2019-20 financial year.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Carer’s Allowance earnings limit is not linked to the number of hours worked or the level of “minimum wage” payments. Therefore, the department does not routinely collect information on whether those claiming Carer’s Allowance are being paid at those levels and so the information requested is not available.
The earnings limit is set at a level that aims to encourage those who give up full time work in order to undertake caring responsibilities to maintain a link with the labour market through some part time work. The Carer’s Allowance weekly earnings limit has increased by nearly a third since 2010 (from £100 to £128 net earnings per week), reflecting an increase in average earnings in recent years. These increases have helped ensure that the earnings limit has maintained its value.
The department is currently undertaking research which will touch on carers employment and potential barriers to them working. We will look at the findings from the research and other evidence and arguments with an open mind, and would consider changes to the way the earnings limit is calculated if they were deemed to be necessary and affordable.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will uprate the earnings limit for claiming carers allowance in line with the minimum wage.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Carer’s Allowance earnings limit is not linked to the number of hours worked or the level of “minimum wage” payments. Therefore, the department does not routinely collect information on whether those claiming Carer’s Allowance are being paid at those levels and so the information requested is not available.
The earnings limit is set at a level that aims to encourage those who give up full time work in order to undertake caring responsibilities to maintain a link with the labour market through some part time work. The Carer’s Allowance weekly earnings limit has increased by nearly a third since 2010 (from £100 to £128 net earnings per week), reflecting an increase in average earnings in recent years. These increases have helped ensure that the earnings limit has maintained its value.
The department is currently undertaking research which will touch on carers employment and potential barriers to them working. We will look at the findings from the research and other evidence and arguments with an open mind, and would consider changes to the way the earnings limit is calculated if they were deemed to be necessary and affordable.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
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 effect of the interaction between universal credit's minimum income floor and the requirement for self-employed universal credit claimants to report income monthly on the differential amount of universal credit received by self-employed claimants compared to employed claimants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Self-employed earnings are reported on a simplified 'cash accounting' basis, which asks for the total income from receipts into the business and details of payments out of the business under defined categories during the assessment period. The requirements were designed to be as simple as possible in order for self-employed claimants to easily report their earnings. Most claimants now report monthly on-line, via their Universal Credit account, with a telephone service still available where additional support is required.
Company directors and those combining employed work with their self-employed activities may receive a salary using the PAYE system. All earnings processed through PAYE are reported automatically to the DWP through HMRC’s RTI feed. Monthly reporting of earnings and other income is a fundamental part of the design of Universal Credit and allows the Universal Credit award to be adjusted on a monthly basis to reflect the circumstances of the household.