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 commission a study from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council on (a) the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among former employees of the health and beauty industry and (b) their potential eligibility for industrial injuries disablement benefit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) is proposing to commission 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 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), to inform, update or potentially expand the industrial injuries scheme. The proposal is in its early stages, the tendering process to appoint a suitably qualified organisation to carry out the research was delayed by the coronavirus crisis and lockdown, but will be resumed as soon as practically possible.
We carefully consider any recommendations made by the IIAC and wider stakeholders. Should IIAC recommend further changes to the list of prescribed diseases, we would of course treat this with careful consideration.
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 reason the £20 hardship payment allocated to universal credit claimants was not also allocated to legacy Jobseeker's Allowance claimants.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has announced a suite of measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised to benefit those facing the most financial disruption during the pandemic. The Department is experiencing significantly increased demand and has to prioritise the safety and stability of the benefits system overall. The IT system which supports Universal Credit has more capacity to make the necessary changes than the systems that support legacy benefits. It also uses different technology from other DWP systems and these older systems have complex interactions and interdependencies.
We estimate that 2.5m households receiving Universal Credit will benefit straight away from the increase in the standard allowances which was announced on 20 March, and which is additional to the planned annual uprating. New claimants who have either become unemployed, or whose earnings or work hours have decreased because of the outbreak, will benefit too; subject to their eligibility.
We have also made a number of changes to legacy and other working age benefits in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including increasing certain entitlements, such as Local Housing Allowance. Up-to-date information about the employment and benefits support available, including Universal Credit, Statutory Sick Pay, New style Jobseeker’s Allowance, and Employment and Support Allowance, can be found here: https://www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/employment-and-benefits-support/
The COVID-19 outbreak continues to be a rapidly evolving situation and we are keeping it under review.
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 reason her Department's Cycle to Work scheme offers only interest free loans and not the additional reductions in the cost of bicycles as offered by other Government departments.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP offers its employees access to two schemes: an advance of salary to purchase a bicycle and a Cycle to Work scheme, which allows employees to sacrifice part of their salary in exchange for a discounted bicycle and safety equipment. This initiative is governed by the Department for Transport and is similar to schemes run by other Government Departments.
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 reason income from student maintenance was disregarded for the purposes of calculating Child Tax Credits.
Answered by Will Quince
Tax credits are designed to be closely aligned with the tax system, and therefore generally only take into account taxable income. As student loans are not liable to income tax, they are not included in the calculation of income for tax credits purposes.
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 reason student maintenance income is taken into account for universal credit purposes but not for child tax credit purposes.
Answered by Will Quince
Tax credits are designed to be closely aligned with the tax system, and therefore generally only take into account taxable income. As student loans are not liable to income tax, they are not included in the calculation of income for tax credits purposes.
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 and what proportion of people were in persistent poverty in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
Statistics on persistent low income are published annually in the “Income Dynamics” publication. This data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-dynamics-2016-to-2017, in the ‘persistent low income trends’ file in Table 1.
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 pensioners over the age of 80 are in receipt of the state pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In August 2019, the latest date for which data are available, there were 3,572,109 persons aged 80 years and above in receipt of State Pension.
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 her policy is on maintaining benefit payments in cash form to claimants.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Departments payment policy does not include cash payments. This policy outlines that the standard method of payment is into a bank, building society, credit union account, internet based and basic bank account. There are also two payment exception services (Post Office card account and HMG PES) that enable individuals who cannot manage a standard bank account, access to their money from various outlets. When the contracts for these services end, a replacement service will be introduced.
We are committed to ensuring that those who need cash payments will be able to access them in their local area and that an over the counter face to face service will remain available.
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 full-time equivalent staff worked in the Office for Disability Issues on 1 June 2019.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There were 15.5 full-time equivalent staff working in the Office for Disability Issues on 1 June 2019.
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 publish the minutes of each meeting of the Independent Serious Case Panel.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are absolutely committed to improving our services, especially to the most vulnerable, which is why we have set up the Serious Case Panel. The panel was developed to take themes and systemic issues that come out of various case reviews and make recommendations for improvements.
More information about the Serious Case Panel will be published in due course.