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, how many Universal Credit claimants in the limited capability for work and work related activity group are in some form of paid employment as of May 2024.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available statistics are shown in the following table.
Number of people on Universal Credit Health caseload on 14 December 2023 by stage, and those with employment earnings in the UC assessment period
Stage of UC Health | People on UC health | With employment earnings | Percentage with employment earnings |
Live fit note (Pre-wca) | 271,675 | 49,541 | 18% |
Limited capability for work | 347,472 | 47,486 | 14% |
Limited capability for work and work-related activity | 1,355,441 | 84,907 | 6% |
Total | 1,974,587 | 181,931 | 9% |
Source: Stat-Xplore and DWP People on UC and UC Health Caseload datasets
Notes:
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, how many and what proportion of people in the Universal Credit (Limited Capability for Work) group are in a form of paid employment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available statistics are shown in the following table.
Number of people on Universal Credit Health caseload on 14 December 2023 by stage, and those with employment earnings in the UC assessment period
Stage of UC Health | People on UC health | With employment earnings | Percentage with employment earnings |
Live fit note (Pre-wca) | 271,675 | 49,541 | 18% |
Limited capability for work | 347,472 | 47,486 | 14% |
Limited capability for work and work-related activity | 1,355,441 | 84,907 | 6% |
Total | 1,974,587 | 181,931 | 9% |
Source: Stat-Xplore and DWP People on UC and UC Health Caseload datasets
Notes:
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to close the disability employment gap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is generally good for health. This is why in the Health and Disability White Paper the Government reaffirmed its commitment to close the disability employment gap and stated its intention to set a new disability employment ambition.
The latest figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for October to December 2023, showed that he disability employment gap was 27.9 percentage points. This was a decrease of 1.9 percentage points on the year. However, the ONS have advised caution when interpreting short-term changes due to the recent volatility in the data.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government therefore has an ambitious programme of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:
o Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions; and
o The Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market;
Building on this, we announced significant additional investment during the 2023 fiscal events. Alongside the delivery of our existing initiatives, we are now focused on delivering this package which includes:
From 2025, we are reforming the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to reflect new flexibilities in the labour market and greater employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions, whilst maintaining protections for those with the most significant conditions. Alongside these changes, a new Chance to Work Guarantee will effectively remove the WCA for most existing claimants who have already been assessed without work-related requirements removing the fear of reassessment and giving this group the confidence to try work.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential national security risks associated with IT infrastructure operated by (a) his Department's arm’s-length bodies and (b) private firms under contract to his Department.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes the security of its IT infrastructure, that of its arm’s length bodies and of its suppliers, very seriously. However, the MOD does not comment on specific details of individual risk assessments as this could give useful information to potential adversaries.
Defence employs a Cyber Risk Management Framework that regularly reviews and escalates risk. This uses evidence from a variety of sources including as the Cabinet Office’s Gov Assure ‘Cyber Assessment Framework’ (CAF). All Defence Organisations, including ALBs, sit within this framework. MOD contracts are subject to a risk assessment which is used to determine the nature of the control measures should be applied to the contract.
The Cyber Resilience Strategy for Defence is driving a programme of work to improve Defence’s cyber security. In the longer term the MOD’s Secure by Design approach will ensure security is built into our capability programmes from the outset and managed effectively on a through life basis. The MOD is also reducing the cyber security risk across its complex legacy estate by improving its ability to respond to and detect cyber incidents, improve cyber awareness across the workforce, and improve resilience in it supply.
Asked by: Ben Wallace (Conservative - Wyre and Preston North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the Anglo-French Future Cruise-Anti-Ship Weapon programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Future Cruise / Anti-Ship weapon programme is in the third year of the assessment phase and joint Anglo-France work is designing novel technological advances in missile capability. Significant progress has been made on suitable candidate weapon systems to fulfil the Naval and Air requirements. At this stage of the programme, work is focused on reducing technical and schedule risk, prior to the potential Demonstration and Manufacturing phases, and preparations are underway to prepare towards Full Business Case. Additionally, progress is also being made to explore bringing Italy on board as a partner nation, with a Letter of Intent signed in June 2023.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the extent to which Canada's critical minerals capacity is a factor in its inclusion of a potential expansion of Pillar II of the AUKUS agreement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As the AUKUS Defence Ministers announced earlier this month, in identifying collaboration opportunities for AUKUS nations to work with other states on advanced capability projects under Pillar 2, we will take into account factors such as technological innovation, financing, industrial strengths, ability to adequately protect sensitive data and information, and impact on promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the development of intelligent liver function tests by the University of Dundee; and if she will make it her policy to increase the rollout of these tests in areas with the highest levels of liver disease in England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working with the National Health Service to support earlier diagnosis of liver disease, and to identify patients at risk. This includes plans agreed as part of the £2.3 billion diagnostics transformation programme, to upgrade the digital capabilities of laboratories across the country and ensure that they have the capability required to offer Intelligent Liver Function Tests (iLFTs).
NHS England is reviewing the liver fibrosis pathways, and looking at developing a diagnosis pathway starting in primary care that will make use of both laboratory-based tests, such as iLFTs, and community diagnostic centres. The Government will make a further assessment of this work once it is complete, including the benefits of an increased rollout of iLFTs across England.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
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 people who were claiming (a) Disability Living Allowance and (b) Personal Independence Payment where their main disabling condition was (i) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (ii) anxiety and depression and (iii) autistic spectrum disorders, in each month since November 2008.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On Employment Support Allowance and out of work Universal Credit, the information requested is not readily available due to how the medical condition is recorded so to collate and provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, Monthly statistics on the outcomes of Employment and Support Allowance work capability assessments are available by primary high-level medical condition on Stat-Xplore. The latest statistics are available by date of decision from November 2008 to September 2023, or date of claim start from October 2008 to June 2023. Statistics on the outcomes of Universal Credit work capability assessments (UC WCA) are available by high-level medical condition for the period from January 2022 to November 2023 in Table 7 of the latest UC WCA data tables.
On Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the information requested is in the attached document.
Points to note:
The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment claims can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The volume of PIP claimants with certain conditions can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement’ dataset by going to ‘Disability’ and selecting the relevant conditions. To show the data since April 2013, select all months and then ‘Add to Column/Row’.
The data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. PIP was first introduced in April 2013, so there is no data available before this point.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
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 people who were claiming (a) Employment Support Allowance and (b) out of work Universal Credit where their main disabling condition was (i) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (ii) anxiety and depression and (iii) autistic spectrum disorders, in each month since November 2008.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On Employment Support Allowance and out of work Universal Credit, the information requested is not readily available due to how the medical condition is recorded so to collate and provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, Monthly statistics on the outcomes of Employment and Support Allowance work capability assessments are available by primary high-level medical condition on Stat-Xplore. The latest statistics are available by date of decision from November 2008 to September 2023, or date of claim start from October 2008 to June 2023. Statistics on the outcomes of Universal Credit work capability assessments (UC WCA) are available by high-level medical condition for the period from January 2022 to November 2023 in Table 7 of the latest UC WCA data tables.
On Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the information requested is in the attached document.
Points to note:
The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment claims can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The volume of PIP claimants with certain conditions can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement’ dataset by going to ‘Disability’ and selecting the relevant conditions. To show the data since April 2013, select all months and then ‘Add to Column/Row’.
The data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. PIP was first introduced in April 2013, so there is no data available before this point.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
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 estimate he has made of the potential impact of planned changes to the Work Capability Assessment on (a) appeal and (b) mandatory reconsideration costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to understanding the impacts of its policies on the justice system, and is carefully considering the impact of any changes on appeals and mandatory reconsiderations.