Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
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 effect of the five-week wait for a first payment of universal credit on levels of poverty in (a) Airdrie and Shotts constituency and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Will Quince
No one has to wait five weeks for their first payment of Universal Credit. New claim advances are available to support those in financial need until their first payment is made. The Department has learnt from where we did not get things right in the past in the legacy benefit system. Too often, the desire to pay quickly meant claimants not receiving their correct entitlement as we did not have an appropriate timeframe to review household circumstances.
Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. We have announced that from October 2021, the repayment period for these advances will be extended further, to 16 months. Proposed repayments of the advance are explained, and all claimants are advised to request a level of advance which is manageable both now and when considering the repayments required.
The best way to help people improve their lives is through employment. Households where all adults are in work are around 6 times less likely to be in relative poverty than adults in a household where nobody works. This improves further if all the adults are working full time, reducing a child’s risk of being in poverty from 66% for (two-parent) families with only part-time work to 7%. Universal Credit allows households the freedom from the ‘cliff edges’ which featured in the legacy benefits system, where money was lost when working more than 16, 24 or 30 hours.
There are many reasons people use foodbanks and their growth cannot be linked to a single cause. We have listened to feedback on how we can support our Universal Credit claimants and acted quickly, making improvements such as removing waiting days and introducing housing benefit run on. These changes are giving support to vulnerable people who need it most, whilst at the same time helping people get into work faster.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of officials in her Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in her Department; and what the cost was to her Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department recognises its legal duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of our employees; this includes identifying and reducing workplace stressors. Our approach is a holistic one that utilises the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Management Standards for work related stress and follows key principles to help identify and reduce work place stressors.
2,473 employees took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months which represents 3% of our paid staff. As a percentage, such absences equated to 10.7% of all Working Days Lost due to sickness absence. However, as the Department continues to pay salaries during sickness absence there is no direct financial cost.
Our approach to absence is fair but robust with the emphasis on health promotion and absence prevention. The Department has a range of support from mental health toolkits, stress reduction plans plus tailored support for people who do go off sick or need support through our Employee Assistance Programme which includes counselling.
The Department has 965 Mental Health First Aiders, who provide acute, short-term and structured support to individuals, provide reassurance and signpost colleagues to both DWP and external sources of support as appropriate. Mental Health First Aiders are also provided with continuous professional development and support for their own mental wellbeing.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of working days lost to stress in 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in 2017 14.3 million working days were lost in the UK to stress, depression and anxiety. Data for 2018 is not yet available.
Data is available on sickness absence at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in her Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Work and Pensions takes the Health, Safety and Wellbeing of its staff very seriously and recognises the need to support its employees with work related Mental Health conditions and its legal duties to do so.
We are committed to reducing sick absence as a result of work-related mental health conditions and provides a number of services in place to support its employees in managing those conditions in the workplace. This includes Stress Management Policy, Working Well Together Strategy and our established network of Mental Health First Aiders.
The table below provides details of the recorded Working Days Lost
DWP Working Days Lost (WDL) for Mental Health Reasons | |||
|
|
|
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Period | Working Days Lost - FTE | DWP Headcount at 31 March |
|
April 2009 - March 2010 | 181,480 | 120,069 |
|
April 2010 - March 2011 | 184,667 | 109,445 |
|
April 2011 - March 2012 | 144,830 | 99,958 |
|
April 2012 - March 2013 | 153,681 | 104,889 | Child Support joins DWP |
April 2013 - March 2014 | 149,614 | 95,923 |
|
April 2014 - March 2015 | 123,619 | 90,018 |
|
April 2015 - March 2016 | 111,960 | 84,919 |
|
April 2016 - March 2017 | 116,108 | 84,052 |
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Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of working days lost to the UK economy as a result of work-related stress in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The latest available estimates are given below. They are published annually and show the estimated number of days lost (full day equivalent) due to self-reported stress, depression or anxiety, caused or made worse by work, for people working in the last 12 months in Great Britain. Figures are not separately available for the United Kingdom.
Year | Estimated days lost | 95% Confidence interval |
2014/15 | 9.9 million | 8.4m to 11.6m |
2015/16 | 11.7 million | 9.6m to 13.7m |
2016/17 | 12.5 million | 10.5m to 14.6m |
Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of her Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In November 2016 DWP launched its health and wellbeing strategy covering mental wellbeing. DWP supports mental wellbeing through a number of initiatives including: 24/7 sign-posting to mental health support in DWP; an Employee Assistance Programme available 24/7 offering confidential counselling (face to face, telephone and live chat), advice and information services for all colleagues and managers, including critical incident debriefing services; an immediate or early referral to Occupational Health for expert advice on how to handle mental health conditions at work; and a range of wellbeing programmes and a series of campaigns to raise awareness of mental health/wellbeing and help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental ill-health.
The Department has also established a network of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) who provide acute, short-term and structured support to individuals, provide reassurance, and signpost colleagues to DWP and external sources of support as appropriate. They also actively promote and raise awareness of mental health agenda within their local area. 200 colleagues are currently trained to fulfil this role with a further 300 to be trained by 2019.
The percentage of staff absence and the Working Days lost for reasons related to stress or mental health is as follows:
| No. People | Percentage Staff | Working Days Lost |
1 Apr 15 to 31 Mar16 | 6,866 | 8.0% | 157,648 |
1 Apr 16 to 31 Mar-17 | 7,038 | 8.2% | 161,806 |
1 Apr 17 to Mar-18 | 7,695 | 9.1% | 153,923 |
*The figures include those absences recorded under the following categories: Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Issues or Stress until March 2017 and Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Other, Stress, Mental Health Anxiety and Depression or Mental Health Issues for 2017-18. Working days lost excludes weekends but does include public holidays. Numbers of staff includes those currently on nil pay.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 17 January 2017 to Question 59783 and 59784, on personal independence payment: motability, what the (a) estimated cost was to his Department of answering those Questions, (b) maximum amount his Department will spend on an Answer, (c) average cost to his Department per Answer and (d) maximum and minimum amount spent on answering a Question was in the last 12 months.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
a)
In order to answer the hon. Member’s question 59783, “how many people who were previously in receipt of the enhanced personal independence payment and qualified for the Motability scheme have since been reassessed and lost their Motability vehicle”, would require the linking together of several complex datasets and quality assurance of the results. It is estimated that this would take in excess of 5 working days and would therefore exceed the disproportionate cost threshold of £850.
The information requested by the hon. Member’s question 59784, “how many people who were previously in receipt of the higher rate of the mobility component of disability living allowance and qualified for the Motability scheme, have been reassessed and lost their Motability vehicle”, is not included in datasets underpinning routine publication of benefit statistics. It is estimated that, to access the original datasets and carry out the necessary quality assurance, would take in excess of 5 working days and similarly would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold of £850.
b) and c)
The disproportionate cost threshold of £850 and the average cost of written parliamentary questions of £164 were determined by HM Treasury and notified to Parliament by written statement by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 8 February 2012. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2012-02-08/debates/12020833000014/ParliamentaryQuestions?highlight=disproportionate%20cost%20threshold#contribution-12020833000033
d)
The information requested is not held.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working days were lost due to mental illness in his Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The total number of working days lost in DWP due to mental illness in each of the last three years is set out in the table below.
DWP is committed to improving mental ill health. We support employees through access to comprehensive stress risk assessments, Occupational Health services and our Employee Assistance Programme which offers immediate telephone support 24 hours a day, every day. DWP is currently introducing Mental Health First Aid to further add to the support available.
DWP has greatly reduced sickness absence from an average of 11.1 days in March 2007 to 6.13 days currently. The Department has the lowest average working days lost across Government when compared against other Departments of its size and grade structure.
Period | Working Days Lost to mental illness | Working Days Available | Working Days Lost as a % of Working Days Available |
01 November 2015 to 31 October 2016 | 114,887 | 16,933,234 | 0.68% |
01 November 2014 to 31 October 2015 | 103,596 | 16,288,909 | 0.64% |
01 November 2013 to 31 October 2014 | 121,513 | 17,558,267 | 0.69% |
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the effect of early health interventions on reducing work disability in patients with long-term musculoskeletal conditions.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Data concerning the number of individuals who have been offered or who have attended patient education programmes is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) recommends that patients should be offered patient education programmes, if appropriate. The first annual report of the national clinical audit of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, identifies that most services offer prompt educational support.
Whilst the Department has no specific information in relation to early intervention in musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions reducing work related disability, earlier treatment of RA and OA can help reduce symptoms and improve mobility. The NICE RA Quality Standard specifically recommends that people with suspected RA are assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral. This is because once an RA diagnosis has been made, patients can be considered for anti-TNF drugs which can significantly reduce progression of disease. The OA Quality Standard states that core treatments for osteoarthritis should include physical activity and exercise, as well as weight loss advice, if appropriate.
Information concerning the cost to the United Kingdom economy of people with MSK conditions being out of work as a result of their conditions is not collected by the Department, though there are a number of studies that have sought to estimate such costs. The NICE guideline on RA and OA both contain such estimates, with the former stating that the total costs of RA in the UK, including indirect costs and work related disability, have been estimated at between £3.8 billion and £4.75 billion per year, and the latter stating that in 1999-2000, 36 million working days were lost due to OA alone, at an estimated cost of £3.2 billion in lost production. Both sets of NICE guidance can be found at the following links:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg177/resources/osteoarthritis-care-and-management-35109757272517
The Government is working to increase employment for people with long-term conditions, such as MSK conditions, in a number of ways. The Work and Health Unit, now located in the Department for Work and Pensions, has been established to lead the drive for improving work and health outcomes for people with health conditions and disabilities, as well as improving prevention and support for people absent from work through ill health and those at risk of leaving the workforce. The Unit will seek to do this by improving integration across healthcare and employment services as well as supporting employers to recruit and retain more disabled people and people with long term health conditions.
In 2015 the Government launched the Fit for Work scheme which is free and helps employees stay in or return to work. It provides an occupational health assessment and general health and work advice to employees, employers and general practitioners. Fit for Work complements existing occupational health services provided by employers. More information can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/fit-for-work-guidance
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many individuals with musculoskeletal conditions have (a) been offered patient education programmes and (b) attended patient education programmes.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Data concerning the number of individuals who have been offered or who have attended patient education programmes is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) recommends that patients should be offered patient education programmes, if appropriate. The first annual report of the national clinical audit of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, identifies that most services offer prompt educational support.
Whilst the Department has no specific information in relation to early intervention in musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions reducing work related disability, earlier treatment of RA and OA can help reduce symptoms and improve mobility. The NICE RA Quality Standard specifically recommends that people with suspected RA are assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral. This is because once an RA diagnosis has been made, patients can be considered for anti-TNF drugs which can significantly reduce progression of disease. The OA Quality Standard states that core treatments for osteoarthritis should include physical activity and exercise, as well as weight loss advice, if appropriate.
Information concerning the cost to the United Kingdom economy of people with MSK conditions being out of work as a result of their conditions is not collected by the Department, though there are a number of studies that have sought to estimate such costs. The NICE guideline on RA and OA both contain such estimates, with the former stating that the total costs of RA in the UK, including indirect costs and work related disability, have been estimated at between £3.8 billion and £4.75 billion per year, and the latter stating that in 1999-2000, 36 million working days were lost due to OA alone, at an estimated cost of £3.2 billion in lost production. Both sets of NICE guidance can be found at the following links:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg177/resources/osteoarthritis-care-and-management-35109757272517
The Government is working to increase employment for people with long-term conditions, such as MSK conditions, in a number of ways. The Work and Health Unit, now located in the Department for Work and Pensions, has been established to lead the drive for improving work and health outcomes for people with health conditions and disabilities, as well as improving prevention and support for people absent from work through ill health and those at risk of leaving the workforce. The Unit will seek to do this by improving integration across healthcare and employment services as well as supporting employers to recruit and retain more disabled people and people with long term health conditions.
In 2015 the Government launched the Fit for Work scheme which is free and helps employees stay in or return to work. It provides an occupational health assessment and general health and work advice to employees, employers and general practitioners. Fit for Work complements existing occupational health services provided by employers. More information can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/fit-for-work-guidance