Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report on women’s State Pension age changes, published on 21 March 2024, if she will publish the related departmental submissions to the Ombudsman.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We will not publish the Departmental submissions to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
The Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman’s investigations are conducted in private as set out in section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report on women’s State Pension age changes, published on 21 March 2024, if she will publish related (a) impact assessments and (b) financial modelling for a compensation scheme.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We will consider what to publish when we announce our decision on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when Pension Credit was last (a) reviewed and (b) adjusted.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The rates of Pension Credit were last reviewed in Autumn 2023 as part of the Secretary of State’s annual statutory review of State pension and benefit rates. Following that review, the Pension Credit standard minimum guarantee was increased by 8.5%, in line with the percentage increase in average earnings, to £218.15 a week for a single pensioner and £332.95 a week for a pensioner couple, with effect from 8 April 2024. Other Pension Credit amounts, including the maximum rate of Savings Credit and additional amounts for those with a severe disability or caring responsibilities, were increased by 6.7% in line with price inflation.
The next review will be undertaken this Autumn with the new rates taking effect from 7 April 2025.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps the Government has taken to reduce levels of economic inactivity among women aged between 45 and 60 in (a) Newport West constituency and (b) Wales.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Local Jobcentre teams are supporting customers into work and helping those in work to progress to higher paid jobs. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, recruitment days, Job Fairs, wellbeing events and work trials, all of which can help support women across Wales to return to work.
Eligible older jobseekers on Universal Credit benefit from additional time with their Work Coach and the delivery of Mid Life MOTs in Jobcentres which support people to review their health, wealth and skills, with sessions delivered in Newport Jobcentre and across Wales. DWP also offers the digital MOT which is available online to help anyone who needs help to assess their finances, skills and work.
In addition, Newport Jobcentre offers bespoke support for over 50s including Job Clubs in collaboration with C4W+, offering 4-weeks of employability skills support, events with Springboard Charity focused on the hospitality sector, providing training, qualifications and work placements, and events with 1st Impressions, a charity that supplies clothing to women attending interviews or starting work.
Further planned support in Newport includes a Digital Skills course and wellbeing hubs as part of our 50Plus offer, myth busting sessions with Admiral Insurance and coaching support from Business in the Community. Activity across Wales includes a six week back to work programme for over 50s in Llandudno, and sessions delivered by local provider, Groundworks, to support customers in Shotton, both of which were well attended by local women.
We also work with businesses and the Government's Menopause Employment Champion to drive awareness of issues surrounding the menopause and work; encouraging employers to develop policies that create a more supportive environment to help women return to, stay in and progress in work. As part of the 50plus choices offer, 50plus Champions have delivered presentations to Jobcentre teams in Newport and across Wales on the menopause and the support available.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he has made an assessment of the potential benefits to carers in Newport West of increasing the Carer's Allowance to £93 a week.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
This Government continues to protect the value of benefits paid to carers whilst also spending record amounts in real terms.
The level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by uprating it each April in line with inflation as measured by the CPI for the previous September. The purpose of benefit uprating is to ensure that the value of benefits stays in line with the general level of prices. From April 2024, the Carer’s Allowance payment was increased to £81.90. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £81.90 a week, providing an additional £1,500 a year for carers.
Real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance in 2024/25 is forecast to be £4.1 billion. Between 2024/25 and 2028/29 real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is forecast to rise by 12% - around £500 million. By 2028/29, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4.5 billion a year on Carer’s Allowance.
As well as Carer’s Allowance, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits. For example, carers on Universal Credit can receive around an additional £2,400 a year through the Carer Element.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of people who are in (a) paid employment and (b) receipt of universal credit in (i) Newport West constituency and (ii) Wales.
Answered by Jo Churchill
(a)
The information requested is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
(b)
Monthly statistics on the number of people who are on Universal Credit by employment status, by parliamentary constituency and by domestic country, are published on Stat-Xplore, and are currently available to March 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Health and Safety Executive's annual budget is for accessing scientific papers and other academic journals; to which academic journals it subscribes; and whether there are any relevant academic journals to which it does not have access in the context of its work on UK REACH.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Annual Budget for accessing scientific papers and other academic journals was £52k in the 22/23 financial year. This value can vary year on year depending on requirements of HSE staff, changes to cost of access to journals etc
On subscriptions, HSE’s Divisions will organise access to specialist journals depending on need. Examples include:
a. British Medical Journal
b. Ergonomics in Design
c. Flight International
d. Human Factors
e. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics
f. Journal of Pyrotechnics
g. New Scientist
h. Science in Parliament
i. Business Green
j. Future Farming
k. MIT Technology Review
l. The Economist
Additionally, HSE has access to Elsevier’s Government edition of ScienceDirect which provides users access to over 2,000 online journals and e-chapters.
HSE staff can also request articles and full journals from the British Library interlibrary loans service and utilise a commercial provider “Reprints Desk” for articles that are urgently required. When required HSE can also purchase articles directly from publishers.
As part of the above arrangements, HSE has been able to access all published material that it has needed to deliver the programme of work on UK REACH
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance the Health and Safety Executive uses when (a) preparing dossiers on restrictions under UK REACH and (b) preparing impact assessments for enacting restrictions in secondary legislation.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) must prepare dossiers on restrictions in line with the legal requirements of Annex 15 of UK REACH. In doing so HSE may also refer to guidance produced for the EU REACH restriction process, as well as drawing on its previous experience of producing dossiers when the UK was part of the EU.
The responsibility for preparing impact assessments for enacting restrictions in secondary legislation resides with Defra as the government department responsible for UK REACH legislation and policy.
HSE provides Defra with a socioeconomic analysis alongside any restriction dossier. Restrictions proposals need to contain a description of the risks as well as information on the health and environmental benefits, the associated costs and other socio-economic impacts. This socioeconomic analysis takes account of UK REACH Annex 15 legal requirements and HM Treasury guidance on cost and benefit analysis.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many visits he has made to Wales since his appointment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Since his appointment, the Secretary of State has not visited Wales in his capacity as Secretary of State. However, in this time period, the wider DWP Ministerial team has made 3 visits to Wales on departmental business.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made on replacing the Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
As we committed to in Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, we are actively engaging with disabled people and people with health conditions and our stakeholders as we develop our proposals.
We set out the intention to transform the benefits system for the future so that it focuses on what people can do, rather than what they cannot. We will legislate to remove the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) so that in future there is only one health and disability assessment – the PIP assessment. This will mean that there will be no need to be found to have limited capability for work and limited capability to prepare for work to get additional income-related support for a disability or health condition. The degree of change in our proposals will require primary legislation, which we will aim to take early in a new parliament, when parliamentary time allows.