Every parliamentary written question tabled by Euan Stainbank this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 21–29 of 29 · Department for Work and Pensions
What estimate she has made of the potential cost per year of universally restoring the Winter Fuel Payment.
Paying Winter Fuel Payments on a universal basis in England and Wales is estimated to cost an additional £1.3 billion in 2025/26 and £1.4 billion in 2026/27.
What the average non-salary recruitment cost is for a civil servant in her Department at Executive Officer grade.
The Average non salary recruitment cost for a civil servant at Executive Officer grade is £1,202.60.
What steps her Department is taking to protect (a) low-paid civil servants and (b) civil servants affected by recent increases to Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds who might be at risk of losing their right to live and work in the UK.
Part (a)The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will implement, where applicable, the new National Living Wage rate of £12.21 per hour with effect from 1 April 2025. DWP annual salaries will reflect this new hourly rate regardless of age and working pattern.DWP offers a comprehensive range of employee benefits, including enhanced discounts that make both essential and leisure purchases more affordable for our colleagues. Our Cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme promotes health and sustainability by making commuting more cost effective. Employees can also apply for salary advances to assist with budgeting, covering expenses like travel, rentals deposits, bike and safety equipment. We are committed to continuously enhancing our benefits offer, including the launch of a colleague dental insurance scheme next month. Part (b) Whilst employees who have a current time limited work visa should have an expectation that they may be unable to work beyond the date their visa expires, we realise this situation in relation to potential sponsorship via a skilled worker visa is extremely unsettling for those affected. DWP takes the welfare of its staff very seriously and continue to provide a range of support to colleagues employed on time limited visas who may be impacted by the uplift to salary thresholds introduced in April 2024. This support includes ensuring they understand their responsibilities in establishing whether they will be eligible to apply for other visas to enable them to remain in employment with DWP and signposting to wider employee assistance support that is available to them via departmental contracts.
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the Access to Work Scheme.
In 2023/24, expenditure on all Access to Work provision was £257.8m. In real terms, this is a 33% increase when compared to the previous year. Payments were made to 61,630 people. The Scheme is highly personalised and each grant that is awarded is tailored to the individual, taking into account their specific circumstances. These grants provide funding for workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The Access to Work Scheme aims to balance the level of funding required to ensure individuals are able to purchase support needed to help them get into, and stay in, sustainable paid employment, alongside the need to safeguard public money and provide a value for money service.
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of individual stipends for people using access to work.
Access to Work grants provide funding for workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The Access to Work scheme is highly personalised and each grant that is awarded is tailored to the individual, taking into account their specific circumstances. When awarding Access to Work grants, the Scheme aims to balance the level of funding required to ensure individuals are able to purchase support needed to help them get into, and stay in, sustainable paid employment alongside the need to safeguard public money and provide a value for money service. The customer can always ask for a change of circumstance if their needs increase, or their support worker or travel costs increase. This support is based on current market value.
What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of workplace health and safety enforcement; and what steps her Department is taking to strengthen health and safety protections for workers.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It is an independent regulator and it acts in the public interest to reduce work-related death and serious injury across Great Britain’s workplaces. HSE uses a number of intervention techniques to utilise its resources in the most effective way using a variety of enforcement tools to drive improvements in health and safety. The Department obtains assurance as to the adequacy of workplace health and safety enforcement through a range of measures including its Quarterly Assurance Review process. At the start of each financial year HSE publishes its Business Plan which details what it will deliver during the year, which this year included a strong focus on performance, further improving the effectiveness of its investigations and changing its ways of working to deliver it objectives. Each year I approve HSE’s business plan on behalf of the Government. Then at the end of each financial year HSE produces its Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) that are laid in Parliament. The ARA is a report to Parliament that sets out information on HSE’s financial position and activity which includes risks to the achievement of its objectives and how it has performed during the year. The Government’s Make Work Pay agenda sets out an ambition to review health and safety guidance and regulations with a view to modernising legislation and guidance where it does not fully reflect the modern workplace, which will help to strengthen health and safety protections for workers. HSE is working on three areas of legislative change: chemicals, energy and health but reviewing the Approved Code of Practice and guidance on temperature and welfare in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations. Under the heading of Safer Workplaces, Make Work Pay sets four key areas of focus that are within HSE’s remit: work related stress and mental health; workplace violence and aggression; menopause in the workplace and review of health and safety legislation.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the Skilled Worker salary threshold on service levels in her Department.
Whilst the impact of changes to the Skilled Worker Salary threshold are affecting a very small proportion of staff within the Department, visa expiry and potential options for obtaining a future work visa are specific to individuals’ circumstances and the Home Office legislation which applies at the time that their current visa expires. As current employees’ Visa expiry dates span several years and not all will be impacted by the changes to the skilled worker salary thresholds, the department does not expect changes to the Skilled Worker salary threshold to negatively impact on service levels.
How many staff in her Department have been unable to secure further sponsorship following changes to the Skilled Worker salary threshold.
DWP does not hold this information centrally as this is information pertinent to individual circumstances and held by individuals.
What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Pension Credit at tackling financial hardship among older people; and what steps she is taking to improve levels of (a) awareness and (b) uptake of Pension Credit among (i) eligible groups and (ii) women born in the 1950s that were impacted by changes to the State Pension age.
Pension Credit was introduced specifically to help address pensioner poverty. It provides a vital safety net for low-income pensioners by guaranteeing a minimum level of income. For a single pensioner this Standard Minimum Guarantee (SMG) is currently set at £218.15 per week; for pensioner couples it is £332.95. The Government is absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Subject to Parliamentary approval, in April 2025 the SMG will increase by 4.1% and mean that the SMG for a single pensioner will be £227.10 per week and for a pensioner couple it will be £346.60 - an increase in both cash and real terms. Receipt of Pension Credit also opens the door to a whole range of other financial support, including help with rent, council tax, fuel bills and a free TV licence for those over 75. That’s why the Government is taking significant steps to raise awareness and maximise the take-up of Pension Credit. Our campaign to promote Pension Credit has been running since September and is aimed at all eligible pensioners, including of course, women born in the 1950s. It has been running on TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube, on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens as well as in the press. The latest phase of the campaign ran from 8 November and was aimed at friends and family - especially adult children of eligible pensioners - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim. In November we also wrote to around 120,000 pensioners who were in receipt of Housing Benefit but not Pension Credit. We invited these pensioners to claim Pension Credit in time to make a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment. In order to promote Pension Credit through as many channels as possible, we have also engaged with key stakeholders and partners, including other government departments, local councils, housing associations, community groups, local libraries and service providers as well as charities and third sector organisations. Over the coming weeks, as part of the annual State Pension uprating exercise, around 11 million pensioners will receive a leaflet promoting Pension Credit along with their State Pension uprating letter.