Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application on 1 January 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 1 January 2024, there were 24,874 people awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number and proportion of NHS buildings that contain asbestos.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual National Health Service organisations are legally responsible for maintaining their estates. NHS England continues to work with trusts to ensure their estates are a safe environment for patients and staff. Where asbestos may pose a safety risk, such as when disturbed during building works, experts are brought in to safely dispose of it.
The Government allocated £4.2 billion capital this financial year for the National Health Service to support local priorities, including where appropriate removing asbestos from buildings.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to remove asbestos from NHS buildings.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual National Health Service organisations are legally responsible for maintaining their estates. NHS England continues to work with trusts to ensure their estates are a safe environment for patients and staff. Where asbestos may pose a safety risk, such as when disturbed during building works, experts are brought in to safely dispose of it.
The Government allocated £4.2 billion capital this financial year for the National Health Service to support local priorities, including where appropriate removing asbestos from buildings.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the longest waiting time was to receive approval for an Access to Work application in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The case with the longest waiting time to receive approval in the last 12 months was made on 26th January 2023 after 354 working days. This was due to issues with the claimant gathering and returning the supporting evidence needed to verify details of the case before it could be further progressed.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
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 potential impact of waiting times for a replacement guide dog after a previous dog has been retired on the blind and visually impaired community.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Guide Dogs UK, as with other assistance dog charities and organisations, is an independent charity and the Government is not directly responsible or accountable for its activities. We aware of issues around the current shortage of guide dogs since the pandemic, and the previous Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work has had meetings and corresponded with Guide Dogs UK on this issue.
The Disability Action Plan, which was published in early February, sets out the immediate action HMG will be taking in 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives, including to improve support for people with assistance dogs and reduce access refusals, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change. It will complement the National Disability Strategy, which sets out our long term vision for disabled people in the UK.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
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 potential impact of levels of availability of replacement guide dogs on the blind and visually impaired community since the pandemic.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Guide Dogs UK, as with other assistance dog charities and organisations, is an independent charity and the Government is not directly responsible or accountable for its activities. We aware of issues around the current shortage of guide dogs since the pandemic, and the previous Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work has had meetings and corresponded with Guide Dogs UK on this issue.
The Disability Action Plan, which was published in early February, sets out the immediate action HMG will be taking in 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives, including to improve support for people with assistance dogs and reduce access refusals, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change. It will complement the National Disability Strategy, which sets out our long term vision for disabled people in the UK.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application on the first day of each month in 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The following number of applications were awaiting a decision on their Access to Work applications on the first day of each month in 2023:
January 2023 – 24,490
February 2023 – 24,603
March 2023 – 24,540
April 2023 – 23,915
May 2023 – 24,169
June 2023 – 23,289
July 2023 – 23,143
August 2023 – 22,663
September 2023 – 21,985
October 2023 – 23,348
November 2023 – 24,107
December 2023 – 25,063
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what has been the largest number of people awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application in any month since 1994.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested about Access to Work decisions since 1994 is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to prevent insurers (a) refusing to quote on building insurance cover and (b) charging excessive increases in the premium due to a lack of remediation on buildings under 11 metres which have a B1 fire risk assessment rating.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government continues to actively encourage the insurance industry to take action where significantly inflated insurance costs are apparent. I regularly meet the sector, and its representatives, to press the case for an industry-led solution on this matter and I hope we will hear further, long-awaited news from the industry shortly on this matter. Specifically on buildings under 11m, it is generally accepted that life safety risk is proportional to the height of buildings. The risk to life from historical fire safety defects is lower in buildings under 11m, therefore building safety related remediation works are required in a very small number of buildings under 11m. Whilst individual premium rates are ultimately a matter for insurers, it follows that such rates should be proportionate to the risk.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to help support disabled people who cannot work with the cost of living in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We understand those with complex disabilities require extra support which is why vulnerable people and their needs are rightly one of our priorities. This Government has demonstrated its commitment by providing one of the largest support packages in Europe. Taken together, support to households to help with the high cost of living is worth £104 billion over 2022/23 to 2024/25, which includes, among other support, two rounds of means-tested Cost of Living Payments, Disability Cost of Living Payments and Pensioner Cost of Living Payments over 2022/23 and 2023/24. Cost of Living Payments enabled us to target immediate further support during the rising cost of living pressures. The Government has also uprated benefits to reflect increased costs.
Reducing inflation and growing the economy are the most effective way, longer term, to build a more prosperous future for all. This Government committed to halving the rate of inflation, and it has achieved that: inflation has fallen from 11.1% in October 2022 to 4 % in December 2023. Energy prices have significantly fallen in the past year alone and the Quarter 1 2024 price cap of £1,928 has more than halved compared to the previous year when the Quarter 1 2023 price cap peaked at £4,279.