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 - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
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 - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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 - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
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 - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
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 - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
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 her Department has made on implementing the decisions made at the Serious Case Panel meeting of 2 July 2020 on the Customer Dissatisfaction workstream.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department will be reporting on the implementation of the recommendations agreed by the Serious Case Panel in this year’s Annual Report and Accounts. The Panel continues to consider the serious issues arising from cases and other insight that affect the DWP customer experience. The Serious Case Panel has now met four times and is due to meet again this month. The Panel has made great progress over the last year, already making changes to the way in which we support our most vulnerable customers. We will continue to publish the minutes following each meeting of the Panel on gov.uk.
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 much was paid in local housing allowance in the Blackpool local authority area in financial year 2019-20.
Answered by Will Quince
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit expenditure by local authority can be accessed here:
The figure is available in tab 2019-20, column U, row 49.
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 in the health and beauty industry.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (“IIAC”) is independent of Government. IIAC have commissioned a review of respiratory conditions which will soon be underway and will be guided by its outcome when making any recommendations for changes to the appropriate prescriptions. As part of this, they will ensure that the review of occupational causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease will include hairdressing and hair products.
IIAC is in the process of tendering for an external contractor to carry out the commissioned review, it expects a successful bidder to be appointed late Spring 2021 and the review is expected to take two years to complete.