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, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, how the outcome of the Personal Independence Payment consultation will interact with the reforms proposed in Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published 16 March 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is removing the Work Capability Assessment because it is committed to doing everything it can to help disabled people and people with long-term health conditions start, stay and succeed in work.
The consultation, Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper, considers potential changes to the welfare system. Currently, no decisions have been taken on potential changes.
As we develop any proposals, we will consider the interactions with the removal of the Work Capability Assessment. This will be carefully worked through before we consider introducing any changes.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2024 to Question 24267 on Universal Support: Disability, when in May she expects the figures to be made available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The next release of published statistics for the Work and Health Programme (WHP) is planned for 30 May 2024. This was announced in the latest Work and Health statistics release.
This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer, which is part of the first phase of Universal Support (US). Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.
The Secretary of State has also committed to the publication of data for the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) provision as part of the first phase of US. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.
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, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the existing mandatory reconsideration process as part of its potential reforms.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper explores changes that the government could make to the current PIP system to ensure support is targeted where it is most needed. These options include:
Mandatory reconsideration does not feature in the Green Paper.
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, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the potential options for reform on benefits spending.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are looking at different options to reshape the current welfare system so that we can provide better targeted support to those who need it most. We are considering some of these options through our 12-week consultation which was published on Monday 29 April and will close on Monday 22 July at 11:59pm.
We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation which can be found here, so that we are able to hear from as many disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives, and local stakeholders as possible on these important issues.
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 living with a musculoskeletal condition have (a) applied for and (b) been successful with an Access to Work application in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does collect information on Access to Work applicant’s primary medical condition, however we do not hold information to the level required to identify people with the specific conditions requested. Therefore, we are not able to make an estimate of the number of people that have applied for, or been approved, for support through the Access to Work scheme.
Information on Access to Work volumes for approvals and recipients by primary medical condition are published annually in the official statistics found here.
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 living with rheumatoid arthritis have (a) applied for and (b) been successful with an Access to Work application in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does collect information on Access to Work applicant’s primary medical condition, however we do not hold information to the level required to identify people with the specific conditions requested. Therefore, we are not able to make an estimate of the number of people that have applied for, or been approved, for support through the Access to Work scheme.
Information on Access to Work volumes for approvals and recipients by primary medical condition are published annually in the official statistics found here.
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 trends in the the number of people who are out of work because of a musculoskeletal condition.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the number of people who are out of work because of a musculoskeletal condition is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The available published information on the number of disabled people aged 16 to 64 with a musculoskeletal condition by employment status in the UK is shown in the table below.
Number of disabled people (in thousands) aged 16 to 64 with a musculoskeletal condition by employment status, UK
| Main long-term health condition | Main or secondary long-term health condition | ||||
| Total | In employment | Not in employment | Total | In employment | Not in employment |
2013/14 | 2,386 | 1,217 | 1,169 | 3,712 | 1,594 | 2,119 |
2014/15 | 2,460 | 1,308 | 1,152 | 3,835 | 1,735 | 2,099 |
2015/16 | 2,438 | 1,317 | 1,121 | 3,850 | 1,760 | 2,090 |
2016/17 | 2,409 | 1,354 | 1,056 | 3,746 | 1,795 | 1,950 |
2017/18 | 2,355 | 1,367 | 988 | 3,684 | 1,818 | 1,866 |
2018/19 | 2,365 | 1,367 | 999 | 3,688 | 1,829 | 1,859 |
2019/20 | 2,342 | 1,404 | 938 | 3,698 | 1,908 | 1,790 |
2020/21 | 2,130 | 1,227 | 902 | 3,623 | 1,789 | 1,834 |
2021/22 | 2,258 | 1,323 | 934 | 3,763 | 1,879 | 1,884 |
2022/23 | 2,342 | 1,346 | 996 | 3,974 | 1,974 | 2,001 |
Data source: Annual Population Survey (APS) - The employment of Disabled People 2023 (LMS003 and LMS004)
Notes:
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 living with osteoarthritis have (a) applied for and (b) been successful in an Access to Work application in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does collect information on Access to Work applicant’s primary medical condition, however we do not hold information to the level required to identify people with the specific conditions requested. Therefore, we are not able to make an estimate of the number of people that have applied for, or been approved, for support through the Access to Work scheme.
Information on Access to Work volumes for approvals and recipients by primary medical condition are published annually in the official statistics found here.
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 progress his Department has made on the digitalisation of Access to Work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of May 2024, customers are able to both make applications to, and claim payments online for, the following elements of Access to Work:
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 Universal Credit claimants in the limited capability for work and work related activity group are in some form of paid employment as of May 2024.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available statistics are shown in the following table.
Number of people on Universal Credit Health caseload on 14 December 2023 by stage, and those with employment earnings in the UC assessment period
Stage of UC Health | People on UC health | With employment earnings | Percentage with employment earnings |
Live fit note (Pre-wca) | 271,675 | 49,541 | 18% |
Limited capability for work | 347,472 | 47,486 | 14% |
Limited capability for work and work-related activity | 1,355,441 | 84,907 | 6% |
Total | 1,974,587 | 181,931 | 9% |
Source: Stat-Xplore and DWP People on UC and UC Health Caseload datasets
Notes: