Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to respond to email correspondence of 20 February 2023 from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
A reply to the correspondence from the hon. Member was sent on 23rd March 2023.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question 152229 on Universal Credit, what steps his Department is taking to advertise Touchbase to Universal Credit claimants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question 152230 on Department for Work and Pensions: Publications, what steps he is taking to advertise Touchbase to staff in his Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March to Question 152230 on Department for Work and Pensions: Publications, what recent assessment his Department made of the effectiveness of Touchbase at communicating Department activity to Job Centre Plus staff.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question 152230 on Department for Work and Pensions: Publications, if he will make it his Department's policy to routinely send the Touchbase newsletter to all staff in his Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites. It is the primary communication channel for DWP to a wide range of external stakeholders from diverse organisations across the UK who work with, support and advise our customers.
While Touchbase is not produced for Jobcentre Plus staff or Universal Credit claimants, DWP has a comprehensive internal communications programme which ensures that colleagues across the organisation are aware of the department’s priorities and the individual initiatives to deliver them.
The topics covered in Touchbase will routinely be part of this internal communications programme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his Department's policy to publish online editions of its Touchbase newsletter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Touchbase is a weekly email newsletter from the Department for Work and Pensions which provides links to new and updated information on GOV.UK and other websites.
DWP has no plans at present to publish the email newsletters on GOV.UK because:
Anyone can subscribe to receive Touchbase at Touchbase editions after March 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason his Department has not published online versions of its Touchbase newsletter since March 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Touchbase newsletter was previously published online monthly as well as being shared by email to those who had subscribed for updates.
At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, a decision was made to create a weekly version of the email. Digital resources were focussed on updating online guidance available for everyone. The online version was no longer published to avoid any confusion with historical versions giving out of date messages.
The weekly email version of Touchbase still continues and anyone can subscribe to these updates. Touchbase editions after March 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to respond to correspondence sent by email on 7 September 2022, 4 October and 1 November from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, reference DL13106.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
A reply was sent to the hon. Member for Glasgow East by the Minister for Work and Pensions (Lords), on behalf of the Secretary of State, on 2 December 2022.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any Minister in his Department has sent Departmental information from their personal email addresses since December 2019.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Cabinet Office has published guidance to departments on the use of private email that covers how information is held for the purposes of access to information, and how formal decisions are recorded for the official record. This guidance is being updated to reflect changes in technology and ways of working, and will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
It is Government policy not to comment on individual Ministers’ security arrangements. Ministers receive support and expert advice to help them meet their obligations in the most appropriate and secure fashion. That includes regular security briefings for Ministers, and advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help ensure that his Department's processes are respectful of the (a) physical and (b) psychological challenges faced by people with disabilities; and what steps he is taking to ensure that those processes do not exacerbate the effect of those challenges for people with disabilities.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
It is important that all claimants are able to access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying for a benefit and in communicating with the department and its providers.
We have a variety of reasonable adjustments to make the claims process and communications easier, where required by customers. Claimants with a severe mental health or behavioural condition, learning disability, developmental disorder, or cognitive problems, who may have difficulty engaging with the claims process, and with no support network in place, can be provided with additional support during the claims process if they need it. This support can include help filling in the form or the questionnaire and additional protections for failing to return the questionnaire or for failing to attend a face-to-face assessment.
With regard to Personal Independence Payments (PIP):
It is important that all of our claimants are able to access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying and communicating with the Department and its providers. We have a variety of reasonable adjustments to make the claims process and communications easier for some of our most vulnerable customers.