Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on the disability employment gap in Newport West constituency.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Reliable data on the disability employment gap at constituency level is only available using annual estimates due to sample sizes. An initial assessment of disability employment following the closure of the furlough scheme in September 2021 will not be available until Spring 2022. This is when Annual Population Survey data, including the period October to December 2021, will be released. However, it will be some time before a full assessment can be made.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many offices in her Department have been (a) closed or (b) partially closed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak in each of the last six months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has consistently taken a proactive approach to reporting and reviewing all reported cases of Covid-19 infections. This has ensured that wherever possible sites remain open or partially open.
During the 6-month period May to October 2021, 11 offices have been closed for a circuit breaks, 6 of these were closed due to multiple positive cases on the site. Circuit breaks are tight restrictions and/or closures designed to stop and bring the number of cases down.
The following offices were closed or partially closed due to circuit breaks:
The offices listed above are sites that were closed for a Circuit Break due to the potential of workplace transmission and therefore do not include sites where they were temporarily closed to allow for deep clean to take place.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which offices in her Department have been (a) closed or (b) partially closed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak in each of the last six months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has consistently taken a proactive approach to reporting and reviewing all reported cases of Covid-19 infections. This has ensured that wherever possible sites remain open or partially open.
During the 6-month period May to October 2021, 11 offices have been closed for a circuit breaks, 6 of these were closed due to multiple positive cases on the site. Circuit breaks are tight restrictions and/or closures designed to stop and bring the number of cases down.
The following offices were closed or partially closed due to circuit breaks:
The offices listed above are sites that were closed for a Circuit Break due to the potential of workplace transmission and therefore do not include sites where they were temporarily closed to allow for deep clean to take place.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the (a) unemployment and (b) youth unemployment rates in Coventry North East constituency; what assessment her Department has made of the factors that have contributed to those unemployment rates being disproportionately higher in Coventry North East than the equivalent UK rates; and what targeted action her Department is taking to reduce unemployment in Coventry North East constituency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of (a) unemployment and (b) youth unemployment in the year to Jun 2021 based on the Annual Population Survey are published and available here. Guidance for users can be found here. No specific assessment has been made of the factors underlying unemployment in Coventry North East and the sample sizes for Coventry North East may make drawing conclusions from this data difficult.
However, we want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market, whoever they are and wherever they live.
Throughout the pandemic the UK Government has provided historic levels of support to the economy – a total of over £400 billion. This includes key DWP programmes such as Restart and Kickstart alongside other measures to boost work searches, skills and apprenticeships. Our support was in addition to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furlough) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
We recognise that young people’s needs will vary depending on where they live and their own individual circumstances.
The Coventry Youth Hub, just 1 of 150 currently open, works with a range of local partners and can help people address and overcome barriers to employment. Our experienced and well-trained Work Coaches have access to tools that help them understand vacancies and skills needs. Work Coaches are prioritising face-to-face activity so we can support them into work, and a year after the first young people started, over 100,000 have now taken-up a Kickstart job. This is an incredible achievement and we have announced a run-on of Kickstart to March 2022, to further support people into jobs.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to utilise the twelve month discretion to delay a determination of gainful self-employment until 31 July 2022, as contained in Regulation 2(1)(b) of the Social Security (Coronavirus) (Further Measures) Regulations 2020, and continued by Regulation 2 (1) of the Universal Credit (Coronavirus) (Restoration of the Minimum Income Floor) Regulations 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Due to the significant increase of self-employed people claiming Universal Credit during the pandemic, it will take the Department up to 12 months to meet with each of these claimants, consider their circumstances and determine if they are gainfully self-employed.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
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 effectiveness of the Kickstart scheme in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 11th October, over 23,200 jobs have been made available in the hospitality and food sector through the Kickstart Scheme, including over 6,900 started. We are exploring how we can continue to support these sectors, whilst recognising that Kickstart jobs must be additional, not displacing existing opportunities within the wider labour market.
The Department for Work and Pensions has developed an extensive offer to support the hospitality sector, along with at least £25 billion in COVID-19-related economic support that has already been provided by the UK Government to the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors since March 2020. In addition to having access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, loan guarantees and protection from commercial rent eviction and debt forfeitures, hospitality businesses also had access to grants, business rates relief, a VAT cut on food and non-alcoholic beverages to 5% and the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme. DWP has also provided additional support to help businesses reopen, with an additional £5bn in the form of one-off Restart Grants of up to £18,000.
The government has also recently published its long-term plans to support the hospitality sector in the Hospitality Strategy, available here: Hospitality strategy: reopening, recovery, resilience - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle the estimated 500,000 job vacancies across the food and drink sector.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is working closely with the food and drink sector to understand labour demand and supply, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements.
The Seasonal Workers Pilot was expanded for 2021, from 10,000 to 30,000 visas, granted for workers to come to the UK for a period of up to six months to work in the edible horticulture sector.
Although pilot numbers have increased, it is not designed to meet the full labour needs of the horticultural sector. This workforce boost will complement the workers already resident in the UK and looking to take up farm work during the busy harvest months, following in the footsteps of those who took up positions last summer to help keep the nation fed despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
In response to the current exceptional circumstances, up to 5500 poultry workers and 5000 HGV drivers transporting food and fuel will be able to enter the UK for work in the lead up to Christmas 2021. This is a temporary, emergency measure. 800 pork butchers will also be able to enter and work in the UK for a period of six months. This additional temporary adjustment is in addition to foreign butchers already being eligible since January 2021 to apply to come to the UK through the Skilled Worker Route as part of the point-based immigration system.
In 2021 and beyond, businesses will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over 5.3 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
The Government is encouraging all sectors, including the food and drink sector, to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options, wage increases and to invest in automation technology.
To help with these efforts, Defra is working with industry and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and drink sector among UK workers.
All food and drink sector businesses are encouraged to advertise roles through the Find A Job website, where they can upload and manage their vacancies. DWP does not charge for this service and it is available across the United Kingdom.
Defra also welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s work on the Release On Temporary Licence scheme for work across a number of sectors, including the food and drink sector. The scheme aims to help prisoners gain useful skills and work experience as they approach their release.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what forecasts her Department has made on the potential impact of the end of support under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on claimant rates for universal credit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department works with the Office for Budget Responsibility to produce Universal Credit forecasts, including ahead of the Autumn Budget. The next forecast is due to be published on 27th October.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) challenges and (b) merits of personal independence payment phone assessments.
Answered by Chloe Smith
During the coronavirus pandemic, we carried out assessments by telephone as a temporary measure. The feedback on telephone assessments has so far been positive: in a recent survey published by the Department, the majority of people who had a telephone assessment for PIP or for their WCA were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’.
In Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, we are consulting on the use of telephone and video assessments as an alternative to face-to-face in the future and want to fully evaluate their effectiveness. We have asked for views about the different ways to provide assessments, and how to improve telephone assessments to ensure they are as accurate and effective as possible. It is important that people continue to receive consistent and accurate decisions irrespective of the type of assessment they go through.
DWP Survey results of claimants who have received a telephone assessment are published here: Claimant experience of telephone-based health assessments for PIP, ESA and UC - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that Job Centre Pluses can manage potential increased demand after the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the UK labour market, leading to an increase in demand for DWP’s services. As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to support claimants back into work, the Department has recruited 13,500 additional Work Coaches to respond effectively to this increase and to help provide the full range of Jobcentre services to both existing and new customers so they can receive benefit payments as well as being supported into work.
The Department has seen, and anticipates further, an increase in demand for our services and as a result, we are rapidly expanding the space available, on a temporary basis. This increase cannot be contained within existing premises both due to the scale of the increase in demand and social distancing requirements.
Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes to help claimants prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for Universal Credit claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; Restart, which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to Universal Credit claimants who are unemployed for a year; and Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS), which provides light touch employment support for people who are claiming either Universal Credit or New Style Jobseekers Allowance, for up to 6 months, helping participants effectively re-engage with the labour market and focus their job search.