Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of processing times for applications for pension credit.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The latest year to date performance for 2025-2026 shows improvement of claims processed within the current target of 50 working days. Our most recent Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2025 - GOV.UK statistics show outstanding Pension Credit claims have reduced to 12,940 outstanding at the end of week commencing 17 November. This is a decrease of 84% or 68,845 fewer outstanding claims compared to end of week commencing 18 November 2024.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate support for people with mental health problems when they return to the workforce.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

My department has a range of initiatives to ensure adequate support for individuals with mental health conditions when they return to work, including Access to Work. The Access to Work grant provides personalised support and workplace assessments, travel to work, support workers, and specialist aids and equipment. Access to Work also has the Mental Health Support Service which can provide up to nine months of non-clinical support for people who need additional help with their wellbeing while in employment.

DWP has also developed the Support with Employee Health and Disability digital guidance for employers. This offers practical advice on supporting health and disability in the workplace. DWP continues to champion the Disability Confident Scheme which promotes employer good practice, as well as working with the occupational health sector to increase the proportion of the workforce supported by expert health services.

WorkWell provides funding to 15 local areas in England to lead, design and deliver early intervention, low intensity, integrated work and health support, including for mental health. Participation in WorkWell is voluntary and includes people in and out of work, regardless of benefit entitlement.

Additionally, the Employment Advisors in the NHS Talking Therapies service – jointly funded by DWP and Department for Health & Social Care - enables patients to access combined therapeutic treatment and employment support to help them to remain in, return to or find work as well as improve their mental health. The service co-locates employment advisors alongside therapists to offer support and advice to patients, whatever their employment or benefit status.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what has been the estimated change in the numbers of those in receipt of Pension Credit between (a) November 2023 and (b) November 2025.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Caseload statistics for Pension Credit are available via DWP Stat-Xplore. Data for November 2025 is not yet available. The latest available data is for the quarter ending May 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) driving licenses and (b) passports have been (i) suspended and (ii) disqualified as a result of child maintenance non payment in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The 2012 child maintenance reforms are designed to increase cooperation between separated parents and to ensure that children receive appropriate financial support. Where family-based arrangements are not suitable, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates a statutory scheme and applies a Payment Compliance strategy to address non payment.

CMS has strengthened enforcement powers which include applying for suspension or disqualification of driving licences and passports in cases of persistent non-payment. These powers are applied proportionately and in the best interests of children, and their deterrent effect ensures that their use remains low.

The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025. Table 6.2 of the accompanying National tables provides the outcome information where the CMS applied to courts to sanction Paying Parents for non-compliance. The table shows quarterly statistics for both suspended and immediate driving disqualifications and passport confiscations for England & Wales and for Scotland, between July 2019 and September 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases involving cross border maintenance arrangements were (a) opened and (b) successfully enforced in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) defines cross-border maintenance arrangements to mean applications where one or more parties live outside the United Kingdom (UK).

In the past five years, CMS has received no applications involving cross-border maintenance.

CMS can only act where the receiving parent, paying parent and any qualifying children are habitually resident in the UK. It has no jurisdiction otherwise. Such cases fall under international arrangements known as Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO).

REMO allows UK courts to register and enforce child maintenance orders in countries that have reciprocal arrangements with the UK. These arrangements allow maintenance claims across borders and enable registration and enforcement of orders internationally. Enforcement depends on cooperation with overseas authorities and varies by jurisdiction, including EU countries.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff the Child Maintenance Service employs; and what the average caseload is per caseworker in the (a) enforcement, (b) calculation and (c) complaints teams.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) employs staff across a range of operational functions to support the effective administration of child maintenance arrangements. Staffing levels and the nature of work vary between business areas, including enforcement, calculation and complaints, reflecting the different responsibilities and complexity of activity undertaken within each team.

As of 30 November 2025, CMS employed 4,972 staff. This comprises 4,148 staff employed by the Department for Work and Pensions in Great Britain and 824 staff employed by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

CMS does not routinely apply, or publish, a caseload per caseworker measure. This is because such a metric can be misleading: not all cases have active work attached to them at any given time, while others may generate multiple work items and require different levels of intervention depending on their complexity. Volumes also constantly fluctuate as a case progresses and is therefore only accurate in that moment of time.

While individual caseloads are not calculated, CMS continually monitors workloads and resources across all operational areas to ensure cases are managed effectively. The service is currently resourced at a level appropriate to its operational demand, ensuring that support is directed to the teams and functions where it is most needed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service applications were closed as incomplete in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) plays a vital role in safeguarding the financial welfare of children by handling applications for maintenance. However, some applications are closed as incomplete, commonly due to missing or insufficient information.

Applications which are deemed substantially incomplete, with entire missing sections, can be closed immediately. If an application is partially incomplete, CMS sends a development request asking for the missing information within a set timeframe. If a response is received the application can proceed, failure to respond typically leads to closure.

While we hold data on the overall volume of case closures, this information does not include a breakdown by incomplete cases. Producing this level of detail would require significant manual analysis and exceed the cost limits set.

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 protect NHS workers from occupational exposure to hazardous medicinal products.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 30 October 2025 to Question UIN 84144.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which international child maintenance systems his Department has reviewed in the last five years as comparators for reform of the Child Maintenance Service; and what key lessons were identified.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service keeps international practice under review and draws on lessons from other systems where appropriate. In recent years, we have looked at approaches in countries including Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United States.

While international approaches differ and direct comparisons are challenging, our review indicates that the UK Child Maintenance system is effective at tackling child poverty. In the UK, child maintenance payments do not reduce benefit entitlements, which boosts household income and strengthens efforts to reduce child poverty. By separating child maintenance from benefits, the UK approach strengthens its impact on reducing poverty and may improve incentives to pay, ensuring the support is meaningful for both parents.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training modules on domestic abuse and financial coercion are mandatory for Child Maintenance Service staff; and how many staff have completed that training in the last 12 months.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions take domestic abuse and financial coercion extremely seriously and ensures that all Child Maintenance Service (CMS) colleagues are equipped to provide appropriate support to customers.

All CMS colleagues complete mandatory training on Domestic Abuse, which includes content on financial abuse. This training enables staff to recognise, understand, and respond safely and appropriately to customers who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse. The Department regularly reviews and updates mandatory training to maintain its relevance and effectiveness.

In addition to mandatory training, the Department provides refresher training on Domestic Abuse to reinforce understanding and maintain high standards of service.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Deduction from Earnings Orders and Deduction Orders from bank accounts are active.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses Deduction from Earnings Orders and Deduction Orders from bank accounts to help ensure parents meet their maintenance responsibilities. The number of active orders varies over time as cases progress through compliance and enforcement activity.

The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025, with detailed quarterly statistics on CMS Paying Parents available on Stat-Xplore.

Using the ‘Method of Payment’ variable can identify the number of paying parents who used ‘Deduction from Earnings Order’ or ‘Deduction from Earnings Request’ methods to pay Child Maintenance liabilities, as at the end of each quarter.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

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 correspondence of 11 November 2025 from the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage on a request for a meeting on AEAT pensions.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

A response to this correspondence was sent to the hon. Member on the 22 December 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will undertake an assessment by the end of 2026 to establish if the cost of the The Eligibility Verification Measure provides value for money.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP has previously published an Impact Assessment for the measures in the PAFER Act, which included the Eligibility Verification Measure, which can be found here ImpactAssessment.pdf.

DWP has committed to update this Impact Assessment within 12 months of Royal Assent.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that enhanced focus on skills results in long-term employment outcomes for claimants.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government’s ‘Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper’, published in October last year at Post-16 education and skills white paper - GOV.UK, set out the plan to give people the skills and knowledge they need to succeed, support growth across the country, and drive national renewal.

My Department recognises the importance of essential skills, (such as training in English, Mathematics and Digital skills) which are particularly relevant for unemployed claimants, for seeking and staying in work. The White Paper indicates the intention to review our adult essential skills offers to ensure it includes the skills most relevant to support progression into employment, education and training. In addition, we have developed foundation apprenticeships, offering a structured, supported route into skilled employment for young people who might otherwise be left behind. Also, through Local Get Britain Working plans we will support the development of a thriving labour market where everyone has the opportunity for good work, to get on in work and where we increase the current employment rate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to publish data on the number of carers that have been convicted of fraud since 2015 due to Carer’s Allowance overpayments.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the Hon. member to the answer given on 22 December to PQ 99553.

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 ensure adequate workforce capability to deliver (i) infrastructure and (ii) construction projects, in the context of recent cuts announced by the Construction Industry and Training Board to the availability of funding for skills development and training in the built environment sector.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

On 23 March 2025, the Government announced a construction support package worth £625 million to address the shortage of skilled workers in the construction sector. This investment forms a key part of our broader strategy to advance national infrastructure projects, achieve ambitious housing targets, and facilitate the transition to a clean energy economy.

The changes announced by the Construction Industry and Training Board to its funding and grant system are intended to maximise the value for industry of the levy funding it receives from employers, in response to a significant increase in demand for its services over recent years. The changes prioritise training with the greatest level of impact on skills gaps, including maintaining support for apprenticeships.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, whether his policy to fully fund SME apprenticeships for under 25s will include level 7 apprenticeships.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of I gave on 10 December 2025 to Question UIN 95355.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of CMS enforcement.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

If paying parents fail to meet their financial obligation to their children, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a range of strong enforcement powers, including deductions directly from earnings and bank accounts, removing a parent’s passport or driving license and commitment to prison.

CMS continually assesses the effectiveness of its enforcement action and in the year to September 2025 collected £214m through administrative and court-based enforcement actions (including deductions from earnings). This is the highest amount collected annually through enforcement activity, and 21% more than that collected during the year to September 2024.

We are working to introduce administrative liability orders (ALOs) to replace the current court-based liability order process. This simpler approach will allow CMS to act faster against parents who avoid their responsibilities, getting money to children more quickly. These changes strengthen enforcement powers and reduce delays. We are working with HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to implement ALOs and will bring regulations to Parliament as soon as possible.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of high rate mobility PIP.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The requested information is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml). An account is not required to use Stat-Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.  Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

The relevant information can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. Under ‘Geography’, select ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, and then choose ‘DWP policy ownership’. For claimants with an enhanced rate of Mobility award, expand ‘Mobility Award Status’ and select ‘Mobility Award – Enhanced’. You may also use the ‘Month’ filter to select any periods of interest; by default, it is set to the most recently available month.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people into employment, education or training in a) Oxford East constituency, b) Oxfordshire, and c) England.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to reducing the number of young people who are not in Education, Training or Employment.

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering the Youth Guarantee, to ensure that all 16–24-year-olds in Great Britain can access support to find work, training, or an apprenticeship. This includes launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and commissioning an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

We are now going further through an expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years. This will reach almost 900,000 young people, including through the expansion of Youth Hubs to every area in Great Britain and the introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 additional opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

Young people in Oxford East are already supported through the Rose Hill Youth Hub, which offers job clubs, employability advice, mental health links, and employer-led events in partnership with Oxford City Council and Jobcentre Plus.

Across Oxfordshire, Jobcentre Plus works with partners such as Abingdon and Witney College, Activate Learning, The Ethnic Minority Business Service, and Ruskin College to deliver tailored employability and sector-specific skills programmes aligned to local employer needs. This work is supported by the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership through initiatives like employer engagement days.

As per our ambition to expand Youth Hubs to every area of Great Britain over the next three years, we will work with partners in West and South Oxfordshire to explore new opportunities.

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 the roll-out of youth hubs in a) Oxford East constituency, b) Oxfordshire, and c) England.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to reducing the number of young people who are not in Education, Training or Employment.

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering the Youth Guarantee, to ensure that all 16–24-year-olds in Great Britain can access support to find work, training, or an apprenticeship. This includes launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and commissioning an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

We are now going further through an expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years. This will reach almost 900,000 young people, including through the expansion of Youth Hubs to every area in Great Britain and the introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 additional opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

Young people in Oxford East are already supported through the Rose Hill Youth Hub, which offers job clubs, employability advice, mental health links, and employer-led events in partnership with Oxford City Council and Jobcentre Plus.

Across Oxfordshire, Jobcentre Plus works with partners such as Abingdon and Witney College, Activate Learning, The Ethnic Minority Business Service, and Ruskin College to deliver tailored employability and sector-specific skills programmes aligned to local employer needs. This work is supported by the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership through initiatives like employer engagement days.

As per our ambition to expand Youth Hubs to every area of Great Britain over the next three years, we will work with partners in West and South Oxfordshire to explore new opportunities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will accept the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s compensation recommendations in full as part of his review on compensating women born in the 1950s affected by changes to the State Pension age.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out on 11 November 2025, we are retaking the decision made in December 2024 as it relates to the communications on State Pension age. The process to retake the decision is underway.

We will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will accept the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s compensation recommendations in regards to the WASPI women.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out on 11 November 2025, we are retaking the decision made in December 2024 as it relates to the communications on State Pension age. The process to retake the decision is underway.

We will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what targets does the Department have for resolving housing arrears under Universal Credit, and how are these monitored.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Rent is a contractual arrangement between tenant and landlord. DWP is not party to this arrangement and does not monitor whether the contractual liability is being honoured. If a customer is vulnerable or in arrears we can, if it is deemed to be in their interest, arrange for payment to be made direct to the landlord and for an amount to be sent towards arrears. There are no Departmental targets with respect to the amount of arrears outstanding.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 99252 on Motability, will he undertake an Equality Impact Assessment of changes to the Motability scheme to incorporate financial analysis of the potential impact of changes on different scheme users.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

An Equality Impact Assessment including consideration of the impact on affected individuals was undertaken and published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.

The Motability Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit.  Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Scheme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what quantitative analysis has been undertaken to assess the potential financial impacts of changes to the Motability scheme on users of the scheme.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

An Equality Impact Assessment including consideration of the impact on affected individuals was undertaken and published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.

The Motability Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit.  Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Scheme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what action is being taken to simplify Universal Credit housing cost processes for vulnerable claimants and reduce waiting times.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Processes for declaring and verifying Universal Credit housing cost are designed to be simple and ensure timely and accurate payments. For Private Rented Sector (PRS) claimants, we ask for evidence of housing cost liability via secure upload, with alternatives for those claimants who can’t, or choose not to, verify in this way.

For the vast majority of Social Rented Sector (SRS) cases (around 95%), we verify housing costs through the landlord portal, which provides a direct response within a few days. For the small proportion of SRS cases not covered by the portal, verification is completed via email, which can take a little longer.

We are not aware of any significant problems with these processes at present. Payment timeliness has remained stable since the introduction of the landlord portal in 2017–19. We continuously evaluate the service and, where concerns are identified, we look to change or improve the way we deliver the service. This approach is intended to keep processes as simple and efficient as possible for all claimants, including those who are vulnerable.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to expand the use of direct payments to landlords for vulnerable tenants to prevent evictions and sustain tenancies.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Alternative Payment Arrangements are available to support those who cannot manage the Universal Credit (UC) single monthly payment, and where there is a risk of financial harm to the customer or their family. This includes direct payments to landlord for customers who have significant budgeting difficulties or rent arrears.

Direct payment requests are considered on a case-by-case basis and can be considered at the start or at any point during the UC claim to support the tenancy for the home the customer currently lives in. The need may be identified in the Service Centre, Jobcentre or requested by the claimant, their appointee, caseworker or landlord advising of a vulnerability, rent arrears or risk of eviction.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, from January 2023 to December 2025, what information his Department holds on the number of instances where waiting times for Access to Work have resulted in claimants losing their job or having their working hours reduced.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Access to Work is only available to people who are in work or about to start work, and the number of hours worked does not affect eligibility, so this type of data is not recorded.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to extend the Rent Repayment Order data sharing scheme to additional local authorities.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department is currently running a Rent Repayment Order pilot with 41 local authorities. The purpose of the pilot is to assess the effectiveness of the scheme and its impact on enforcement activity. We will evaluate the pilot and subject to positive findings, we plan to implement nationally.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there will be further expansion of the Rent Repayment Order scheme.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department is currently running a Rent Repayment Order pilot with 41 local authorities. The purpose of the pilot is to assess the effectiveness of the scheme and its impact on enforcement activity. We will evaluate the pilot and subject to positive findings, we plan to implement nationally.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 December 2025 on Support for Young People, HCWS1137, what assessment he has made of the readiness of Jobcentre Plus districts across the West Midlands, including Walsall and the Birmingham & Solihull pilot area, to deliver the Youth Guarantee Gateway and associated Youth Hubs; and if he will publish regional delivery plans setting out staffing requirements, partnership capacity and projected caseloads in each local authority.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee, to ensure that all 16–24-year-olds in Great Britain can access support to find work, training, or an apprenticeship. We have launched Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announced funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and we recently launched an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

We are now going further through an expansion of the Youth Guarantee. This expansion is backed by a £820 million investment over the Spending Review period to reach almost 900,000 young people, including through Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24 –year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training and provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

The national rollout of the Youth Guarantee Gateway will start in April 2026 and follow a phased implementation to ensure adequate provision and infrastructure are in place to meet demand.

Detailed planning is underway to deliver both the Youth Guarantee Gateway and expansion of Youth Hubs. The Government will ensure Jobcentres are resourced to deliver the Youth Guarantee.

DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.

We have established Youth Hubs already set up in the West Midlands.

The West Midlands is a Youth Guarantee trailblazer area working in partnership with seven local authorities and a network of providers, to provide programmes focusing on subsidised Work Experience, pre-apprenticeship training and NEET prevention.

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 ensure local carer services are able to provide income maximisation services and crisis support to unpaid carers who need it.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 December 2025 to question UIN 99555.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to ensure that incidences of asbestos-related disease are accurately and consistently recorded to allow analysis of the scale of asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma nationally.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) produces and publishes statistics for asbestosis, mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer and non-malignant pleural disease in Great Britain.

The statistics are taken from multiple sources including THOR (The Health and Occupation Reporting Network), Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) and death certificates.

There is consistency in how data on asbestos-related disease is collected and analysed to tell us about the changing nature of risk to different populations. However, because of factors such as long latency of asbestos related diseases, the data tells us nothing about the effect of recent exposure or those that could still be occurring today.

HSE continues to monitor and assess evidence in this area.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2025 to Question 77524, whether he will recommend the work of the UK National Asbestos Register to the HSE in order to accelerate its work to create an asbestos census.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive is aware of the work being undertaken by the UK National Asbestos Register and others and is exploring a phased approach to improving its understanding of the legacy of asbestos remaining in buildings by gathering relevant data, with an initial focus on developing a better understanding of the scale of asbestos in the Government estate.

This should help to provide a more objective and reliable evidence base to inform decision making and a longer-term strategy for the management and removal of asbestos.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will set out the selection criteria for the local authorities added to the Rent Repayment Order data sharing scheme.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to develop and implement the Rent Repayment Order pilot. The opportunity to participate was offered to all local authorities through Operation Jigsaw, an organisation currently funded by MHCLG, which brings together 309 local housing authorities in England to support the sharing of expertise, best practices, and vital intelligence both regionally and nationally to raise housing standards in the private rented sector.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance has the Building Safety Regulator issued to principal accountable persons and building owners on identifying and managing potential structural risks associated with transfer slabs.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) posted correspondence on gov.uk on 19 December 2025 alerting building owners about potential risks associated with transfer slabs (Potential risks from transfer slabs in buildings - GOV.UK). This provided some initial guidance to building owners on how they should respond to the risk.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he has taken to support the work of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Job Centre.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP ensures that all Jobcentre Plus staff receive comprehensive training and have access to up-to-date, modern systems. This includes clear diary management tools, enabling staff to support customers as effectively as possible. Where additional expertise is needed, staff can draw on a network of specialist roles such as Disability Employment Advisers and work psychologists or refer customers to local providers.

DWP continues to work closely with local partners, employers, and training providers to ensure that Jobcentre services in Newcastle-under-Lyme remain responsive to the needs of the community. This includes signposting to training, apprenticeships, and employability programmes, as well as supporting local recruitment and skills initiatives.

In addition, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work. The new service will be a locally tailored and embedded service, designed to meet the different needs of local labour markets, local people and local employers. It will be an active partner with key local stakeholders and providers of services and will be flexible, operating differently in different areas to reflect local systems and needs.

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 (a) skills and (b) training support provided through Jobcentre Plus on claimants’ likelihood of remaining in work for more than six months.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government recognises the importance of skills and training support given to people attending a Jobcentre, as there is well established evidence that individuals with higher levels of skills are more likely to be in employment or education (Employment by qualification level - GOV.UK Ethnicity facts and figures). This is why we are addressing claimants’ skills needs as part of the new Jobs and Careers Service.

No specific assessment has been made of the potential impact of a) skills and b) training support on likelihood of claimants remaining in work for more than six months.

However, Sector-based Academy Work Programmes (SWAPs) are the department’s leading skills intervention for unemployed claimants, combining pre-employment training support with work experience over a period up to 6 weeks long.

We recently published an Impact Assessment showing the long term impact of SWAPs on an individual’s likelihood of being in work following a SWAP. It demonstrated that SWAPs are successful in supporting participants into employment and keeping them employed longer term. Two years after starting a SWAP, for every 100 people an additional 13 individuals moved into unsubsidised employment, compared to 100 similar individuals who did not participate in one.

Sector-based Work Academy Programme: A Quantitative Impact Assessment - GOV.UK

The Department also publishes management information showing the proportion of people in work three and six months after starting a SWAP, providing further transparency on the short- and medium-term employment outcomes associated with participation in these programmes.

Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) Management Information, April 2021 to September 2025 - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what evidence is required for a former textile worker to demonstrate eligibility for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit where (a) exposure occurred several decades ago and (b) the employer has since ceased trading.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) may be payable to individuals who become disabled because of an accident at work or develop an illness because of their job. Accidents and diseases arising from self-employment are excluded.

There are several prescribed diseases that may apply to former textile workers depending on individual circumstances.

Eligibility is assessed in line with relevant legislation and requires:

• evidence of employment as an employed earner
• details of exposure to a relevant occupational hazard, and
• evidence of a loss of faculty persisting past the 90^th day

The Department may arrange a medical assessment, where necessary, to establish the extent of disablement.

Where exposure occurred many years ago, evidence may include historical employment records, National Insurance records, HMRC employment data, personal statements describing the nature of the work, and corroborative evidence from former colleagues or industry sources.

The fact that an employer has ceased trading does not affect eligibility for IIDB, as the benefit is paid by the Department rather than an employer.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance the Building Safety Regulator has issued on when residents should be decanted from buildings containing transfer slabs, including on such decisions being proportionate to the level of risk.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) posted correspondence on gov.uk on 19 December 2025 alerting building owners about potential risks associated with transfer slabs (Potential risks from transfer slabs in buildings - GOV.UK). This provided some initial guidance to building owners on how they should respond to the risk.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's report entitled Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts, Research Report No 447, published on 11 November 2025, what assessment he has made of the evidence on the effectiveness of automatic pension forecast letters; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing the decision to not award financial redress to those women born in the 1950s that were adversely affected by changes to pension entitlements.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out on 11 November 2025, we are retaking the decision made in December 2024 as it relates to the communications on state pension age. In retaking the decision, we are reviewing the 2007 report entitled Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts, Research Report No 447, alongside evidence previously considered. That work is underway but has not yet concluded.

We will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to address potential unintended consequences of the new Winter Fuel Allowance criteria that result in single pensioners with lower incomes being excluded from support given to higher-income couples.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Winter Fuel Payments remain a simple scheme to provide a payment to the majority of pensioners quickly and automatically, as a contribution to heating costs in winter.

The personal tax system operates on an individual basis and, as such, any individual with an income of more than £35,000 will have their Winter Fuel Payment recovered. This means that the vast majority of pensioners will now benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Statement of 11 of November 2025, on Women's State Pension Age: PHSO Report, HCWS1044, when he plans to publish the conclusion of the review of the Government's response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in his Oral Statement of 11 November 2025 that we will retake the decision made in December 2024 as it relates to the communications on state pension age.

The process to retake the decision is underway. We will update Parliament on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached and on 2 December 2025 we committed to re-take the decision within three months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Winter Fuel Allowance reforms include any safeguards for pensioners who have recently been widowed and whose household income has significantly reduced.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Winter Fuel Payments remain a simple scheme which provides a payment to the majority of pensioners quickly and automatically, as a contribution towards heating costs in winter - and around 9 million pensioners will benefit this winter.

Pensioners who experience a significant reduction in their household income may become eligible for much more significant financial support such as Pension Credit or Housing Benefit.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any lung or respiratory conditions linked to exposure to jute or textile fibres are currently prescribed diseases for the purposes of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department keeps the list of prescribed diseases under review for the purposes of entitlement to Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. There are several prescribed diseases that may apply to lung or respiratory conditions depending on individual circumstances and the nature of occupational exposure, including work involving certain textile fibres.

Eligibility is assessed on a case-by-case basis in line with the relevant regulations.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Crisis and Resilience Fund which is launching in April 2026 will recognise unpaid carers as a financially vulnerable group and a group who are likely to need support from that Fund.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Fund through a structured process, including eligibility requirements. We are considering feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance this month.

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 young people to pursue careers in the logistics sector.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP is working to make logistics a sector of choice for young people by promoting awareness and creating clear entry routes. We support Generation Logistics, an industry-led campaign match-funded by the Department for Transport to promote careers in the sector to young people and other underrepresented groups.

Campaigns like Generation Logistics aim to change perceptions and highlight opportunities in the industry, while partnerships with trade bodies such as Logistics UK and UKWA help strengthen employer engagement.

DWP also supports schools through its adviser network and collaborates with organisations like the Careers & Enterprise Company to build a talent pipeline. These efforts focus on attracting young people, women and underrepresented groups to address skills shortages and improve diversity in a traditionally male-dominated sector.

DWP is also a member of the Freight Workforce Group, chaired by the Department for Transport, which provides a forum to share evidence, align activity and support initiatives that strengthen the long-term supply of skilled workers into the sector. Guidance will soon be published by the Department for Transport to support employers with coordinating work experience and recruiting from hard-to-reach groups.

DWP is currently piloting Road to Logistics training in the East Midlands to raise aspirations particularly in young people and those in less advantaged communities.

More generally, this Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. Further details of the announcement can be found in the Written Statement from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 8 December 2025 HCWS1137.

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 impact of UK Government measures to reduce child poverty on children in Scotland; and how he is working with the Scottish Government to complement devolved policies and support progress towards Scotland’s statutory child poverty targets.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We estimate that removing the two-child limit alongside other measures in the Child Poverty Strategy, published on 5 December, will lift 550,000 children out of poverty across the whole of the UK, leading to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

Removing the two-child limit from April 2026 will alone reduce child poverty across the UK by 450,000 in the final year of parliament and could benefit 95,000 children living in households in Scotland impacted by the policy.

We have published the UK wide impacts for the Child Poverty Strategy here: Child Poverty Strategy: Impact on low income poverty levels and children gaining in the UK: December 2025.

We are committed to continued collaboration with the Devolved Governments to tackle child poverty across the UK. As set out in our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Child Poverty Strategy, we will continue to work closely with them to consider how best to feed into their own findings to track progress at both the local and national level.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 December 2025 on Support for Young People, HCWS1137, what evidence underpinned the selection of Birmingham & Solihull as a pilot area for the Jobs Guarantee; what assessment he has made of how differing labour market conditions in neighbouring areas such as Walsall and Sandwell will affect delivery outcomes; and if he will publish comparative data on long-term youth unemployment across the West Midlands Combined Authority area.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government is investing over £1.5 billion in tackling youth unemployment and inactivity, including £820 million for the expanded Youth Guarantee and £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. This will provide young people aged 16–24 with greater support into work and learning, including a Jobs Guarantee offering fully subsidised paid work for every 18–21-year-old on Universal Credit for 18 months.

The Jobs Guarantee will be fully rolled out Nationally in the Autumn 2026 with the aim of supporting 55,000 young people.

However, we know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of Phase 1 of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026, including Birmingham and Solihull. Across these six areas, we will deliver over 1000 job starts in the first six months, by funding six experienced partners. As the scheme will be ultimately rolled out across Great Britain labour market conditions in neighbouring areas will not impact delivery.

The six areas selected have some of the highest need for the Jobs Guarantee over the period and sufficient capacity at the Job Centre level to accommodate this initial phase. We have also selected a range of areas with a variety of geographies and labour markets to provide a test for the programme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria were used to select the 38 additional local authorities included in the expansion of the Rent Repayment Order data-sharing scheme.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to develop and implement the Rent Repayment Order pilot. The opportunity to participate was offered to all local authorities through Operation Jigsaw, an organisation currently funded by MHCLG, which brings together 309 local housing authorities in England to support the sharing of expertise, best practices, and vital intelligence both regionally and nationally to raise housing standards in the private rented sector.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to ensure that carers affected by overpayments are proactively informed of their right to reassessment, debt reduction or refund.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the hon. Member to my Written Statement of 25 November 2025 HCWS1092 where I set out that the department will be reassessing historical and existing Carer’s Allowance cases with an earnings-related overpayment in England and Wales. This will cover the period between 2015 and summer 2025 where the treatment of fluctuating earnings may have given rise to an incorrect overpayment. We will make sure further information is available on GOV.UK. Constituents do not need to do anything now. In most cases the department will get in touch with people whose overpayments of Carer’s Allowance may be affected.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2026 to Question 96708, what practical support is given to people receiving a) £40,000 - £49,999, b) £50,000 - £59,999, c) £60,000 - £69,999 and d) above £70,000.payments under the Access to Work scheme.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application and will be tailored to the individual. This flexibility helps customers to receive support that is most appropriate for them. Types of support include specialist equipment, physical adaptations to premises, help with the cost of travelling to work and support workers.

89.4% of customers receive awards below £10,000, with support being capped at £69,260 per year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2025 to Question 96726, whether his Department has carried out a formal impact assessment of recent changes to the Motability scheme on disabled people’s access to suitable vehicles; what information his Department holds on the estimated savings from changes to that scheme; what criteria he used to determine which vehicles were removed; and which Ministers in his Department approved those changes.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for many disabled people and families, supporting their independence by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance. The package of reforms to the Motability Scheme announced as part of the Budget will ensure the Scheme delivers fairness for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people.  The Scheme will continue to offer a choice of affordable vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and offer vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit.

Decisions on tax were made in the usual way by HM Treasury ministers, in close consultation with DWP Ministers and based on extensive advice with due consideration of equalities impacts. An Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken including estimated costs savings and it was published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget. It can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the 55,000 Jobs Guarantee placements will go to each of the six specified regions.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years.

We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1000 job starts in the first six months in these regions. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Child Maintenance Service cases have been transferred from direct pay to collect and pay due to non-compliance in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service official statistics. In the latest National tables, Table 3 provides data on the number of arrangements moving from one service type to another within the Child Maintenance Service from October 2015 to September 2015. The table includes the number of Direct Pay arrangements at the start of each quarter and the number of arrangements moving from Direct Pay to Collect and Pay during the quarter.

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 number of paying parents using (a) cash-based and (b) undeclared income sources to avoid maintenance payments; and what steps the Child Maintenance Service is taking to identify hidden earnings.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) focuses on maximising compliance and identifying hidden earnings through measures such as datasharing with HMRC.

Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Use of historic income ensures a stable calculation, which we know from customer feedback is valued as it enables parents to rely on maintenance for financial planning purposes.

In the event a receiving parent believes a paying parent’s earnings are not captured in the standard calculation using HMRC gross income data, they can apply for a variation, under which certain other categories of income can be considered.

Cases where CMS have reason to believe paying parents maybe hiding their income can be investigated by the Financial Investigation Unit. This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions (such as banks, investment companies and mortgage companies) to check the accuracy of information that the CMS is given. If any discrepancies are found, they can implement a correct maintenance liability that is supported by CMS legislation.

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 adequacy of the response times to queries made to the Child Maintenance Service by service users.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) are committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload.

Through the Service Modernisation Programme, CMS is expanding digital channels and self-service options, including online tools like Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance and My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC), available 24/7. It has improved speed of communications via use of SMS, email, and clearer letters, and introduced online messaging for certain processes, with plans to extend this further.

Our telephony service is available to 8am to 6pm on weekdays to meet demand. We continuously monitor telephony performance and through this fully recognise that call waiting times are at times longer than we would like. To address this, we are working to improve the efficiency of our customer interactions through both the telephone and digital channels. We have introduced a Digital Assist Telephony Service, which has been a significant step forward in our mission to support and encourage customers to use our online services.

We restructured our call routing to make more caseworkers available to answer telephone calls. By promoting self-service options online and efficient call routing, we have freed up valuable resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone.

CMS continues to exceed key performance indicators, including application clearances, change of circumstances clearances, demonstrating improved outcomes for customers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will he provide an estimate for the number of people who will take up apprenticeship training at small and medium-sized businesses under the Government’s new scheme for under-25s.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

To meet this government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, including at small and medium-sized enterprises, we are taking a range of action backed by an additional £725m of investment announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor at Autumn Budget.

We are expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people, launching a £140 million pilot to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities and fully funding SME apprenticeship training for eligible 16–24-year-olds from August 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to expand apprenticeship opportunities in high-demand sectors.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer which will deliver greater flexibility for employers and learners, and support the industrial strategy. At Autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced additional investment of £725m to deliver the next phase of the Growth and Skills Levy.

In August, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, such as construction and health and social care, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. They are underpinned by additional funding for employers of up to £2,000 to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career.

We recently announced that the next wave of foundation apprenticeships would be rolled out in sectors such as retail and hospitality.

From April 2026, employers will also be able to access short, flexible training courses in critical skills areas such as artificial intelligence, digital and engineering to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases have been closed by the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last five years; and what were the primary reasons for closure.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates under statutory guidelines to ensure maintenance arrangements are managed effectively and remains committed to supporting parents and ensuring that child maintenance arrangements are fair, sustainable, and responsive to changing circumstances.

The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025. Table 3 of the accompanying National tables provides the number of arrangements moving from one service type to another within the Child Maintenance Service each quarter. In addition, the table shows the number of arrangements which were closed between October 2015 and September 2025.

The information requested on the reasons for closure is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many small and medium-sized businesses he has engaged with as part of the Government’s new scheme for under-25s.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Public and private sector employers, the third sector, and education and training providers are integral to the success of the Youth Guarantee, including Small and Medium sized businesses who have a key role to play.

We have started engaging with stakeholders through various forums and this will continue over the coming year. The government will set out details of Youth Guarantee employers and partners in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to correspondence dated (a) 29 September 2025, (b) 28 October 2025 and (c) 2 December 2025 from the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge, case reference BS35015 and MC2025/93558.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department has responded to the correspondence in question on Tuesday 13^th January 2026.

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 potential impact of treating Maternity Allowance as unearned income for the purposes of Universal Credit on working mothers who are not eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government has committed to review the parental leave and pay system.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of his Departments policies relating to Maternity Allowance on women in rural and coastal labour markets in the context of the prevalence of seasonal, part-time or based on short-term contracts in those areas.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government provides a range of state-funded support for new parents depending on individual circumstances. Maternity Allowance is a benefit for women who are working, or have worked recently, but who do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay.

To ensure that it caters for different types of working arrangements the qualifying conditions for Maternity Allowance are flexible. Maternity Allowance claimants must have worked for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks prior to the expected week of childbirth but that work does not have to be for the same employer, continuous, or undertaken on the same basis. Agency workers and women on zero-hours contracts are also eligible. To calculate the rate of Maternity Allowance women’s earnings are averaged over 13 weeks within their 66-week test period. The 13 weeks do not need to be consecutive, and women can select their highest-earning weeks to increase the rate of Maternity Allowance they will receive.

The Government has also committed to review the parental leave and pay system.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to reduce youth economic inactivity in Hexham constituency.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:

Support to find a job: through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach

Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain

c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training

Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment.

In Hexham, there is a strong network of supportive employers who are providing work experience opportunities. This hands-on experience is invaluable for young people as they navigate their career paths.

There is also a well-established partnership with the Newcastle United Foundation (NUF) who is one of the biggest providers of training and skills in the area, running courses focused on employability, confidence building and teamwork.

In the North East and Northumberland, Jobcentres collaborate with local authorities, colleges, and partners to support young people through targeted programmes. These include Durham Works, helping 16–24-year-olds not in education, employment or training; the Pre-Employability Sports Programme, which builds essential skills through sports and workshops; and Club Elevate, supporting 16–25-year-olds in North Tyneside who face challenges such as poor mental health, substance misuse, or risk of anti-social behaviour.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to reduce youth economic inactivity in the North East.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:

Support to find a job: through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach

Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain

c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training

Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment.

In Hexham, there is a strong network of supportive employers who are providing work experience opportunities. This hands-on experience is invaluable for young people as they navigate their career paths.

There is also a well-established partnership with the Newcastle United Foundation (NUF) who is one of the biggest providers of training and skills in the area, running courses focused on employability, confidence building and teamwork.

In the North East and Northumberland, Jobcentres collaborate with local authorities, colleges, and partners to support young people through targeted programmes. These include Durham Works, helping 16–24-year-olds not in education, employment or training; the Pre-Employability Sports Programme, which builds essential skills through sports and workshops; and Club Elevate, supporting 16–25-year-olds in North Tyneside who face challenges such as poor mental health, substance misuse, or risk of anti-social behaviour.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to reduce youth economic inactivity in Northumberland.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:

Support to find a job: through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach

Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain

c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training

Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment.

In Hexham, there is a strong network of supportive employers who are providing work experience opportunities. This hands-on experience is invaluable for young people as they navigate their career paths.

There is also a well-established partnership with the Newcastle United Foundation (NUF) who is one of the biggest providers of training and skills in the area, running courses focused on employability, confidence building and teamwork.

In the North East and Northumberland, Jobcentres collaborate with local authorities, colleges, and partners to support young people through targeted programmes. These include Durham Works, helping 16–24-year-olds not in education, employment or training; the Pre-Employability Sports Programme, which builds essential skills through sports and workshops; and Club Elevate, supporting 16–25-year-olds in North Tyneside who face challenges such as poor mental health, substance misuse, or risk of anti-social behaviour.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the Child Maintenance Service IT system has experienced a (a) full outage and (b) partial service disruption in the last 12 months.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service IT system has had no full outages in the past 12 months. The service is supported by multiple digital products rather than a single system, so the data for part (b) is not held centrally and retrieving it would be disproportionately costly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what weight is given to the level of (a) private rented sector rents and (b) council tax in the statistical determination of child poverty.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The UK's headline child poverty statistics are provided via the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics publication: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK. Children are defined as being in income-based poverty if the net income of their household is below 60% of median household income. Household incomes are adjusted by a process called equivalisation so that different household sizes and compositions can be compared.

Council tax liability is subtracted in full from household income in a similar way to other taxes when calculating income before housing costs (BHC). Private rented sector rents are then subtracted in full from BHC income to calculate income after housing costs (AHC). The headline income-based measure of poverty is relative low income after housing costs (AHC) i.e. a child is in relative poverty AHC if the AHC income of their household is below 60% of the median for the year in question.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Taskforce will adequately factor in the challenges of living with fluctuating conditions.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are bringing together a Vanguard Taskforce to steer the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase and are committed to listening to disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, these voices will be reflected in the outputs of the phase.

This Taskforce will advise on the development of a Healthy Working Lifecycle Standard over the Vanguard Phase. The Standard will focus developing the best practices and approaches to drive better outcomes for all those managing health conditions or living with impairments, and as such the challenges of living with fluctuating conditions will be a key consideration.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children whose families are subject to No Recourse to Public Funds restrictions are living in poverty.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department does not hold this data.

We recognise the distinct challenges faced by those subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition and have engaged with organisations who have made representations on behalf of children subject to NRPF and will continue to do so. As part of the Child Poverty Strategy, the Department is working with the Home Office to develop questions on NRPF for inclusion in the Family Resources Survey 2026/2027, with the data first published in March 2028. This is a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Department will provide a list of employers who will provide the additional work experience placements and additional bespoke training opportunities announced on December 8 2025.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We will be working closely with Youth Guarantee supporters and partners across the country to deliver jobs, apprenticeships, work experience and training places. The government will set out details of Youth Guarantee employers and partners in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support people living with (a) arthritis and (b) other musculoskeletal conditions to (i) return to and (ii) enter into work in Yeovil constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Just under 18 million people in England were estimated to be affected by musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions in 2023 and improving their health and work outcomes will help deliver this government's mission to kickstart economic growth.

MSK problems were one of the leading causes of sickness absence in the UK in 2024. Early detection and prevention, including increasing access to employment advice, can support people with MSK conditions getting into and remaining in work.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis and MSK conditions, 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 support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well Connect to Work and WorkWell.

In Yeovil, there are various support services available for individuals with arthritis and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. For example, the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust provides MSK physiotherapy services, the Orthopaedic Assessment Service in Somerset offers specialist opinions for ongoing MSK problems that haven't been resolved by a GP or physiotherapist and Yeovil Hospital Rheumatology Department has a dedicated multi-disciplinary team, including doctors, specialist nurses, and physiotherapists, for the diagnosis and long-term management of inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue diseases, and osteoporosis.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 December 2025 on Support for Young People, HCWS1137, and the ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, what modelling his Department has done of employer demand for 16–24-year-old apprentices in each region; what steps he is taking to ensure the new funding does not displace existing apprenticeship opportunities; and whether he will publish the evidence base underpinning the expansion of foundation apprenticeships into lower-wage sectors such as retail and hospitality.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

From the next academic year, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for all eligible people aged under 25 at non-levy paying employers, essentially small and medium sized enterprises. Currently, this only happens for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. This change will make it easier for those employers, who take on a high proportion of young apprentices, to engage with apprenticeships by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers. It is backed by the additional £725m of funding for the Growth and Skills Levy announced at the Autumn Budget.

As apprenticeships are jobs with training, uptake is subject to employer demand and also learners choosing to undertake apprenticeships. The department encourages both through its facilitation of the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network which operates across all English regions. The network has around 2,500 volunteers, comprising employers and apprentices, who support small businesses to recruit and retain apprentices, and to go into schools and colleges to promote the benefits of apprenticeships for young people.

To support our ambition of 50,000 more young people undertaking apprenticeships, we are also expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people such as hospitality and retail. As we develop and implement the reformed Growth and Skills offer, including the rollout of foundation apprenticeships, the government engages regularly with employers and their representative organisations. The department also works closely with Skills England to identify sectors where there is employer demand for foundation apprenticeships and where foundation apprenticeships will be suitable and have clear progression routes.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of people aged 16 to 24 who started employment in the hospitality sector in (a) October 2024, (b) April 2025 and (c) October 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department does not hold this information. HMRC holds data on UK payrolled employment by age and industry and should be able to provide the information requested.

Found: Child Ind Res 14, 981–1005; Department for Work and Pensions (2025) Costs of Child Poverty: A rapid

Found: resulting in the lifting of the ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition, and then by the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Several providers noted that the Home Office, DfE and DWP are not working in a cross-departmental

Found: maintaining access to benefits, particularly those that are disability related as the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Staffing at the Department for Work and Pensions, for example, is estimated to be at least 20% below

Found: mental health symptoms are exacerbated by work-related activity which is mandated by the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: State of digital government review - GOV.UK, 2025. 54 Department for Business and Trade/Department for Work and Pensions

Found: This is because they are given no proof of their ongoing immigration status and employers, DWP officials

Found: The DWP and local authorities would have to undertake checks with the Home Office on the claims of all

Found: labour markets and a former senior civil servant with experience in the Treasury, Cabinet Office, and DWP

Found: DESNZ continues to work with other government departments (including the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Recommendation 1: Integrate TRI with Keep Britain Working and NHS Pathways DBT, working with DHSC and DWP

Found: contract-based DC pension schemes continue to apply to performance related fee structures, despite the DWP

Found: contract-based DC pension schemes continue to apply to performance related fee structures, despite the DWP

Found: entry level recruitment and tackle economic inactivity through a partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: data suggests that 75% of employees have access to an EAP, that skews toward larger employers, with DWP

Found: The Premier League is also pleased to support the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Youth Guarantee

Found: Earlier this year, UKHospitality, in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) launched

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The current cross- government Head of Profession is the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The current cross- government Head of Profession is the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The current cross- government Head of Profession is the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The current cross- government Head of Profession is the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The current cross- government Head of Profession is the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The current cross- government Head of Profession is the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Session 2024–26 Number Title Reference 60th DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025 HC 1447 59th Ministry of Justice

Found: As shown by Big Brother Watch, claims in a DWP pilot of 68% high-risk claims involving overpayments

Found: For example, a pilot team of DWP case officers, HMRC analysts, and PSFA data scientists could spot irregular

Found: (2023–24) NAO [1][2] NFI outcomes £477.5 m (2022–24) NFI [11] Targeted Case Review Prevention shift DWP

Found: HMRC had £44 billion of debt on 31 March 20251 and Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) had £10.6

Found: While the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has piloted advanced analytics for fraud detection,

Found: While some departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have piloted analytics-based

Found: Recent controversies surrounding algorithmic bias in Department for Work and Pensions systems reveal

Found: citizens – it continues to entirely ignore them assuming honest citizens were active fraudsters - when DWP

Found: What is being done for the rest of the organisations apart from HMRC and DWP?

Found: that there are 16.8 million disabled people in the UK, according to the latest official estimate (DWP

Found: Additionally, data-sharing agreements between local authorities and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: We have regular meetings with ministers and civil servants in DBT, Treasury, DWP, DEFRA and MHCLG.

Found: Before his research career, Gregory worked in Policy at the Department for Work and Pensions and the

Found: my understanding is that there is an invitation to all departments with the possible exception of DWP

Found: Cerys McDonald: HMRC and DWP have a regular data exchange on those receiving the state pension to inform

Found: of Health and Social Care1 251.9 Department for Science, Innovation & Technology 54 Department for Work and Pensions

Found: There are various Ministers in the group, including MHCLG, Home Office, DFE, DWP, DHSC, MOJ, Treasury

Found: Essentially, it is a means to ensure that those in power—whether they are the decision makers at the DWP

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many families and children are directly restricted by No Recourse to Public Funds.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition applies to the vast majority of adult temporary migrants in the UK and those without legal status, many of whom may not be in touch with the Home Office.

Data on the children within migrant families is not routinely collected. However, the Home Office regularly engages with stakeholders via the NRPF forum which provides a platform to raise concerns and share experiences of those affected by the policy.

Data on the number of applications from those wishing to have their NRPF condition lifted is published.

The Home Office has committed to working with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop questions on No Recourse to Public Funds for inclusion in the Family Resources survey 2026/2027, a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards (1) identifying, and (2) compensating, families affected by the inadvertent legislative change that was reversed by the Child Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/818); and when they expect to complete the correction exercise.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The correction exercise opened to claims for both Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit on 1 October 2025.

As affected individuals may not have had an active claim, HMRC is unable to identify affected individuals from its records and is reliant on them contacting HMRC. Prior to the launch, HMRC provided messaging directly to third-party welfare rights stakeholders to advertise the exercise and encourage claimants to self-identify. HMRC officials worked with the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions to amplify this messaging through homeschooling networks and local authorities, respectively. The exercise also received national press coverage.

The communications campaign is expected to run until October 2026. HMRC will continue to publicise through stakeholders, and consider further press releases or targeted social media.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce reoffending rates.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Reoffending in England and Wales costs taxpayers £22.7 billion per year (adjusted to 24/25 prices). Tackling reoffending is crucial to reducing crime, reducing demand on prison and probation services and protecting the public.

Working across Government, we are taking steps to tackle the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes, but is not limited to, education, employment, accommodation and substance misuse treatment services.

We have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are expanding our community accommodation service to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision. And we have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the average (a) distance travelled and (b) cost incurred by (i) children and (ii) young people from Scotland when attending cancer treatment in England; and what financial support is available to support people travelling cross-border.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is responsible for healthcare in England. In Scotland, health is a devolved matter. The Department has not made an assessment of the average distance travelled or the cost of travel for young cancer patients from Scotland when attending cancer treatment in England, as patient-level data on patient travel is not collected at a national level.

However, the Department recognises that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families.

In England, NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring that the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel. The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. There are also a number of United Kingdom charities who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

NHS England does not collect national patient-level data on uptake of the HTCS, therefore it is not possible to provide an estimate of how much financial support is provided annually to specific patient groups, such as children and young people with cancer and their families.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much financial support his Department provides annually to children and young people with cancer and their families travelling for treatment.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is responsible for healthcare in England. In Scotland, health is a devolved matter. The Department has not made an assessment of the average distance travelled or the cost of travel for young cancer patients from Scotland when attending cancer treatment in England, as patient-level data on patient travel is not collected at a national level.

However, the Department recognises that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families.

In England, NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring that the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel. The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. There are also a number of United Kingdom charities who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

NHS England does not collect national patient-level data on uptake of the HTCS, therefore it is not possible to provide an estimate of how much financial support is provided annually to specific patient groups, such as children and young people with cancer and their families.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of children and young people with cancer from Scotland who have received some or all of their treatment in England within the last five years; and whether his Department provides support for travel costs for those patients.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to putting patients first and providing speedy and high-quality care, irrespective of where patients are treated in United Kingdom. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) works collaboratively with the Devolved Governments to drive forward its objective of supporting people, including children and young people with cancer, to lead more independent, healthier lives for longer.

DHSC knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families in England.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or a Personal Independence Payment. There are also several charities in the UK who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

On 4 February 2025, DHSC relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients in England. The taskforce will ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve experience and outcomes for children and young people with cancer in England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure equity of access to cancer treatment and care for children and young people with cancer from Scotland who may receive some or all of their care in England; and what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on this matter.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to putting patients first and providing speedy and high-quality care, irrespective of where patients are treated in United Kingdom. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) works collaboratively with the Devolved Governments to drive forward its objective of supporting people, including children and young people with cancer, to lead more independent, healthier lives for longer.

DHSC knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families in England.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or a Personal Independence Payment. There are also several charities in the UK who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

On 4 February 2025, DHSC relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients in England. The taskforce will ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve experience and outcomes for children and young people with cancer in England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure specialist emotional and practical support is available for parents caring for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer given on 06 November 2025 (86606), what specific actions his department has taken to ensure that citizens of an Overseas British Territory are not deprived of housing and subsistence whilst resident in the UK.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

You can find information about eligibility for housing assistance in England in Chapter 7 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance, which is published on gov.uk here.

Access to public funds depends on whether the individual is British Citizen or not, and what visa the individual has. Further guidance can be found here.

DWP cannot pay public funds benefits to individuals where the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status.

Everyone arriving or returning to the UK, including British Nationals, are subject to DWP’s residency tests in order to access public funds and benefits, unless an exemption applies.

Review NHS A&E laws & consider a two-pathway model to help working people. Supporters argue this may be fairer for working people with less flexibility to these services.Introduce nurse-led checks with DWP input checks on site which may reduce misuse, cut fraud, improve flow, & address inequality.

Found: be fairer for working people with less flexibility to these services.Introduce nurse-led checks with DWP

Found: Four departmental ARAs (DWP, HMRC, DBT and MoD) have received a qualified audit opinion so far.

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Found: (Dwp) 642112 371071.99 Desnz - Dwp Warm Home Discount Delivery-honoraria, Fees And Expenses

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Found: Industry (Nzbi) - Desnz - Net Zero Buildings - Portfolio & Affordability Serco Ltd 627793 87933.48 Desnz - Dwp

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Found: Management Desnz - Energy Markets & Supply - Desnz - Strategy Directorate Serco Ltd 632336 86829.3 Desnz - Dwp

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Found: - Portfolio & Affordability Office Of Gas And Electricity Markets (Ofgem) 673276 110961.19 Desnz - Dwp

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Found: Desnz - Net Zero Buildings - Portfolio & Affordability Rsm Uk Consulting Llp 646556 186150.5 Desnz - Dwp

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Found: - Desnz - Energy Affordability & Consumers Hinduja Global Solutions Uk Ltd 690088 62021.33 Desnz - Dwp

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Found: Buildings - Portfolio & Affordability Office Of Gas And Electricity Markets (Ofgem) 697040 68643.59 Desnz - Dwp

Found: Group) between the MAC, Skills England, the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, and Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Department for Work and Pensions: 15.1. Office for Nuclear Regulation; 15.2.

Found: as their ‘DWP Ask’ query tool

Found: Officials representing five supporting departments (the Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of

Found: Officials representing five supporting departments (the Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry

Found: international education into the priorities of departments including DSIT, Cabinet Office, MHCLG, DWP

Found: The Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions advised by the Health and Safety Executive

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: people in the form of concessions and easy ways to pay. 2.16 In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Data is provided by DWP to inform the number of households with a child under 4 eligible for universal

Found: , Skills England (and equivalent organisations in the devolved governments) and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: as their ‘DWP Ask’ query tool

Found: , Skills England (and equivalent organisations in the devolved governments) and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Jo Churchill - Minister for Employment at the Department for Work and Pensions - advice under the Business

Found: On 2 February the DWP confirmed funding for this.

Found: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has appointed the following new members to the Social Security

Found: • We also received additional summary level statistics from DWP for current recipients of new State

Found: In May 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions rolled out an increase in the administrative earnings

Found: Any change in salary, gross pension (including remedy) or relevant DWP benefits after the initial award

Found: changes to eligibility and of any process of case transfer of current awards from the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The former Minister for Housing wrote to the DWP Secretary of State on 31 January calling for UKG action

Found: gov.scot 12 Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics 13 In May 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The input data in UKMOD is derived from the Department for Work and Pensions' Family Resources Survey

Found: a recent report by Audit Scotland it says “Social Security Scotland has not had the same powers as DWP

Found: sharing and information governance2.1 Current data-sharing agreements/MOUs with the Home Office, HMRC, DWP

Found: SAAS’s eligibility rules, communications and data-sharing with other bodies (e.g., Home Office, HMRC, DWP

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the quality, completeness and reliability of the new data used in the revised social care funding formula, including how that data was validated, whether any known limitations were identified, and, if so, how those limitations were communicated to the Settlement and Distribution Group and COSLA leaders prior to approval of the revised approach.

Answered by Robison, Shona - Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government

The formula used to distribute funding between Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities is agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 councils each year. The formula is kept under constant review and any changes in quantum or distribution are discussed and agreed through COSLA’s formal financial governance process including the jointly attended Data Issues Working Group (DIWG) who make recommendations to the Settlement Distribution Group (SDG), who in turn make principle-based recommendations to COSLA Leaders.

SDG is a jointly chaired Scottish Government and COSLA officer group. Members are drawn from Directors of Finance across Scotland and their role is to make professional, principle-based officer recommendations. The SDG is not a decision-making body but provides evidence-based recommendations to COSLA Leaders on issues impacting the Local Government Settlement.

DIWG is a technical advisory group including representation from local authorities that exists to support the work of the SDG and to provide assurance over the quality, completeness and reliability of the data used in the formula. Where required, it provides technical advice and recommendations on the practical application of distribution and settlement issues and has a key role in making recommendations to the SDG. The DIWG is jointly administered between the Scottish Government and COSLA, with members from local authorities across Scotland who will scrutinise the merits of data sources.

It is the agreed approach of DIWG, SDG and COSLA leaders that all decisions on the funding formula be made on the basis of principle. Neither COSLA nor Councils are therefore formally advised of the impact on individual authorities as part of the recommendation process although it may be possible for council officials to estimate the impact of individual decisions.

The distribution formula considers over 140 service areas including Education, Social Care, Leisure, Roads, Waste and Housing. Further information on the funding formula can be found at the following link.

Local government finance statistics - gov.scot

The availability of the 2022 Census data for the first time has seen a number of indicators (GAEs) updated substantively in the last 18-24 months. In addition, DIWG routinely assesses the underpinning formula to ensure it most appropriately aligns funding with need.

Meaningful budget engagement with COSLA and Councils has been a cornerstone of the preparations for the Scottish Budget 2026-27. Over the summer and following extensive consultation with councils, SDG considered three papers on the indicators used to distribute funding for Personal & Nursing Care for the Elderly, Residential Care for the Elderly and Services for Home-based Elderly respectively.

Alongside the papers that were considered by the DIWG and SDG, Scottish Government officials also provided council and COSLA finance officers with a presentation on the impact of the updated indicators to ensure the issues were widely and clearly understood and have continued to support councils and respond to any questions raised throughout the process. On 16 and 18 December 2025, in line with the commitments set out in the Fiscal Framework between Scottish Government and Local Government, Scottish Government officials also provided training to council finance officials on the Local Government Settlement more generally ahead of the Scottish Budget.

The Scottish Government plays no role in providing advice to COSLA Leaders following the recommendations of SDG but at their meeting on 31 October 2026, COSLA Leaders agreed the SDG recommendations regarding the distributions for Personal and Nursing Care for the Elderly, Residential Care for the Elderly and Services for Home-based Elderly.

The changes do not involve the use of any new indicators, and so there are no new concerns around data quality or suitability. The indicators used – 2022 Population Census data, NRS death rates and population estimates, Council Tax data and DWP Pension Credit data – are those used previously, but have, as always, been updated with the latest available year’s data and are all Accredited Official Statistics.

The strengths and weakness of each variable for modelling the need for elderly social care were noted during consultation, which is one reason why a range of variables are used rather than any one indicator. While none of the variables exactly match the need for elderly social care, all having strengths and weaknesses, the six variables that continue to be used were confirmed as being suitable prior to proposals going to COSLA leaders. The revision has related to the weightings given to each indicator, which has used mathematical modelling to more accurately reflect the drivers of need-to-spend. No link to rurality was found in the modelling, however this is to be revisited during 2026.

Population Census data that are more recent than the 2011 data only became available in 2025, and this is what led to the update of the methodology this year. It was agreed by the Settlement and Distribution Group in 2015 that some 2001 Population Census data continue to be used even though 2011 data were available. Officials have therefore always been aware of this, and have continued to implement that decision.

Due to the complexity of the distribution formula, looking at individual changes in isolation can be misleading particularly given the interactions with the relevant funding floor arrangements.

To protect against funding volatility, the needs-based formula applies a main funding floor which protects councils with falling needs from the equivalent fall in funding, in line with average changes across all authorities to ensure stability over time. The formula also includes an 85% funding floor to ensure no local authority receives less than 85% of the Scottish average funding on a per capita basis.

The combined impact of all the indicators interacting is only known once the Local Government Settlement is finalised. In the meantime, in order to assist authorities in their planning, we have provided authorities with an initial estimate of the changes and the effect of the Floor. As with previous years, the provisional individual council level allocations will be set out in a Local Government Finance Circular following the publication of the Scottish Budget on 13 January.

Found: CMS), the successor body to the Child Support Agency and part of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP

Found: DWP Journal, DWP Correspondence, Bank Statement, etc… PLEASE NOTE: By answering the questions