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 steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of Pension Credit in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up, the Department launched a nationwide marketing and communications campaign in April 2022.
This campaign has included advertising on national TV; in regional and national newspapers (including Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph); on local and national broadcast radio (stations such as Capital Birmingham, Free Radio Birmingham and Coventry, Greatest Hits Radio Coventry and Heart West Midlands); on medical centre and Post Office screens across Great Britain; as well as advertising on buses and digital street displays. Online marketing activity also included promotion of Pension Credit on social media, via internet search engines and sponsored advertising on targeted websites that pensioners, their friends and family are likely to visit.
There is a strong indication that the campaign has had a positive impact and has resulted in an unprecedented number of Pension Credit applications. The number of claims received in the financial year 2022-23 was more than 80% higher than over the same period the year before.
Latest available figures also show that more households were receiving Pension Credit in August 2023 than in May 2022 – at the beginning of the campaign.
The Department is also continuing to build on this success through various creative no-cost media campaigns to boost awareness of the benefit through broadcast, radio and print media. We are engaging with a range of stakeholders, including other Government Departments, Councils, and charities, asking for their support to raise awareness through their networks and channels.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the current employment rate is for care leavers, 12 months after leaving local authority care.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest data for the year ending March 2023 shows that 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are not in education, employment or training, compared to 13% of their peers in the general population.
Improving care leavers’ outcomes is a government priority and the department has established a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State from the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and including Ministers from 12 other departments, to consider what more can be done collectively to improve care leavers’ outcomes.
The department’s broader ambitions for reform of children’s social care are set out in the response to the independent review carried out by Josh MacAlister, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642460653d885d000fdade73/Children_s_social_care_stable_homes_consultation_February_2023.pdf.
In relation to supporting care leavers to engage and succeed in education, employment and training, the department has:
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support care leavers with their move into employment.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest data for the year ending March 2023 shows that 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are not in education, employment or training, compared to 13% of their peers in the general population.
Improving care leavers’ outcomes is a government priority and the department has established a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State from the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and including Ministers from 12 other departments, to consider what more can be done collectively to improve care leavers’ outcomes.
The department’s broader ambitions for reform of children’s social care are set out in the response to the independent review carried out by Josh MacAlister, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642460653d885d000fdade73/Children_s_social_care_stable_homes_consultation_February_2023.pdf.
In relation to supporting care leavers to engage and succeed in education, employment and training, the department has:
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support care leavers with their move into training.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest data for the year ending March 2023 shows that 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are not in education, employment or training, compared to 13% of their peers in the general population.
Improving care leavers’ outcomes is a government priority and the department has established a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State from the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and including Ministers from 12 other departments, to consider what more can be done collectively to improve care leavers’ outcomes.
The department’s broader ambitions for reform of children’s social care are set out in the response to the independent review carried out by Josh MacAlister, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642460653d885d000fdade73/Children_s_social_care_stable_homes_consultation_February_2023.pdf.
In relation to supporting care leavers to engage and succeed in education, employment and training, the department has:
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: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on tackling loneliness.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Many people experience loneliness and social isolation, and the Government is committed to reducing the stigma associated with loneliness, and building a more connected society. Government, local councils, health systems and voluntary and community sector organisations all have an important role to play in achieving this.
Since publishing the first ever government Strategy for Tackling Loneliness and appointing the world’s first Minister for Loneliness in 2018, we have invested almost £80 million in tackling loneliness. These interventions include a national communications campaign that aims to reduce the stigma of loneliness, which has reached at least 25 million people across the country. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also delivering the ‘Know Your Neighbourhood Fund’ to boost volunteering and reduce loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. We have also brought together over 750 people from across the public, private and charity sectors through our Tackling Loneliness Hub, where members can learn from events and workshops, share the latest research and collaborate on new initiatives.
Last March, we published the fourth annual report of our Tackling Loneliness Strategy. It contains over 60 new and ongoing commitments from 11 government departments. So far, we have made progress against at least 46 of these commitments and at least 7 have been completed. Due to the nature of the commitments many have now been incorporated into business as usual. The fifth annual report will provide a full update on commitments, and is due to be published in March.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff were employed at Queen Elizabeth House in each UK Government department or arms-length body (a) full time, (b) part time, (c) on a consultancy basis and (d) as civil servants as of 8 January 2023.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The number of civil servants reported in post by government departments and executive agencies as at 31 March 2023 based in Queen Elizabeth House is presented in the table below. The postcode for Queen Elizabeth House, 1 Sibbald, Edinburgh is EH8 8FT.
Information on consultants based or employed at Queen Elizabeth House is not centrally available.
Table 1: Civil Servants whose postcode of government establishment or other workplace where employed or based is EH8 8FT, by civil service organisation and working pattern, as at 31 March 2023
Civil Service Organisation | Headcount of all civil servants in full-time role | Headcount of all civil servants working in a part-time role | Total headcount of all civil servants |
Building Digital UK | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Cabinet Office (excl. agencies) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Central Civil Service Fast Stream | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Competition and Markets Authority | 55 | 15 | 70 |
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (excl. agencies) | 80 | [s] | 85 |
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (excl. agencies) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (excl. agencies) | 20 | [s] | 20 |
Department for International Trade | 30 | [s] | 35 |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (excl. agencies) | 30 | [s] | 35 |
Department for Transport (excl. agencies) | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Department of Health and Social Care (excl. agencies) | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Government Actuary’s Department | 10 | [s] | 15 |
Government Commercial Organisation | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Health and Safety Executive | 50 | 5 | 55 |
HM Revenue and Customs (excl. agencies) | 1,825 | 395 | 2,220 |
Home Office | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Ministry of Justice (excl. agencies) | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (incl. Office of the Advocate General for Scotland) | 75 | 10 | 80 |
Scottish Government (excl. agencies) | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Valuation Office Agency | 5 | 5 | 10 |
Total | 2,220 | 440 | 2,655 |
Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Statistics (ACSES), Cabinet Office
[s] = confidential and suppressed due to small numbers of between 1 and 4.
Numbers are rounded to the nearest five.
Additional departments and their civil servants may be based/employed at Queen Elizabeth House but may not show in the data due to non-reporting of postcode information when reporting their locations information to Cabinet Office through ACSES.
The data in the table refers to civil service organisations and civil servants only. Data for non-civil service organisations are not available centrally.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, 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 2021.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Cabinet Office publishes sickness absence data for the Civil Service on an annual basis on gov.uk. Our preferred measure is Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year which accounts for workforce size and composition. The table below provides the data requested, days lost per department, along with AWDL for context. Data for 2023 are in production for planned publication by end March 2024.
Table: Long Term Sickness Absence by Department 2021 and 2022
Organisation | 2021 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Days | AWDL | Days | AWDL | |
Attorney General's Departments | 5,250 | 2.2 | 7,190 | 2.9 |
Crown Prosecution Service | 18,530 | 3.1 | 23,570 | 3.7 |
Serious Fraud Office | 830 | 1.8 | 940 | 2.0 |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 34,010 | 2.1 | 47,160 | 2.5 |
Cabinet Office | 13,090 | 1.4 | 20,750 | 1.9 |
National Savings and Investments | 370 | 1.9 | 170 | 0.9 |
Charity Commission | 1,300 | 2.7 | s | s |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 6,850 | 2.0 | 7,670 | 2.0 |
Competition and Markets Authority | 1,100 | 1.4 | 870 | 1.0 |
Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport | 2,670 | 1.3 | 4,110 | 1.4 |
Ministry of Defence | 219,380 | 4.1 | 149,690 | 2.8 |
Department for International Trade | 3,960 | 0.8 | 6,820 | 1.3 |
Department for Education | 9,580 | 1.3 | 20,410 | 2.6 |
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs | 19,210 | 1.9 | 27,070 | 2.4 |
ESTYN | 410 | 3.9 | 320 | 3.1 |
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 16,750 | 1.9 | 18,830 | 2.3 |
Food Standards Agency | 3,850 | 2.9 | 4,500 | 3.4 |
The Health and Safety Executive | 7,440 | 3.2 | 10,520 | 4.2 |
Department of Health and Social Care | 20,880 | 2.2 | 27,770 | 2.6 |
HM Revenue and Customs | 189,360 | 3.2 | 243,040 | 3.9 |
HM Treasury | 2,770 | 1.1 | 3,990 | 1.5 |
Home Office | 109,360 | 3.4 | 148,080 | 4.5 |
Ministry of Justice | 435,690 | 6.0 | 596,420 | 7.4 |
National Crime Agency | 10,640 | 2.1 | 15,180 | 3.3 |
Northern Ireland Office | 140 | 0.9 | 420 | 2.4 |
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services & Skills | 6,530 | 3.6 | 9,270 | 5.3 |
Office of Gas and Electricity Markets | 2,260 | 2.1 | 2,650 | 2.1 |
Office of Rail and Road | 590 | 1.9 | 290 | 0.9 |
Scotland Office (incl. Office Advocate General for Scotland) | 320 | 2.8 | 490 | 4.2 |
Scottish Government | 111,300 | 5.4 | 134,510 | 5.9 |
Department for Transport | 51,950 | 3.6 | 71,260 | 4.9 |
United Kingdom Statistics Authority | 9,250 | 2.4 | 10,070 | 2.2 |
UK Export Finance | 250 | 0.7 | 340 | 0.8 |
UK Supreme Court | * | * | 280 | 5.2 |
Wales Office | 230 | 4.4 | 190 | 4.1 |
Water Services Regulation Authority | 570 | 2.4 | 250 | 1.0 |
Welsh Government | 14,590 | 2.8 | 20,110 | 3.7 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 243,230 | 3.3 | 383,320 | 4.5 |
Notes:
Annual Data for year ending 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022
Source – Management Information
Days rounded to nearest 10 days, AWDL rounded to 1 decimal place
s = suppressed due to data review, * = suppressed due to low counts
For sickness absence publications see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence
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 steps he is taking to help improve (a) the quality of recruitment and (b) staff retention levels within his Department.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is committed to improving its recruitment processes and improving candidate experience. The Resourcing Centre of Expertise has an ongoing work programme to ensure policy, guidance and tools support the business to fill high volumes of vacancies across a wide range of professions, grades, functions and locations. DWP work closely with recruitment suppliers, candidates and vacancy holders to identify ways to improve our processes and the quality of our recruitment outcomes.
DWP actively takes steps to promote and raise awareness of careers opportunities to increase attraction of diverse talent from the widest possible range of geographical, social, diversity and career backgrounds by:
Within the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, DWP use high quality selection tools which are centrally evaluated such as Civil Service online tests and video interviewing. Processes have been developed to increase the diversity of panel members and tested different approaches to evaluate their impact on diverse outcomes, inclusive candidate experience, and quality of hire.
The DWP People Strategy specifically sets out to ensure we offer fulfilling, rewarding careers that attract and retain motivated people. Most recently DWP have been implementing measures to increase retention by:
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the levels of loneliness and social isolation in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps her Department is taking to tackle loneliness and social isolation in those areas.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS collects data on levels of loneliness in England through its annual Community Life Survey (CLS), which suggests that prevalence of loneliness in 2021-22 remained similar to pre-COVID levels, with 6% of adults reporting that they are always or often lonely. Levels of loneliness in the West Midlands in 2021-22 were similar to levels in England (7% always or often lonely). Data is not available to estimate loneliness levels at a constituency level.
The government launched the Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) Fund in March 2023, an up to £30 million package of funding designed to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. The KYN Fund will run until March 2025, with funding allocations taking place up until March 2024. A key focus of the programme is to generate and share learning on how people in disadvantaged areas can be supported to volunteer and improve their social connections, which will help to support sustained action beyond the lifetime of the Fund. Four areas in the West Midlands fall in scope of the KYN Fund: Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent and Cannock Chase.
Furthermore, the government continues to take action to tackle loneliness across England through public communications to reduce the stigma about loneliness, building the evidence base on loneliness and supporting other government departments and external organisations to consider loneliness in their work.
Copies of the fourth annual report on the government's world-first tackling loneliness strategy are available in the Libraries of the House of Commons and Lords and online.