Remploy
Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what recent discussions he has had with trade union representatives on the Remploy factories which were announced for closure; [134424]
(2) what assistance the Government plans to give to people formerly employed at the Remploy factory in Sunderland to find alternative work. [134425]
Esther McVey: I have had contact with representatives from the Remploy trade unions in face-to-face meetings, stakeholder events and through correspondence. I have listened and responded to their views and opinions on the progress of the stage 1 process, as I have done with other stakeholders.
The Government have made £8 million available to fund the delivery of a People Help and Support Package (PHSP) across the UK and support is available for individuals to access for up to 18 months following redundancy to help make the transition from working at Remploy to mainstream employment.
All disabled Remploy staff affected by the changes, who give consent, will be guaranteed access to support from the PHSP. This includes individual help from a
7 Jan 2013 : Column 174W
personal case worker, existing back-to-work support (including Access to Work) and access to a personal budget for acquiring additional support.
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what types of jobs have been obtained by former Remploy workers; whether those jobs are full-time or otherwise; and at what level salaries are being paid. [134426]
Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what types of jobs have been obtained by former Remploy workers; whether these jobs are full-time or otherwise; and at what level salaries are being paid. [135309]
Esther McVey: Out of around 1,100 people that our personal case workers are currently working with, 161 disabled people, over the past three months have already moved into work. These new jobs are with a variety of major retailers as well as small and medium sized enterprises operating across the retail, manufacturing and logistic sectors.
These employees are working a range of hours to suit their individual needs and availability. However we do not collect information about salary levels.
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will publish the names of all former Remploy managers who have been sold or been given any of Remploy's former assets; [134501]
(2) if he will place a list of any assets formerly owned by Remploy that have since been sold in the Library. [134505]
Esther McVey: The information requested is not held by the Department, and the hon. Member is advised that he should request this information from Remploy's Company Secretary. They can be contacted at:
company.secretariat@Remploy.co.uk
Remploy: Edinburgh
Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of the former employees of the Edinburgh Remploy plant have found employment since the plant closed. [133786]
Esther McVey: I can confirm that two people have found employment and a further two people are due to start work in January. Three people have expressed an interest in retiring and 10 others have taken on work related activities.
The Remploy People Help and Support Package (PHSP) is the Government's key process for delivering tailored support to those disabled people becoming redundant as a result of the announcement on the future of Remploy.
Every affected disabled member of staff will be allocated a personal case worker (PCW) who will manage the future delivery of support to individuals.
7 Jan 2013 : Column 175W
We have allocated £4 million for personal budgets, to make funding available for each disabled person affected by redundancy and to provide additional support where other sources of funding are unavailable.
We have also set up a Community Support Fund to provide grants to local organisations to support the individuals affected by the Remploy factory closures.
Sickness Absence
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the level of absence has been in his Department for stress-related sickness in each of the last five years. [135390]
Mr Hoban: Data on stress-related sickness absence are available within DWP from 2008.
This shows that in each of the tax year 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, the proportion of working days lost specifically attributable to stress-related sickness absence was 0.3%.
This consistently low figure reflects the efforts that the Department has made to support its employees at work during a period when they have been at the forefront of the Government’s response to the economic downturn.
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department were given a (a) verbal warning and (b) written warning prior to a period of absence for sickness in each of the last five years. [135391]
Mr Hoban: The Department for Work and Pensions do not issue warnings to employees prior to them taking sickness absence as the hon. Member's question requests.
Warnings are only issued when employees have been absent due to sickness for eight days or more in any 12-month period—this is the earliest point at which our formal absence management policy starts. The outcome of this formal action is not predetermined and there may be a number of outcomes ranging from provision of various forms of help or work place adjustment or advice from our Occupational Health Service, through to the issuing of a formal improvement warning, as appropriate.
The following tables give the number of oral or written warnings that have been issued to employees from January 2008 to the end of November 2012 due to unsatisfactory attendance.
| Total | Percentage of staff issued with a warning | |
7 Jan 2013 : Column 176W
Social Rented Housing: Armed Forces
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will give consideration to the exempting of armed forces personnel and their families from the Government's proposed social housing under-occupation measure. [134702]
Steve Webb: We considered a number of exemptions during formulation of the under-occupation policy but concluded that specific exemptions for different groups can be an inefficient and a complex way of targeting resources. That is why we think discretionary housing payments offer a better solution as local decision makers are best placed to make decisions on individual circumstances.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government's proposed social housing under-occupation measure on families with one or more unoccupied bedrooms retained for armed forces personnel serving overseas at their place of residence in the UK. [134703]
Steve Webb: We do not hold information that would identify such cases and so no assessment has been made of the effect of the under-occupation measure on serving armed forces personnel.
Social Rented Housing: North East
Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of households in (a) the North East, (b) County Durham and (c) North West Durham constituency that will be affected by the new rules on under-occupancy in social housing. [134789]
Steve Webb: Impacts of the new rules on under-occupancy in social housing are not available at local authority or parliamentary constituency level.
Impacts of the under-occupancy measure at a regional level can be found in the Impact Assessment:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-sector-housing-under-occupation-wr2011-ia.pdf
7 Jan 2013 : Column 177W
Social Security Benefits
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value has been of (a) unemployment benefit and jobseeker's allowance, (b) child benefit and (c) incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance as a proportion of average earnings in each year since 1982. [135035]
Mr Hoban: The information requested for unemployment benefit, jobseeker's allowance, child benefit, incapacity benefit and employment support allowance recipients is available from “The Annual Abstract of Statistics for Benefits, National Insurance Contributions, and Indices of Prices and Earnings” can be found at:
http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/abstract/abstract2011.pdf
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse in each of the next three years of uprating benefits in line with his proposal for a 1% cap. [135544]
Steve Webb: The cost of uprating benefits administered by my Department and subject to 1% uprating over the next three years is shown in the table.
| £ million | |
| Notes: 1. Great Britain benefits only. Spending in Northern Ireland is not included. 2. All costs, including from universal credit, are consistent with the Autumn Statement 2012 forecast. 3. Benefits affected include: the main rates of income support, jobseeker's allowance, employment and support allowance and housing benefit; the corresponding elements of universal credit; the work-related activity group component of employment and support allowance; maternity allowance, statutory maternity pay, statutory sick pay. 4. Effects in the second and third years are cumulative. 5. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million. | |
Social Security Benefits: Uprating
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the likely effect on measured levels of (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty of the uprating of benefits by 1% for each of the next three years; [133536]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of children who will be below the 60 per cent relative poverty threshold in each year to 2020 (a) without and (b) with the 1% benefit uprating in the next three years. [133537]
Steve Webb [holding answer 13 December 2012]: Assessments of impacts will accompany the uprating order for 2013 and the forthcoming Uprating Bill.
Television: Licensing
Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of the free television licence for people aged over 75 there were in each year between 1997 and 2012. [135191]
7 Jan 2013 : Column 178W
Steve Webb: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables are published and can be found at:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/index.php?page=expenditure
Table 1c of the medium-term forecast for all DWP benefits includes caseload information for Over 75 TV licences.
Figures for Over 75 TV licences include Northern Ireland and are therefore United Kingdom figures.
Unemployment
Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households that are economically inactive have (a) one child, (b) two children, (c) three children, (d) four children, (e) five children, (f) six children, (g) seven children and (h) eight or more children. [134605]
Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many households that are economically inactive have (a) one child, (b) two children, (c) three children, (d) four children, (e) five children, (f) six children, (g) seven children and (h) eight or more children (134605).
Estimates are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) of those households that are economically inactive and the number of dependent children living in these households. The latest estimates, which are for the three month period April to June 2012, can be found in the table. It has been estimated, for example, that there were 271,000 economically inactive households with one dependent child with at least one person aged 16 to 64 living in the household.
It is not possible to provide reliable estimates of the number of economically inactive households with five or more dependent children due to small sample sizes. Therefore estimates are provided for economically inactive households with four or more dependent children.
The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and are not seasonally adjusted. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
| Economically inactive households(1) with dependent children(2), by number of dependent children, April to June 2012, United Kingdom | ||||
| Thousand | ||||
| Number of dependent children | ||||
| 1 child | 2 children | 3 children | 4 or more children | |
| (1) An inactive household is a household that includes at least one person aged 16 to 64 and everyone aged 16 or over is inactive. (2) Dependent children are children under 16 and those aged 16 to 18 who are never-married and in full-time education. Source: Labour Force Survey household datasets | ||||
7 Jan 2013 : Column 179W
Universal Credit
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the case for a higher universal credit income disregard for (a) lone parents and (b) parents in couples who are both in work. [135542]
Mr Hoban: The December 2012 impact assessment
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/universal-credit-wr2011-ia.pdf
shows that the universal credit work allowances set out in our draft regulations will significantly improve on the current benefit system, providing lone parents and couple parents with meaningful and improved financial incentives to take up work.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the case for a larger universal credit disregard in London to take into account higher living and childcare costs in London. [135543]
Mr Hoban: Universal credit will only be effective if people understand the financial rewards of finding a job and increasing their hours of work. A fundamental part of this is the simple structure of work allowances.
7 Jan 2013 : Column 180W
Regional variations to these allowances would introduce unnecessary complexity, undermining one of the key objectives of the reforms.
Vocational Guidance
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobcentres host regular sessions with advisers from the National Careers Service. [135378]
Mr Hoban: The number of Jobcentres hosting regular sessions with advisers from National Careers service is 552.
Winter Fuel Payments
Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of the winter fuel allowance there were in each income decile in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the cost to the public purse was of the allowance for each such decile. [134894]
Steve Webb: The requested information is available in the following table.
| Number of individuals in receipt of winter fuel payment and total amount received by income decile (whole population), Before and After Housing Costs, United Kingdom, 2010-11 | ||||||||||
| Decile | ||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the 2010-11 Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 3. Figures have been presented on a Before Housing Cost and an After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Costs, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, buildings insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Costs they are. 4. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 5. The reference period for HBAI figures is the financial year. 6. Numbers of individuals have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand individuals. 7. Amounts are presented in 2010-11 prices and have been rounded to the nearest 50 million pounds. 8. Figures may not sum due to rounding. 9. Overall expenditure by decile was produced by applying the proportion in each decile from HBAI to overall WFP expenditure for 2010-11. 10. Expenditure figures do not sum to total published 2010-11 expenditure due to rounding. Source: Family Resources Survey (FRS) 2010/11, End of year Local Authority subsidy returns and DWP statistical data. | ||||||||||
Work Capability Assessment
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's response to Professor Harrington's Second Independent Review of the work capability assessment, published in November 2011, what progress he has made on developing a gold standard review of the new work capability assessment mental health descriptors. [135062]
Mr Hoban: The Evidence Based Review (EBR) remains a priority for the Department and work is continuing at pace. The final report is due in 2013.
7 Jan 2013 : Column 181W
Professor Harrington commissioned two groups of charities to provide recommendations to refine descriptors respectively for (a) mental, cognitive and intellectual functioning and (b) fluctuating conditions in 2011. Each group reported recommendations for changes to the descriptors to Professor Harrington, while recognising that more work would be needed to finalise the proposals.
We have undertaken extensive work with these charities throughout the summer to ensure that the 'alternative' WCA assessment combines recommendations from both the mental functioning and fluctuating conditions groups,
7 Jan 2013 : Column 182W
and that the descriptors are suitable for testing. The final version of the 'alternative' assessment was signed off by the charities at the end of August 2012.
Since then, work has progressed in a number of different areas, including the training necessary for the healthcare professionals conducting the alternative assessments; further work with the charities concerning the practicalities of the test, and the evaluation strategy. We also have a Steering Group in place, chaired by Professor Harrington, to oversee the review.