Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to compile information on the number of Motability vehicles which have been recalled in England between (a) January to March and (b) April to June 2017.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Department does not hold information on how many people had Motability vehicles on DLA. Therefore, we are unable to collect accurate information on the number of people who have returned a Motability vehicle.
The details of the number of people returning Motability vehicles for the requested dates and the reasons behind this are Motability’s Management Information, and the Department has no right to access this as it is an independent organisation.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government and Government agencies are taking to work together to reduce work-related illness and deaths.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government and its agencies have brought a renewed focus to the health and safety system by working to: maintain the gains made in safety at work, while giving health the same priority; keep people in work through good health and safety management; and help people return to work through the right support and advice. This approach looks to build on the considerable strengths of the health and safety system whilst addressing its continuing challenges: the ever-changing nature of work and the needs of an increasingly ageing population.
The approach is under pinned by three key strategies: the Government’s Green Paper, Work, Health and Disability: Improving Lives, which sets out the Government’s proposals for improving work and health outcomes for people with long-term health conditions; HSE’s Health and Work Strategy, which addresses the occupational health problems which most commonly afflict the working population; and the strategy for Great Britain’s wider occupational health and safety system, Helping Great Britain work well.
This combined approach seeks active participation of business and the wider community in delivering lasting health and safety benefits as these issues cannot be addressed by the Government, and its agencies, acting in isolation.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to work with local authorities to (a) promote good health at work and (b) ensure that workers are protected from work-related illness.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the lead regulator for work related ill health, which is one of the key themes in the health and safety system strategy Helping Great Britain Work Well’. HSE consulted and liaised with Local Authorities (LAs) in the development of the strategy. LAs have dual roles as regulators of workplace health issues within specified work sectors and as major employers in their own right.
HSE works with LAs, gathering information and developing delivery models so it can direct LA focus on health and safety regulatory activities via the National Local Authority Enforcement Code. HSE provides LAs with targeting advice and technical support to enable LAs to pursue the inspection and where necessary enforcement of nationally and locally identified significant workplace health issues.
LAs have a duty to protect their workers from work-related illness and many LAs have proactive workforce programmes to encourage good health. HSE has identified stress as one of the key areas where there is a need to pursue improvements and is consulting stakeholders, including LAs, to develop and refine this part of the work related ill health strategy.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will end the requirement for residents of Ealing to attend personal independence payment assessments in Deptford; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The requirement placed on the providers delivering Personal Independence Payment assessments is that claimants cannot usually be expected to travel more than 90 minutes by public transport to attend assessments. We expect them to minimise travel times wherever possible but, in scheduling appointments, they need to balance both keeping journey times down and ensuring claimants are assessed in a reasonable time period. The providers have been opening new assessment centres across the country to increase capacity and reduce journey times. Atos opened sites in Harrow on 23 March 2015; Wandsworth on 15 April 2015; and Vauxhall on 29 April 2015. A centre in Twickenham is due to open in July 2015. This will mean less travel for Ealing residents requiring face-to-face assessments.