Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Newton Abbot sent on 24 July 2025.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A reply was sent to the hon. Member by the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability, on behalf of the Secretary of State, on 17 September 2025.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 support entry-level employment opportunities for young people in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I recognise that the hospitality sector offers significant entry-level opportunities for young people. My department is working closely with UKHospitality, the trade body for the sector, to deliver Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) to 26 areas across the country. These SWAPs offer training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview to those ready to start a job, and participants that complete the programme gain the Hospitality Skills Passport which provides proof that a person is qualified to perform their job effectively and safely, giving them a universal entry standard into the sector.
A number of these SWAPs have already been delivered, most notably in coastal areas with high levels of deprivation such as Blackpool and Margate.
From April 2021 to June 2025 DWP delivered a total of 30,180 Hospitality SWAP starts across the country.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to monitor the effectiveness of employment support programmes for young people.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave 16 September to PQ 75889, referencing DWP evaluations which demonstrate the effectiveness of support programmes for young people.
The department will continue to build on the existing evidence base as we test, learn and improve the support available to help young people to find, stay in, and progress in work.
Our current evaluation plans include a dedicated evaluation of the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers. Preparatory research is already underway to map activities, identify outcome pathways, and understand the supporting systems. As part of this research, we will also assess the feasibility of different methods to evaluate the impact of the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers.
A process and theory-based evaluation will also be commissioned as part of a wider Get Britain Working Trailblazer evaluation, scheduled to begin in early 2026.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of artificial intelligence on employment levels in the next (a) five and (b) ten years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No current assessment has been made by the Department for Work and Pensions on the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment.
We are starting to witness AI’s impact within the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and augmenting old ones. But there is uncertainty over the future scale of AI’s impact on the labour market. Given the recent rapid pace of AI development, government is planning against a range of plausible future outcomes and closely monitoring the data that will help track if we are heading towards any of these outcomes.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available to people with Parkinson's disease in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Rt.Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 September 2025 to Question UIN 72849.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people on the top level of incapacity benefit have joined a coaching scheme to help get them back into work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
There are several schemes for individuals in the Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work and Related Activity group (UC LCWRA) or Employment Support Allowance Support Group which may use some coaching to support individuals back to work. Examples include Additional Work Coach Support, Work and Health Programme, WorkWell, Connect to Work and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies. However, these schemes are personalised to the needs of the individual and therefore coaching is only one of many ways to help get them back to work.
The published report “The impact of additional Jobcentre Plus support on the employment outcomes of disabled people” March 2025 includes some of the most recent relevant analysis on employment support for those on UC LCWRA.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 support people with endometriosis in the workplace in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.
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 is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including women with endometriosis, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.
Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.
It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the DWP and DHSC Joint Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025.
In our March Green Paper, we set out our Pathways to Work Guarantee, backed by £1 billion a year of new additional funding by 2030. We will build towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, stated our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support workers whose roles have been displaced due to offshoring by UK-based firms.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. member to the answer I gave on 10 September to PQ 72893.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to review how the Child Maintenance Service processes cases involving domestic abuse allegations.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to ensuring that victims and survivors of domestic abuse get the help and support they need to use the CMS safely.
CMS domestic abuse training has been reviewed to ensure it reflects the Home Office’s updated statutory guidance on coercive and controlling behaviour, published in April 2023, to ensure CMS staff are equipped to recognise this form of domestic abuse and signpost parents appropriately.
The CMS has access to a list of resources which helps caseworkers provide signposting to supporting organisations, and a Domestic Abuse plan which includes clear steps to follow in order to support customers who are experiencing abuse. The list of resources and Domestic Abuse Plan is regularly reviewed.
As well as the domestic abuse plan, the CMS responds to cases involving domestic abuse in several ways, including by acting as an intermediary in Direct Pay cases, and providing advice on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code to limit the risk of a parent’s location being traced.
The Department has introduced a domestic abuse specialist caseworker team which provides a discrete and tactful service. The CMS determines which cases are referred to the team and offer, if required, a ‘named caseworker’ to prevent customers having to retell their story at each interaction.
The CMS reviews its domestic abuse training regularly to ensure caseworkers are equipped to support parents in vulnerable situations and the Department will continue to meet stakeholders regularly to maintain an open dialogue on how to improve the service.
We believe planned reforms to the direct pay service, where all payments are collected and transferred on behalf of parents will allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster, and better support victims and survivors of domestic abuse who use the CMS, reducing contact with the other parent and reducing the paying parent’s ability to financially control the receiving parent by paying too little or too late, as is currently the case on Direct Pay.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of welfare reforms on demand for independent advice services; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The public consultation on the “Pathways to Work” Green Paper received over 47,500 responses before closing on the 30 June. We are now carefully reviewing responses as we develop further proposals, involving disabled people, including through the Timms review of PIP, collaboration committees and the department’s new Disability Advisory Panel.
We will continue to consider the potential impacts of reforms as part of our consideration of responses to the consultation, including any impacts on services.