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, what steps his Department is taking to comply with principle (d) of schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
On joining DWP, all members of staff must complete a DSE assessment, which will highlight any special requirements specific to their role. Members of staff are then required to revisit this assessment every 3 years or at any time their circumstances change.
DWP endeavours to provide a contemporary and safe working environment, which meets the requirements of the Approved Documents (Building Regulations) in England and their equivalents in the devolved nations. We also follow the guiding principles of a variety of government specifications e.g. Publicly Available Specification 3000 for ‘Smart Working’ (PAS300), which recommends the use of a range of different work settings throughout a typical day to encourage movement, collaboration, and wellbeing. As well as the Government Property Agency’s Workplace Design Guidance.
The Department also has a Reasonable Adjustment Process for complex needs. This can include changes to the physical environment, alternative working patterns, or changes to work tasks.
Any changes to the way people are expected to work that might introduce significant new risk are identified and their impact considered against existing DWP health and safety policies and procedures.
DWP Health and Safety Impact Assessments are designed to give step by step support to programmes and projects who may introduce new risk. They provide a framework to help identify hazards and who might be harmed and enables DWP to record what needs to be done to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. It is mandatory for use by new programmes and projects with managers consulting with Trade Union representatives during the process.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's spend on the youth offer was in the last financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
Previously, the Youth Offer was only available for those searching for work. As of the 25 September 2023, this been expanded to include to include additional young people on Universal Credit not currently searching for work, including young parents and carers.
The information regarding the Department’s total spend on the Youth Offer is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The information regarding the Department’s spend on grants to support the opening and operation of Youth Hubs in each financial year since they were launched is not held.
The indicative Youth Hub Work Coach costs for the previous three financial years are:
2020/2021 - £1.1m
2021/2022 - £5.4m
2022/2023 - £4.8m
NB:
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government has plans to take steps to encourage more veterans to work in the defence and aerospace industries.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Veterans who need support from the department in finding employment are able to get support from their Work Coach. For those who might need extra specialist support, we have a network of Armed Forces Champions spread throughout the Jobcentre Plus network.
The Armed Forces Champions have specific responsibilities for supporting members of the Armed Forces community, including building staff capability within their districts, personally handling some claims, supporting veterans into work and helping resolve complex cases where necessary. Every Work Coach is trained on how to provide tailored and personalised support to members of the Armed Forces community and their families, working in partnership with their Armed Forces Champions.
Veterans have early voluntary entry to the Work and Health Programme. Other employment support may be available to veterans depending on their circumstances, including specialist local support provided by the third sector which the department may be able to refer them to. Veterans generally enjoy successful employment outcomes when they leave the services, and the Career Transition Partnership has published annual statistics on those they have supported.
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, whether all (a) buildings and (b) workplaces staff from their Department occupy have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has suitable and sufficient risk assessments in place across the Department in accordance with Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
There is a suite of generic risk assessments, which include building and people related hazards, used to manage and mitigate people safety risks across the Department. Where hazards are identified for a certain process or procedure not captured within the generic documents, these are included via specific risk assessments.
Suitable and sufficient risk assessments relating to the DWPs estate are completed whenever significant hazards are identified or where risk assessment is required by statute.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to recruit staff to process claims for Disability Living Allowance for children.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is planned recruitment into Disability Living Allowance for children in Quarter 4 of 2023/24. This recruitment activity is progressing for both AO Case Workers and EO Case Managers. There are also plans to supplement the external recruitment with resource from the Flexible Resource Team.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8810 on Cabinet Office: Sick Leave, if he will make an estimate of the total number staff days lost to long term sick absences in each Department in each year since 2015.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The tables below provide the estimates requested, long term sick days lost per department (Table 1), along with our preferred measure, Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year which accounts for workforce size and composition (Table 2). Data is provided for the main Ministerial Departments and excludes those that have been most impacted by Machinery of Government changes, for which times series comparisons between 2015 and 2022 are not possible.
Table 1: Long Term Sickness Absence by Main Department, Days Lost, 2015-2022
| Long Term Sick Days Lost | |||||||
Department | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Cabinet Office | 5,580 | 6,510 | 6,400 | 5,050 | 10,550 | 13,250 | 13,090 | 20,750 |
Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities | 8,460 | 9,270 | 7,840 | 7,140 | 6,710 | 7,310 | 6,850 | 7,670 |
Department Culture Media and Sport | 530 | 1,810 | 1,490 | 3,470 | 3,710 | 3,630 | 2,670 | 4,110 |
Department for Environment | 18,960 | 16,690 | 14,890 | 14,240 | 15,490 | 19,880 | 19,210 | 27,070 |
Department for Education | 10,940 | 7,990 | 7,890 | 12,370 | 13,870 | 13,810 | 9,580 | 20,410 |
Department for Transport | 84,920 | 67,810 | 64,430 | 66,560 | 72,710 | 70,130 | 51,950 | 71,260 |
Department for Health and Social Care | 27,790 | 26,270 | 21,140 | 23,520 | 24,950 | 24,300 | 20,880 | 27,770 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 261,960 | 221,470 | 234,770 | 239,720 | 276,110 | 311,110 | 243,230 | 383,320 |
HM Customers and Revenue | 214,960 | 232,220 | 225,420 | 208,810 | 205,770 | 233,750 | 189,360 | 243,040 |
HM Treasury | 1,500 | 2,030 | 2,870 | 2,150 | 3,190 | 3,050 | 2,770 | 3,990 |
Home Office | 95,910 | 103,870 | 101,740 | 114,820 | 119,990 | 132,200 | 109,360 | 148,080 |
Ministry of Defence | 222,240 | 203,240 | 197,180 | 195,440 | 185,100 | 219,600 | 219,380 | 149,690 |
Ministry of Justice | 442,840 | 414,460 | 403,990 | 372,220 | 398,510 | 434,270 | 435,690 | 596,420 |
Scottish Government | 83,580 | 80,990 | 88,840 | 97,660 | 109,990 | 123,980 | 111,300 | 134,510 |
Welsh Government | 23,160 | 23,980 | 22,880 | 22,630 | 23,840 | 17,290 | 14,590 | 20,110 |
Table 2 : Long Term Sickness Absence by Main Department, Average Working Days Lost per Staff Year, 2015-2022
| Long Term Average Working Days Lost per Staff Year | |||||||
Department | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Cabinet Office | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
Department Culture Media and Sport | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
Department for Environment | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
Department for Education | 3.2 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 2.6 |
Department for Transport | 5.3 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 4.9 |
Department for Health and Social Care | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 2.6 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 3.2 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 4.5 |
HM Customers and Revenue | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
HM Treasury | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
Home Office | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 4.5 |
Ministry of Defence | 4.4 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 2.8 |
Ministry of Justice | 6.8 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 7.4 |
Scottish Government | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 5.9 |
Welsh Government | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 3.3 | 2.8 | 3.7 |
Notes:
Annual Data for year ending 31 March 20xx
Source – Management Information
Days rounded to nearest 10 days, AWDL rounded to 1 decimal place
Ministerial Departments which have been most impacted by Machinery of Government changes over the period, and for which, consistent comparisons are not possible, are not shown.
For sickness absence publications see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued on (a) the circumstances in which a hospital in-patient would be required to attend a meeting at a jobcentre and (b) the circumstances in which a hospital in-patient would be required to attend a meeting if that necessitated the attendance of NHS staff.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no references within our Guidance which state we would require a hospital in-patient to attend a meeting at a Jobcentre.
Where a claimant is required to attend Work Focused Interviews, guidance states that work coaches have discretion to vary the frequency and appointment channel in light of the claimant’s needs, circumstances and capability. Guidance also states that in exceptional circumstances, where a claimant is absolutely prevented from accepting a Claimant Commitment, the requirement to do so is temporarily lifted. This includes, but is not limited to, instances where a claimant is undergoing medical treatment as an in-patient in a hospital.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) support his Department provides to and (b) safeguarding measures are in place within the welfare system for people assessed to be at serious risk of suicide or self-harm; and whether he plans to take steps to strengthen that support.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department recognises the importance of supporting vulnerable customers. All staff working with customers undertake comprehensive training to equip them with the skills to be able to support those who express an intention of suicide or self-harm.
The Department has an established Six Point Plan for staff to follow when they identify a customer who may be at risk of harming themselves. This toolkit ensures that appropriate support is provided and this may involve notifying emergency services in the event where the customer is at immediate risk.
The Six Point Plan is under continuous review to ensure it aligns with current thinking on mental health. We also have Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders whose role is to reach across local communities to underpin our relationships with other organisations that provide support to our customers.
The Work and Pensions Select Committee announced an inquiry into ‘Safeguarding vulnerable claimants’ on 21 July 2023 and will examine this with emphasis on whether the Department’s approach to safeguarding needs to change.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number of job centre clients that have been assisted by an armed forces champion in the Gower constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since July 2023, 30 members of the local Armed Forces community have been supported in the Gower constituency.
The Armed Forces Champions have specific responsibilities for supporting members of the Armed Forces community, including building staff capability within their districts, personally handling some claims, supporting veterans into work and helping resolve complex cases where necessary.
Every Work Coach is trained on how to provide tailored and personalised support to members of the Armed Forces community and their families, working in partnership with their Armed Forces Champions. In those areas where there are particularly high levels of demand, for example garrison towns, this will form a significant part of the work done in individual Jobcentres.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any redundancy notices will be given to local government staff due to the end of the Household Support Fund.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
The Department for Work and Pensions guidance states that staffing costs are included in reasonable administrative spend for the duration of the current scheme. It is the responsibility of individual Local Authorities to appropriately manage their staffing arrangements.