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 (a) Yeovil College and (b) other Somerset providers do not face reductions in their Skills Bootcamp budgets for the 2026-2027 financial year.

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

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, we will introduce a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 to ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and is sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers, including Yeovil College and other providers in Somerset, in line with their preferred commissioning method.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether apprenticeships have been created through unspent Growth and Skills Levy funds.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions has responsibility for apprenticeships in England only. The English apprenticeships budget is set by HM Treasury and although closely linked, is distinct from the income collected from the Growth and Skills Levy.

The apprenticeships budget pays for apprenticeship training costs at both levy-paying and non-levy paying employers, as well as the costs of English and maths tuition for apprentices and additional payments to employers, training providers and apprentices.

The funds available to levy-paying employers, through their apprenticeship service accounts, are not the same as the annual apprenticeships budget, and while levy-paying employers can use all their levy funds, the majority do not. This allows the government to fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers from the apprenticeship budget.

As a result, over the last four years, on average, 98% of the English apprenticeships budget has been spent.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to employability programmes for neurodivergent young people; and whether he has considered further adjustments to support their participation.

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

The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee, as we announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper. Specific additional support for young disabled people and young people with health conditions will be available through Pathways to Work.

We have already launched 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England which are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET. As part of their place-based approach, MSAs have developed their approaches with consideration to young people in their locality who need more support and several are offering targeted support for young people with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities.

We have also 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.

As part of the Youth Guarantee, we are breaking the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing paid work for every eligible 18–21-year-old who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months.

The Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment, for 25 hours a week, at the relevant minimum wage, with the government covering 100% of employment costs. It will also provide wraparound support for young people to further develop the required skills and experience needed for the move into sustained employment. Appropriate safeguards will be built into the scheme to ensure that opportunities are high quality, fair and deliver the intended outcomes for young people.

Alongside this, in Pathways to Work we are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions, regardless of age, on out of work benefits. This guarantee will be backed by £1 billion a year of funding by the end of the decade.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to extend the Growth and Skills Levy to help increase flexibility for businesses seeking to offer apprenticeships.

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

The government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

In August 2025, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, 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 are investing an additional £725 million to deliver the next phase of the growth and skills levy and meet our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships. We will expand foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people and launch a pilot with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities.

From April 2026, employers will also be able to access short, flexible training courses to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs. The first wave of these courses will be called apprenticeship units, and they will be available in critical skills areas such as artificial intelligence, digital and engineering.

The government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged 16-24 from the next academic year, to boost small business starts and prioritise funding to young people.

To support employers of all sizes to offer apprenticeships the government also pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. Additionally, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help increase apprenticeship uptake among small businesses.

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

The government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

In August 2025, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, 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 are investing an additional £725 million to deliver the next phase of the growth and skills levy and meet our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships. We will expand foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people and launch a pilot with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities.

From April 2026, employers will also be able to access short, flexible training courses to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs. The first wave of these courses will be called apprenticeship units, and they will be available in critical skills areas such as artificial intelligence, digital and engineering.

The government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged 16-24 from the next academic year, to boost small business starts and prioritise funding to young people.

To support employers of all sizes to offer apprenticeships the government also pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. Additionally, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to increase financial incentives available to employers to provide apprenticeships.

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

The government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

In August 2025, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, 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 are investing an additional £725 million to deliver the next phase of the growth and skills levy and meet our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships. We will expand foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people and launch a pilot with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities.

From April 2026, employers will also be able to access short, flexible training courses to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs. The first wave of these courses will be called apprenticeship units, and they will be available in critical skills areas such as artificial intelligence, digital and engineering.

The government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged 16-24 from the next academic year, to boost small business starts and prioritise funding to young people.

To support employers of all sizes to offer apprenticeships the government also pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. Additionally, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).

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 trends in the level of participation in Level 7 apprenticeships on skills shortages in regulated professions.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question UIN 57098.

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 age-based funding changes for Level 7 apprenticeships on uptake of those apprenticeships.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question UIN 57098.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to encourage employers to provide feedback to job applicants who are unsuccessful.

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

The DWP encourages employers to provide feedback to unsuccessful job applicants wherever possible. This includes asking employers to adapt their recruitment processes so they can identify applicants and share outcome information with Employer Adviser teams, enabling Work Coaches to support individuals to strengthen future applications. Where employers are unable to provide structured feedback, Jobcentre Plus continues to seek voluntary comments, using this insight to enhance employability support and address any barriers identified. The National Careers Service also works closely with individuals, providing tailored careers guidance and feedback to help them improve the quality of future applications

Ahead of vacancies going live, the Department also works with employers to help Work Coaches and Employer Advisers better understand recruitment processes and what employers are looking for in applications. This enables them to support jobseekers to be better prepared before applying for roles.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Department plans to publish the findings from its employment support pilot schemes; and what assessment has been made of their potential impact on employment outcomes.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions has adopted a test and learn approach across many of its employment support pilot scheme areas.

The Government has committed to publish a report this spring which sets out more detail on how we are delivering the new Jobs and Careers Service.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers and the nine Economic Inactivity Trailblazers, the Department for Work and Pensions commissioned an evaluation starting in January 2026. This is expected to build evidence on the effectiveness of the initiative at improving employment outcomes, reducing economic inactivity, enhancing health and well-being, increasing participation in education and training, and strengthening systems integration. We expect to publish interim findings during the next two years and will develop the value for money assessment once longer-term impacts have developed.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-12-08/hcws1137

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on ensuring sufficient skilled labour supply for the UK nuclear new-build programme.

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

The DWP works closely with DESNZ on a range of clean energy and net zero workforce priorities including nuclear. This includes contributing labour market insight and employer engagement expertise to DESNZ’s work on the Clean Jobs Employer Handbook, which is being developed to help employers recruit into green and net zero roles. This partnership is underpinned by a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on 8 December 2025, which sets out shared commitments to improve access to clean energy careers, strengthen inclusive recruitment pathways and support workforce growth across key green sectors.

DWP also supports wider cross government activity on clean energy skills, providing input to DESNZ led workshops and discussions on future workforce needs linked to growth in the clean energy sector which includes nuclear. In addition, DWP responds to DESNZ policy write rounds, ensuring departmental alignment on emerging energy and regulatory issues. Together, this joint working strengthens understanding of future skills demand and ensures employment support and employer engagement activity is closely aligned with the UK’s clean energy and net zero ambitions.

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 his Department provides timely letters of clearance to bereaved families and the executors of the estates of the deceased.

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

When someone dies, we understand this is a very difficult and distressing time for their family and those close to them. We aim to make our processes as clear, straightforward and supportive as possible and to minimise any unnecessary worry or effort for bereaved families.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is notified of a death through several routes, including the Tell Us Once service, telephone contact, written correspondence, or digital notifications following registration of the death with the General Register Office. Once we receive notification, we update all relevant benefit and pension records and ensure the appropriate teams contact the next of kin or executor as required.

For customers over State Pension age, we aim to complete our review within:

• 15 days where there is a surviving spouse or civil partner, or

• 20 days where there is no surviving spouse or civil partner.

This includes updating the deceased person’s record, checking any changes to entitlement, and contacting the person responsible for the estate where needed.

Once the State Pension record has been closed and no pension arrears are due, we issue a Death Acknowledgement Letter to the person handling the estate. This may be a surviving spouse or civil partner, a next of kin, or an executor. These letters are issued regardless of how we were notified of the death and within the relevant processing timescales.

To avoid causing unnecessary distress, we do not issue a Death Acknowledgement Letter if more than eight weeks have passed since the date of death.

If pension arrears are due, a Death Acknowledgement Letter is not issued. Instead, where required, we issue an application form for death arrears. When an arrears payment is made, a remittance notice is generated automatically.

Where a survivor’s pension review is required, we issue a revised Pension Entitlement Notice in line with established processing standards.

Working age benefits are also notified through the Tell Us Once service.

For New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance and New Style Employment and Support Allowance, further correspondence addressed to the customer is stopped once a death is recorded. As these benefits are paid in arrears, payments are made directly to the person who applies for the arrears.

When Universal Credit (UC) is notified of the death of a claimant or a dependent child, UC staff record the death as a priority. For online claims, notifications are uploaded to the claimant’s UC digital account. For telephone claims, notifications are sent by post to the appropriate recipient.

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 trends in the level of demand for construction-related skills in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency over the next three years.

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

The Department does not hold up to date data on the projections of construction-related skills at a constituency level. The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) does produce the Construction Workforce Outlook which projects the growth in construction from 2024 to 2029 and is available at a national and regional level here: https://www.citb.co.uk/cwo/index.html.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unpaid carers received a Carer’s Allowance overpayment in the last 12 months, according to the latest available data his Department holds.

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

We cannot provide statistics on Carer’s Allowance overpayments where the carer is not in employment/earning, due to the sample sizes being too small. Our latest published statistics on Carer’s Allowance overpayments can be found using the link below. Table 12 provides the proportion of the caseload that has a Carers Allowance overpayment:

Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2025 - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will guarantee that apprenticeship standards aligned with the Government’s priority Industrial Strategy sectors (IS-8) will continue to be eligible for funding under the Growth and Skills Levy.

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

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

Last year, the government spent 100% of its multi-billion-pound apprenticeship budget. To live within this budget and deliver on the above priorities, we must reform the apprenticeship programme to ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness. This includes working with employers to streamline the suite of over 700 apprenticeship standards as we roll out new short courses from April 2026.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will publish (a) the list of all apprenticeship standards under review and (b) the impact assessment of any decisions to restrict or defund those standards.

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

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

Last year, the government spent 100% of its multi-billion-pound apprenticeship budget. To live within this budget and deliver on the above priorities, we must reform the apprenticeship programme to ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness. This includes working with employers to streamline the suite of over 700 apprenticeship standards as we roll out new short courses from April 2026.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will set out what criteria it use to determine which standards are considered appropriate and not appropriate for public funding.

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

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

Last year, the government spent 100% of its multi-billion-pound apprenticeship budget. To live within this budget and deliver on the above priorities, we must reform the apprenticeship programme to ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness. This includes working with employers to streamline the suite of over 700 apprenticeship standards as we roll out new short courses from April 2026.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether (a) his Department and (b) the arms length bodies sponsored by his Department are compliant with the Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025].

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

The Department for Work and Pensions is aware of the Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers (2025) and its implications for the interpretation of the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act 2010.

We are currently awaiting updated cross-government guidance, including from the Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to support consistent implementation of the judgment across departments and public bodies. As is standard practice following a significant legal ruling of this kind, the Department is reviewing its existing policies and guidance to ensure full alignment once this updated central advice is issued.

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 minimum qualification requirements on access to apprenticeships for young people not in education, employment or training; and what steps she is taking to ensure that access to apprenticeships is expanded to young people (a) with barriers to attainment and (b) who have not met minimum qualification requirements.

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

Young people are not required to hold GCSE qualifications in English and/or maths before starting an apprenticeship.

Apprentices under the age of 19 are funded to achieve up to a level 2 qualification in English and/or maths (where they do not already hold one) before the end of their apprenticeship, putting them in the best position to progress in their life and career. This can be a GCSE or functional skills qualification.

Further flexibility is in place for apprentices with a learning difficulty and/or disability, where there is evidence this is likely to be a barrier to them completing their apprenticeship. In these cases, they are able to achieve an entry level 3 functional skills qualification to complete. Since August 2024, this flexibility has been available to apprentices with a learning difficulty and/or disability but without an Education Health and Care Plan.

Although apprenticeships are jobs with training, and employers set their own entry requirements, we encourage them to consider a wide group of applicants. To support removing barriers to entry for young people, we are clear to employers that we will fund apprentices without English and maths GCSEs to achieve these qualifications.

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 implications for his policies of trends in the exposure to chemical flame retardants on workers in (a) the upholstery industry and (b) the waste and recycling industry.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recognised the risks to textile workers who routinely handle finished fabrics, including those treated with fire-resistant finishes. HSE has produced a specific guidance page on its website which covers both the initial manufacture and any secondary processing of finished fabrics (such as upholstery). The guidance page can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/textiles/fabric-finishes.htm

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) outline specific duties on employers to protect workers from harmful substances, such as foams and flame retardants, which may be contained in soft furnishings such as mattresses and sofas. HSE provides practical advice and guidance on the basics of COSHH, completing COSHH assessments and links to industry specific information and guidance to prevent and control workplace exposure to harmful substances at http://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh(opens in a new tab).

The waste and recycling industry recognises the potential risks to workers from disposing of waste upholstered furniture (WUDs) containing fire retardants. The current Environment Agency guidance is available here - Manage waste upholstered domestic seating containing POPs - GOV.UK. HSE scientists have visited a number of sites processing this waste to sample possible worker exposures. The Waste Industry Safety and Health Forum (WISH) is currently preparing sector health and safety guidance based on this.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to funding for leadership and management apprenticeships on progression opportunities in the retail sector.

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

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps have been taken to reduce levels of youth unemployment in Slough.

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

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.

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: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing 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. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
• 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. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.
• c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, over the next three years we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
• Guaranteeing jobs: 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 1,000 job starts in the first six months. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.
• Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.

Growth and Skills Levy’s £725 million package of reforms includes a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25, and £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.

We already provide support for young people in Slough through a dedicated Young Person team, including a Youth Employment Coach. This includes a young people’s job club at Slough Jobcentre, skills MOTs, employer led activity such as mock interviews, job fairs and matching events, and tailored support for care leavers and those with mental health conditions.

In addition, Slough is piloting three innovative programmes focused on employability, skills and entrepreneurship, delivered in partnership with local employers, the Football Association, higher education partners and the local authority.

• The Football Association (FA) Programme funded by the FA – provides a 12‑week course for young people, introducing a range of career pathways within football, including coaching, refereeing, marketing, hospitality and business roles. Participants receive mentoring and practical experience through a group project to deliver a football‑related event locally;
• Engage Lime – a pilot project delivered in partnership with the London School of Economics, which uses a gamified skills assessment tool to engage young people, assess decision‑making and identify skills profiles, helping to inform conversations about employment, training and entrepreneurship; and
• Start-Up UK – looks at business start-up or new business growth and encourages young people to think about starting their own businesses.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will set out his methodology for determining the future funding of leadership and management apprenticeships.

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

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

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 get young people into work in Gloucester constituency.

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

The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee.

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee, including launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and launching an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

At the budget we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people across Great Britain. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across 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. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

The Department works closely with local partners to ensure support for young people reflects local labour market needs. In Gloucestershire, this includes working with Gloucestershire County Council’s (GCC) Employment & Skills Hub, where the Department supported delivery of the 100 Futures initiative, targeting 100 young people for six‑week work placements to help young people build confidence, boost employability skills and move close to work.

Gloucester Jobcentre Plus also works with GCC’s Step Forward programme to provide enhanced employability support for Care Leavers. This includes regular engagement with the Care Leavers Team, Work Coach drop-in sessions at the Hideaway (Shire Hall) and a pilot offering flexible learning opportunities to help Care Leavers gain Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards, with training funded by DWP and delivered by local Care Leaver Team staff.

Gloucester Jobcentre Plus is also supporting young people through the Movement into Work placements and launched a mini–Youth Zone, bringing partner organisations directly into the 18–24-year-old workspace. This includes weekly engagement from local voluntary and community organisations (including SPEAR, Commercial Foundation, Young Gloucestershire, Healthy Lifestyles, Step Forward, Inclusion Gloucestershire), helping to provide a more holistic and accessible support for young people.

In addition, the Department is supporting the local Integrated Care Board’s Widening Access Demonstrator programme, targeting 100 young adults (16–30) from deprived communities to enter work experience, volunteering, education or employment.

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 the Bereavement Support Payment in the context of trends in the cost of living.

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

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) is intended to provide support during the acute period following a bereavement when people may face sudden costs or disruption. Where longer-term income support is needed for everyday living costs, qualifying individuals can access Universal Credit, which is generally increased in line with inflation.

The rate of Bereavement Support Payment is reviewed on a discretionary basis each year as part of the annual uprating process.

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 review the 18-month duration period of the Bereavement Support Payment; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) uprating the payment in line with inflation and (b) aligning the payment more closely with child‑related benefits.

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

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) provides support during the acute period following a bereavement. Unlike its predecessor Widowed Parents Allowance, which could be paid for as long as there was entitlement to Child Benefit, BSP is not an income replacement benefit. Where longer term support is needed, benefits such as Universal Credit have been designed to provide assistance with ongoing living costs.

The rate of BSP is reviewed on a discretionary basis each year as part of the annual uprating process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will coordinate with the incoming Erasmus+ National Agency to ensure apprenticeship funding rules support overseas placements in EU companies.

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

Funding for Erasmus+ placements is provided through the Erasmus+ programme. The apprenticeship funding rules for 2026/27 academic year will set out details on apprenticeships and the Erasmus+ programme.

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 Erasmus+ work placements for apprentices on the Growth and Skills Levy.

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

Funding for Erasmus+ placements is provided through the Erasmus+ programme. The apprenticeship funding rules for 2026/27 academic year will set out details on apprenticeships and the Erasmus+ programme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2026 to Question 110973, what proportion of the consolatory payment was as a result of a decision by the Independent Case Examiner to increase the payment offered by his Department in each of the last 5 years.

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

As part of its investigations, the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) reviews any remedies (including consolatory payments) already offered by DWP during its own complaints process. ICE considers whether these remedies were appropriate and adequately reflected the impact of maladministration. This assessment informs the findings ICE reaches and any recommendations it makes. However, ICE does not record information on the level of consolatory payments that DWP may have made prior to escalation to ICE.

The Department does record consolatory payments recommended by ICE. However, identifying what proportion of these payments were made specifically because ICE increased the offer originally made by the Department’s complaints service would require a manual review of individual case files, as this level of detail is not held in an accessible format.

Carrying out this work would exceed the cost limit set for central Government, and we are therefore unable to provide the information requested.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many paying parents were newly recorded as being in arrears by the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last 24 months.

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

The information requested is not readily available and providing it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to take responsibility for paying for their children, the Service will not hesitate to use the range of enforcement powers available to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers.

CMS has a wide range of strong enforcement powers including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The CMS also introduced powers to enable the deduction of child maintenance directly from a wider range of accounts, including certain joint and business accounts, and target complex earners via a calculation of notional income based on assets.

The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding has been allocated to union-led workplace learning in each of the last five years.

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

The previous government ended the standalone Union Learning Fund (ULF) on 31 March 2021. The Adult Skills Fund funds a very broad range of provision, including to support the effective operation of Trade Unions such as for Trade Union Health & Safety Representatives.

The Department is committed to working with employers, providers, and trade unions to ensure that high quality qualification and training pathways are meeting skills needs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to SOPS 1.1 in the Department's 2024-25 Annual Report, if she will publish a breakdown of the £1,030,869,000 in gross spend on Programme Resource Outturn in H: Other Benefits in 2024-25; and for what reasons that figure has increased from £343,956,000 in the equivalent SOPS 1.1 table in the 2020-21 Annual Report of the Department.

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

Please see attached Annex.

We can confirm that the increase in recent years compared to 2020-21 is primarily due to the Household Support Fund. The Household Support Fund came in October of 2021 so is not included in the 2020-21 ARA.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average duration to apprenticeship gateway and what was the maximum apprenticeship funding available in (1) 2015, (2) 2022, and (3) 2025 for the apprenticeship standards of (a) engineering operative, (b) maintenance and operations engineering technician, (c) engineering technician, (d) hairdressing professional, (e) advanced and creative hairdressing professional, (f) creative, hair and fashion director, and (g) hair, skin and scalp specialist.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Apprenticeship starts for individual apprenticeship standards are published in the Apprenticeships accredited official statistics publication:

• 2020/21 to 2024/25 academic years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d12ce978-389f-4d10-e79b-08de72e09202

• 2016/17 to 2019/20 academic years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c5962d9f-97d1-425f-ba6c-08de72dfeafa

Please note that there were no apprenticeship starts on these standards prior to 2016/17. The Hairdressing Professional (ST0213) standard was previously named Hair Professional. No standards exist for (f) and (g).

The typical duration from apprenticeship start date to apprenticeship gateway and the maximum funding available for standards (a) to (e) are in the below table. This information is published at Apprenticeship search / Skills England.

Please note that as the listed standards were not approved until after 2015, the maximum funding available for this year is not available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people started apprenticeships in (1) 2015, (2) 2017, (3) 2022, and (4) 2024 in the apprenticeship standards of (a) engineering operative, (b) maintenance and operations engineering technician, (c) engineering technician, (d) hairdressing professional, (e) advanced and creative hairdressing professional, (f) creative, hair and fashion director, and (g) hair, skin and scalp specialist.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Apprenticeship starts for individual apprenticeship standards are published in the Apprenticeships accredited official statistics publication:

• 2020/21 to 2024/25 academic years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d12ce978-389f-4d10-e79b-08de72e09202

• 2016/17 to 2019/20 academic years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c5962d9f-97d1-425f-ba6c-08de72dfeafa

Please note that there were no apprenticeship starts on these standards prior to 2016/17. The Hairdressing Professional (ST0213) standard was previously named Hair Professional. No standards exist for (f) and (g).

The typical duration from apprenticeship start date to apprenticeship gateway and the maximum funding available for standards (a) to (e) are in the below table. This information is published at Apprenticeship search / Skills England.

Please note that as the listed standards were not approved until after 2015, the maximum funding available for this year is not available.

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 that the Timms Review steering group reflects diverse representation across (a) types of impairment, (b) geographic region, (c) race and ethnicity, (d) gender, (e) sexual orientation, (f) age and (g) employment status.

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

Almost all steering group members have lived experience of disability, and the group is diverse in terms of geography, ethnicity, and sexuality. However, no single group can be fully representative of the UK’s disabled community. This is why the steering group will not work alone and will design a broader programme of participation to bring together the full range of views and voices to contribute to the Review. We are committed to transparency and there will be regular updates on the Review’s work as it progresses.

In regard to type of disability, employment status, and benefit claimant status, it is for steering group members to decide whether they want to share their own sensitive personal information. Some of our steering group members have shared this information in their public facing biographies, and some have not. It is important their choice and privacy is respected. Further information on steering group members can be found here: The Timms Review: Co-Chair Update, February 2026 - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what level of direct grant funding he provides to the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

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

DWP as the sponsoring body for the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), provided a £3.640m grant in 2024/25 to cover activities ONR are not permitted to recover from industry such as fire safety and aspects of transport regulation.

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 extent to which the Timms Review steering group includes people with recent lived experience of disability and of claiming Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the composition of the group commands confidence among disabled people and stakeholders.

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

Almost all steering group members have lived experience of disability, and the group is diverse in terms of geography, ethnicity, and sexuality. However, no single group can be fully representative of the UK’s disabled community. This is why the steering group will not work alone and will design a broader programme of participation to bring together the full range of views and voices to contribute to the Review. We are committed to transparency and there will be regular updates on the Review’s work as it progresses.

In regard to type of disability, employment status, and benefit claimant status, it is for steering group members to decide whether they want to share their own sensitive personal information. Some of our steering group members have shared this information in their public facing biographies, and some have not. It is important their choice and privacy is respected. Further information on steering group members can be found here: The Timms Review: Co-Chair Update, February 2026 - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to introduce transitional arrangements for apprentices currently undertaking Level 6 programmes who had planned to progress to Level 7 under the previous funding framework.

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

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and is determined to tackle the 40% fall in apprenticeship starts by young people aged under 25 that we’ve seen over the last decade.

Since January 2026, the government no longer funds level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22, and those under 25 who are care leavers or have an Education, Health and Care Plan. This will enable apprenticeships opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people and create more opportunities for those entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get on in their careers. Level 7 apprentices that started before 1 January 2026 will continue to be funded through to completion.

The government is encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff aged over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. The department has published guidance on privately funded apprenticeships, which will enable employers to privately fund level 7 apprenticeships for staff aged over 22: Privately funded apprenticeships: rules and guidance - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab). There are also alternative training options available to employers at level 7 including non-apprenticeship routes.

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 Level 6 apprentices who were intending to progress to Level 7 apprenticeships who will no longer be eligible.

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

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and is determined to tackle the 40% fall in apprenticeship starts by young people aged under 25 that we’ve seen over the last decade.

Since January 2026, the government no longer funds level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22, and those under 25 who are care leavers or have an Education, Health and Care Plan. This will enable apprenticeships opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people and create more opportunities for those entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get on in their careers. Level 7 apprentices that started before 1 January 2026 will continue to be funded through to completion.

The government is encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff aged over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. The department has published guidance on privately funded apprenticeships, which will enable employers to privately fund level 7 apprenticeships for staff aged over 22: Privately funded apprenticeships: rules and guidance - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab). There are also alternative training options available to employers at level 7 including non-apprenticeship routes.

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 ways in which the Youth Guarantee will benefit disabled young people seeking employment.

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

The Government is taking action to help young disabled people move towards work. Disabled young people are diverse group, so it is key that the individual gets access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, for them.

The Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will guarantee specialist support for disabled young people.

At the Budget, we have announced an £820 million funding package for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn. Over the next three years nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds will be offered a dedicated session with a Work Coach, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support. We will also expand our network of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain. This investment will create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21 through the Jobs Guarantee.

Success of the Youth Guarantee will be measured by improvement in employment outcomes, reduction in economic inactivity, and an increase in participation in education and training. We will monitor these outcomes nationally for all Youth Guarantee participants. This will build on already commissioned evaluation of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers and a planned full process evaluation of the Jobs Guarantee.

Alongside the Youth Guarantee, the Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out our plans for the Pathways to Work offer. Backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade, building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. We anticipate that the Pathways to Work offer once fully rolled out will include a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.

Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will build on the range of support already available to disabled people, regardless of their benefit status or Work Group. For example, Connect to Work a supported employment programme that joins up work skills and health support, and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, which combine the expertise of therapists and employment advisers to give those with mental health conditions the support they need to find work tailored to them. Additionally, disabled people might be able to access WorkWell, which is our new way to deliver integrated work and health support through local partnerships.

Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn is leading on an investigation of the rise in youth inactivity with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability and expected to report in Summer 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 12 January 2026 to Question 102600, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of British citizens who have studied a course funded by the Adult Skills Fund since its creation.

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

The information requested is not held.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people from the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities have benefited from the Youth Guarantee and Growth and Skills Levy.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them, including those from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee. We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee through the launch of eight place-based Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England in Spring 2025. These trailblazers are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people aged 18-21 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET.

At the budget, we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across 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. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

The DWP Place‑based toolkit helps Jobcentre Plus Districts to understand their local populations, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and identify how best to support their needs. This includes bringing together information about local people, employers, partners, labour market trends, and available funding to help tailor support effectively.

Apprenticeship starts by the Gypsy or Irish traveller ethnicity group are published here (see attached): 'Learner Characteristics Ethnicity - Starts, Achievements, Participation by Age, Level, Ethnicity, Sex, LLDD' from 'Apprenticeships', Permanent data table - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.

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Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the foundation apprenticeships introduced in 2025 have been taken up by people from the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them, including those from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee. We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee through the launch of eight place-based Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England in Spring 2025. These trailblazers are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people aged 18-21 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET.

At the budget, we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across 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. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

The DWP Place‑based toolkit helps Jobcentre Plus Districts to understand their local populations, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and identify how best to support their needs. This includes bringing together information about local people, employers, partners, labour market trends, and available funding to help tailor support effectively.

Apprenticeship starts by the Gypsy or Irish traveller ethnicity group are published here (see attached): 'Learner Characteristics Ethnicity - Starts, Achievements, Participation by Age, Level, Ethnicity, Sex, LLDD' from 'Apprenticeships', Permanent data table - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.

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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 place-based employment support programmes such as JobsPlus on levels of economic inactivity and unemployment.

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

Jobs Plus is a community-led model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The Department is testing the model in ten social housing neighbourhoods to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer and make decisions on future funding.

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 merits of expanding the number of JobsPlus sites.

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

Jobs Plus is a community-led model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The Department is testing the model in ten social housing neighbourhoods to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer and make decisions on future funding.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will provide long-term funding for the JobsPlus programme.

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

Jobs Plus is a community-led model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The Department is testing the model in ten social housing neighbourhoods to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer and make decisions on future funding.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2025 to Question 90225 on DWP: English language, whether his Department (a) had a budget for spending on English language support in 2024-25 and (b) holds information on suppliers used for English language support.

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

There is no specific budget for English Language Support.

information on suppliers is available from https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/20879758-e64d-4486-a2cd-c234340afe49

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish agendas, workplans or minutes from meetings of the Timms Review steering group.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I recognise the high levels of interest in the Timms Review and the importance of transparency in its work. The Review is being co-produced and its Steering Group has committed to providing regular updates from the co-chairs on its work as it progresses.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is considering to mitigate the impact of increases in the State Pension age on people with long-term health conditions.

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

I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave to PQ 116522.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what equality impact assessment was carried out before awarding the Nexus AI contract to IBM; and what safeguards are in place to prevent algorithmic bias in those AI tools used in benefits administration.

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

An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was not undertaken at the point of award of the Nexus contract. Nexus is a call-off contract with a broad scope which, of itself, does not directly introduce defined services or functionality into live operations. EIAs are undertaken at the appropriate point for individual projects delivered through the contract, prior to being deployed into live services.

The Department for Work and Pensions has a legal requirement to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, using tools such as Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and fairness assessments to highlight any potential bias or discrimination risks associated with AI and automation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help ensure that digital projects, such as OneLogin, are accessible for deaf people and people with hearing loss who use his Department's services.

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

DWP is committed to providing accessible digital services for all our customers in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Within this legislation DWP is working to ensure that services conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA. DWP is continuing to onboard some services to the Government Digital Services One Login programme. The accessibility statement for this service is available at: https://signin.account.gov.uk/accessibiliity-statement

For deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL), DWP has published a 5-year plan to improve BSL services. This includes reviewing digital channels and platforms to improve accessibility for BSL users. DWP is committed to providing suitable methods of communication for customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. The Video Relay Service allows DWP to communicate with customers via a BSL interpreter using a video connection. DWP also has a dedicated DWPSign channel containing many BSL videos on benefits and services. All published video and audio content has closed captions or a transcript.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of Bereavement Support Payment for widows and widowers raising dependent children; and what steps he is taking to provide longer-term support for widows and widowers who are raising bereaved children following the end of Bereavement Support Payment.

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

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) aims to provide support during the acute period following a bereavement by way of an initial lump sum followed by up to 18 monthly instalments with a higher amount paid for those with children. Where longer-term financial support is needed, benefits such as Universal Credit have been specifically designed to provide assistance with ongoing living costs. The Government keeps the eligibility of all benefits under review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to reduce the number of job centres.

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

The Department continually reviews its estate to ensure it meets the needs of customers and represents value for money, making changes where appropriate. The Department’s Workplace Transformation Programme is working closely with the Jobs and Careers Service to ensure that our physical spaces evolve to support more personalised, modern employment and skills services for customers. This includes exploring new approaches to workspace location, design and partnership working that enhance accessibility, collaboration, and customer outcomes. Any future decisions regarding the Jobcentre estate would be communicated to Parliament in the usual way.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for complaints investigations in the Child Maintenance Service that lasted longer than 15 working days, what percentage of complainants received written confirmation of this delay in the last year.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) complaint data information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The CMS complies with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints service standard, to aim to resolve complaints or set a resolution plan within 15 working days. Where a complaint is complex and requires more time, the CMS will inform the complainant within this period of the next steps and when a response can be expected.

The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.

The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints to the Child Maintenance Service were resolved (a) within 15 working days, (b) between 15-20 working days, (c) between 20-30 working days and (d) after 30 working days in each year since 2021.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) complaint data information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The CMS complies with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints service standard, to aim to resolve complaints or set a resolution plan within 15 working days. Where a complaint is complex and requires more time, the CMS will inform the complainant within this period of the next steps and when a response can be expected.

The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.

The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether complaints to the Child Maintenance Service that are time-sensitive to payment deadlines are prioritised.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) complaint data information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The CMS complies with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints service standard, to aim to resolve complaints or set a resolution plan within 15 working days. Where a complaint is complex and requires more time, the CMS will inform the complainant within this period of the next steps and when a response can be expected.

The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.

The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help improve complaint response times from the Child Maintenance Service.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) complaint data information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The CMS complies with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints service standard, to aim to resolve complaints or set a resolution plan within 15 working days. Where a complaint is complex and requires more time, the CMS will inform the complainant within this period of the next steps and when a response can be expected.

The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.

The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency received cost of living support in winter 2025-26.

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

The Department provides funding to local authorities in England through the Household Support Fund, to provide crisis support to vulnerable households in the most need with the cost of essentials.

Management Information on how local authorities have used this funding, including the number of awards made by each authority, is published on GOV.UK at:

Household Support Fund management information - GOV.UK.

This information is published at local authority level rather than by parliamentary constituency and is currently available up to March 2024. Management Information for subsequent iterations of the Household Support Fund, including the scheme running from April 2025 to March 2026, will be published in due course.

People in receipt of certain benefits also automatically receive Cold Weather Payments if the average temperature in their area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over 7 consecutive days. Statistics on the estimated number of payments so far in the winter of 2025/26 are published on GOV.UK:

Cold Weather Payment estimates: 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

This information is available by weather station rather than parliamentary constituency. You can find out which postcodes are linked to each weather station using the published Postcode Checker:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692eda569c1eda2cdf03440e/weather-stations-and-postcodes-cold-weather-payment-scheme-2025-2026.ods.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to support the national rollout of community-led employment programmes such as JobsPlus following the conclusion of the pilot phase.

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

Jobs Plus is a community-led model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The Department is testing the model in ten social housing neighbourhoods to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer and make decisions on future funding.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Child Poverty Strategy includes measures to ensure that the parents of a disabled child are considered in support strategies.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Poverty Strategy sets out a range of measures that will address the financial strain on parents and families by boosting their incomes, driving down the cost of essentials, and strengthening local support.

This includes removing the two child limit in Universal Credit, which will see an estimated 560,000 families gaining on average £5,310 p.a. in their award, and introducing the Fair Repayment Rate, benefiting approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households by £420 a year.

We are also addressing families’ costs by increasing Free School Meals to all children in households in receipt of UC which will increase families’ incomes by £500 a year, requiring fewer branded school uniform items which will save families £50 per child, and making infant formula more affordable to save families up to £500 over a baby’s first year of life.

We know that parents with caring responsibilities for a disabled child or a child with a long-term health condition can find it especially hard to combine these responsibilities with paid work, as do parents with caring responsibilities for other family members or friends.

Carers will benefit from the wider measures in the strategy that address financial strain, but the government will also work with carers and employers to review the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 which gave employees a right to time off to care for someone who is disabled, has a long-term health condition, or injury.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures are included in the Child Poverty Strategy that address the issues of (1) carer burnout, and (2) financial strain on parents and families.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Poverty Strategy sets out a range of measures that will address the financial strain on parents and families by boosting their incomes, driving down the cost of essentials, and strengthening local support.

This includes removing the two child limit in Universal Credit, which will see an estimated 560,000 families gaining on average £5,310 p.a. in their award, and introducing the Fair Repayment Rate, benefiting approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households by £420 a year.

We are also addressing families’ costs by increasing Free School Meals to all children in households in receipt of UC which will increase families’ incomes by £500 a year, requiring fewer branded school uniform items which will save families £50 per child, and making infant formula more affordable to save families up to £500 over a baby’s first year of life.

We know that parents with caring responsibilities for a disabled child or a child with a long-term health condition can find it especially hard to combine these responsibilities with paid work, as do parents with caring responsibilities for other family members or friends.

Carers will benefit from the wider measures in the strategy that address financial strain, but the government will also work with carers and employers to review the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 which gave employees a right to time off to care for someone who is disabled, has a long-term health condition, or injury.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessments she has made of the effectiveness of job centre staff in helping NEETs into work or training.

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

This government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The government has announced a further £1 billion investment in young people, resulting in a total £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and additional investment to the Growth and Skills Levy. This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.

This includes the delivery of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway in Jobcentres, providing more intensive support to 16–24-year-olds.

This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. It will also help unlock up to 200,000 more employment opportunities, through £3,000 Youth Jobs Grants, a new £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for SMEs and the Jobs Guarantee scheme, providing long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds with a fully funded six-month job.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take to help support pre-pensioners with long-term health conditions in the context of increases to the State Pension age.

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

People with long-term health conditions will continue to be supported by the benefit system, including Personal Independence Payments (PIP), up to and beyond reaching State Pension age, and Universal Credit for those unable to work before reaching retirement.

We recognise the wealth of skills and experience that older workers bring both to the workplace and the economy, as well as the role of good work in supporting health and wellbeing. We asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead the Keep Britain Working Review to examine how employers can better support disabled people and those with health conditions; the final report was published on 5 November 2025. We are now in the Vanguard Phase to test new employer-led approaches to support individuals to stay in work. To support people who are nearing State Pension age and who have long-term health conditions, we are joining up health and employment support services. This includes through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, Pathways to Work, and WorkWell. Support is also available through Access to Work grants.

We have additional dedicated support for workers aged 50 and over within jobcentres. This includes 50PLUS Champions, the Midlife MOT, and local Employer and Partnership Teams, offering tailored guidance and connecting people with health, skills, financial support and employers. As part of our plans to create a new Jobs and Careers Service, we are considering the best way to support customers aged 50 and over, and customers with health conditions, so that they can access support to find good, meaningful work, and help them progress in work or increase their earnings.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in each of the last 5 years, a) how many complaints have been made to his Department, b) how many of those complaints have been referred to the Independent Case Examiner, and c) how many of those referrals have resulted in payments or additional payments being made to the complainant.

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

a) The Department publishes a quarterly series of Official Statistics including DWP complaints received, closed and upheld by each business area, and categorisation of the reason for complaint:

DWP Complaints Statistics to September 2025 - GOV.UK

The number complaints received in each quarter from September 2020 to September 2025 are available in Table 1 of the accompanying data tables:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693accf1c72b0f8ccf33d600/dwp-complaints-statistics-september-2025-data-tables.ods

The next release of the Official Statistics will be published in March 2026, containing data to 31 December 2025.

b) The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) publishes an Annual Report each year. The reports include data relating to complaint intake volumes. The Independent Case Examiner’s Annual Reports are available on gov.uk.

DWP complaints: Annual reports by the Independent Case Examiner - GOV.UK

c) ICE is unable to confirm how many cases it recommended DWP pay financial redress for prior to 2023/24 as its data retention policy means this data is no longer available.

Of the investigations ICE concluded in 2023/24, ICE recommended DWP pay financial redress in 1,388 cases. In 2024/25, the volume of cases where ICE recommended financial redress be paid by DWP was 1,332.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 88 of the UK Government Resilience Action Plan, how many meetings Ministers in their Department have attended related to the Home Defence Programme.

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

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and ministers have regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience.

The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to build the UK’s resilience to any potential escalation to conflict. It is an evolving and enduring programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK, informed by and reflecting the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.

The Department for Work and Pensions is actively supporting this work.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the duration of the Bereavement Support Payment on the finances of bereaved parents with dependent children.

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

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) aims to provide support during the acute period following a bereavement by way of an initial lump sum followed by up to 18 monthly instalments. Where longer-term financial support is needed, benefits such as Universal Credit have been specifically designed to provide assistance with ongoing living costs. The Government keeps the eligibility of all benefits under review.

In Autumn 2021 the previous Government carried out an evaluation on whether BSP is meeting its policy intent by supporting claimants with the immediate costs that follow a bereavement. The findings suggested that BSP is meeting this policy intent, and it also found that the current payment distribution of a lump sum and 18 monthly instalment was working well.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.

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

Officials from the Department for Work and Pensions regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.

As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.

The Department for Work and Pensions is actively supporting this work.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to SOPS 1.1. in the Department's 2020-21 Annual Report, if she will publish a breakdown of the £2,402,602 in gross spend on Programme Resource Outturn in A: Operational Delivery in 2020-21.

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

Please see attached.

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 increase the take-up of Pension Credit among eligible pensioners in the North West.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to ensuring that all pensioners, including those in the North West, receive the support to which they are entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign across Great Britain, promoting Pension Credit to eligible pensioners and their families. This includes messaging encouraging family members to check eligibility on behalf of parents and grandparents, promoted through television and radio advertising, social media, digital screens in GP surgeries and Post Offices, as well as in national press and in magazines such as Yours, Take a Break and TV Choice.

Specifically, in the North-West we have advertised on the regional versions of radio stations including Greatest Hits Radio, Hits Radio, Classic FM and Smooth and placed adverts in press titles such as Manchester Evening News, Lancashire Telegraph, Lancashire Post, Liverpool Echo, Daily Post Liverpool, and Bolton News. We continue to engage with local authorities and partners and distribute promotional materials, including posters and leaflets. For example, Greater Manchester Ageing Hub cascaded our campaign materials to councils across the city region and a number of community organisations supported the campaign, including Warrington Voluntary Action.

We are also using data to target potentially eligible households. For example, since February, all new Housing Benefit claimants who may be eligible have been invited to apply for Pension Credit and, in a trial with Age UK and Independent Age targeting 2,000 households in England, we are testing whether it is possible to identify potentially eligible households using HMRC and DWP data.

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 address disparities in outcomes between pensioners under the old State Pension system and those under the new State Pension.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Ensuring a decent State Pension for pensioners as a foundation for a secure retirement is a priority for this Government. That is why we have set out our commitment to the Triple Lock throughout this Parliament, which is set to increase spending on the State Pension by over £30 billion. The Triple lock applies to both the basic and new State Pensions

It is not possible to make direct like for like comparisons between the pre 2016 State Pension system and the new State Pension. Although some people receiving the new State Pension may get a larger amount uprated by the Triple Lock, there are other elements of the previous system that they do not have access to. For example, State Pension ages are generally higher for people reaching State Pension age after 6 April 2016, so people on the new system receive their State Pension income from a later date. Furthermore, the National Insurance rates that people have had to pay since 2016 have been higher than they were for people who were contracted-out before 2016. Therefore, all the arrangements need to be considered in the round, rather than comparing individual aspects.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on simplifying the Pension Credit application process.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Department is committed to modernising the Pension Credit service and regularly reviews the user experience to balance simplification with ensuring accurate awards. We are streamlining application routes by using information held internally to reduce the number of questions customers need to answer.

Claims can be made online, by telephone, or by post. The most popular method is online, where claims can be made 24/7 with help from a family member, friend, or third party. The online form now requires a maximum of 48 questions, and for some customers as few as 35. On average, it takes just 16 minutes to complete, with around 90% of new customers applying online or by phone.

For telephone claims, callers are guided through the process by an agent. We will continue to keep the Pension Credit application process under review to ensure it remains simple and accessible.

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 merits of exempting military compensation from consideration when means testing pension credit.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The first £10 of any War Pension payment or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) award made due to injury or disablement is disregarded in Pension Credit. Income is calculated on a weekly basis, so the disregard is £10 per week.

Four additions to the War Disablement Pension are completely disregarded: Constant Attendance Allowance; Mobility Supplement; Severe Disablement Occupational Allowance; and dependency increases for anyone other than the applicant or her / his partner.

War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.

Armed Forces Independence Payments are fully disregarded in Pension Credit and can also allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.

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 PIP claims are assessed within the Department's target wait times.

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

We have interpreted the questions as relating specifically to the assessment stage of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims.

The department does not set or publish target wait times for the completion of PIP assessments. We therefore do not hold figures on how many, or what proportion, of assessments were completed outside such target times.

However, the department does publish information on average assessment clearance times as part of its official PIP statistical releases, which can be found here.

The department continues to take steps to improve the timeliness of PIP assessments, including increasing operational capacity and recruiting additional health professionals to help manage current demand levels.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of waiting time for PIP claim decisions.

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

We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service.

We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to respond to the letter from the Hon. Member Horsham sent to the Minister for Pensions on 23 November 2025.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

I apologise for the delay in responding to my Hon. Friend’s letter. A meeting has been arranged for the 22^nd of April.

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 Plan 2 student loan repayments on pension auto-enrolment contribution adequacy for borrowers earning between (a) £27,295 and £50,270, (b) £50,270 and £60,000 and (c) £60,000 and £80,000; and whether his Department has modelled the impact of reduced pension contributions during years in which student loan repayments are also being made on long-term retirement savings.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Workplace pension participation remains high among all eligible age groups, with 82% of all employees participating in workplace pensions in 2024.

The Government remains committed to building on the success of automatic enrolment to ensure that people are saving enough for retirement. That is why we have revived the Pensions Commission which will look at the adequacy, fairness and sustainability of the pensions system for future cohorts of retirees.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Fifty-seventh Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2022-23 on AEA Technology Pension Case, HC 1005, published on 14 June 2023, and the Third Report of the Work and Pensions Committee of 2023-24 on Defined benefit pension schemes, HC 144, published on 26 March 2024, whether he plans to provide redress for AEA Technology pension scheme members.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The issues raised by the AEA Technology pension case have been extensively considered, including by Parliamentary committees, in debates in Parliament, and by Government.

AEAT members receive compensation through the Pension Protection Fund, which provides a statutory safety net for members of eligible private sector defined benefit schemes following employer insolvency.

The Government is also introducing prospective increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme on pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These will be Consumer Price Index-linked (capped at 2.5%) and apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward) for members whose former schemes provided for these increases. AEAT members with pre‑1997 accrual will benefit from these increases.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason The Pensions Ombudsman and The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman were unable to investigate the information on pension options provided by the Government and its agents to AEA Technology pension scheme members in 1996.

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

The Pensions Ombudsman and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman may only investigate matters within the statutory jurisdictions set by Parliament.

Decisions on which bodies may investigate pension matters reflect deliberate Parliamentary choices to ensure clear roles and an effective system of redress. In the case of the AEA Technology pension scheme, specific issues have been considered by both Ombudsmen.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will hold discussions with Governments in a) Australia and b) Canada on the potential for negotiating updated reciprocal social security agreements in relation to the uprating of the UK State Pension.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

There are no plans to hold discussions with any country on Reciprocal Agreements that include uprating of the State Pension.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of PIP claims were not assessed within the Department's target wait times in the last 12 months.

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

We have interpreted the questions as relating specifically to the assessment stage of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims.

The department does not set or publish target wait times for the completion of PIP assessments. We therefore do not hold figures on how many, or what proportion, of assessments were completed outside such target times.

However, the department does publish information on average assessment clearance times as part of its official PIP statistical releases, which can be found here.

The department continues to take steps to improve the timeliness of PIP assessments, including increasing operational capacity and recruiting additional health professionals to help manage current demand levels.

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 merits of commissioning independent advice on the cost of essentials when setting the rate of the Universal Credit Standard Allowance.

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

The Government has taken important steps to improve the support available to help people with the cost of essentials. The Universal Credit Act will deliver the first sustained above inflation rise in the standard allowance of Universal Credit since it was introduced.

A Universal Credit award is made up of a standard allowance towards basic living costs, paid according to age and household unit. Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs. Each household will always have different requirements depending on their circumstances.

We will continue to consider evidence and insights from a range of organisations to ensure the social security system provides the support people need.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what evidence his Department holds, including survey data and commissioned research, on the extent to which disabled people identify inaccessible streets and public transport as barriers to accessing employment and education; and whether he plans to publish that evidence.

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

The Department regularly conducts research and analysis that looks at the barriers faced by disabled people such as the ‘Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers’ and this can be found on GOV.UK. One way the Department supports disabled people to work with transport accessibility is through Access to Work. Access to Work contributes to the disability-related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition in the workplace that are beyond standard reasonable adjustments. It does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments. The grant provides personalised support and workplace assessments, travel to work, support workers, and specialist aids and equipment.

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 the accessibility of transport on barriers to employment experienced by disabled people.

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

The Department regularly conducts research and analysis that looks at the barriers faced by disabled people such as the ‘Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers’ and this can be found on GOV.UK. One way the Department supports disabled people to work with transport accessibility is through Access to Work. Access to Work contributes to the disability-related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition in the workplace that are beyond standard reasonable adjustments. It does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments. The grant provides personalised support and workplace assessments, travel to work, support workers, and specialist aids and equipment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure the Access to Work scheme supports people with multiple sclerosis.

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. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. All assessments are done on an individual basis with all conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis where applicable, considered as part of an individual’s application.

We continue to engage disabled people’s organisations and individuals with lived experience, drawing on their insights alongside the National Audit Office’s recommendations as we take forward improvements to the scheme.

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 that the Access to Work scheme supports people with multiple sclerosis in employment.

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. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. All assessments are done on an individual basis with all conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis where applicable, considered as part of an individual’s application.

We continue to engage disabled people’s organisations and individuals with lived experience, drawing on their insights alongside the National Audit Office’s recommendations as we take forward improvements to the scheme.

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 Access to Work Scheme supports people with multiple sclerosis in employment.

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. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. All assessments are done on an individual basis with all conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis where applicable, considered as part of an individual’s application.

We continue to engage disabled people’s organisations and individuals with lived experience, drawing on their insights alongside the National Audit Office’s recommendations as we take forward improvements to the scheme.

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 potential merits of providing MPs with formal opportunity to scrutinise the annual changes to pension thresholds for eligible pensions that live overseas.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Social Security Benefits up-rating Regulations 2026 are consequential on the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026.

The regulations are subject to the negative procedure. They were laid on 6 March 2026 and will come into force on the same date as the Up-rating Order on 6 April 2026. This is a convention that has been in place for a number of years including under the Lib Dem coalition.

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Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2026 to question 116099, when the evaluation of the 56-day pilot will be published; and for what reason the move-on period is set at 42 days.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The 56-day pilot evaluation report will be published on GOV.UK as part of the Home Office Research Series. Publication is expected in Spring 2026.

In reaching the decision to set the notice period to 42 days, we have considered a range of evidence, including key findings from the evaluation of the 56-day pilot, operational data, and forecasted impacts on the asylum accommodation estate. We will continue to work closely with our partners to reduce barriers and support effective transitions from asylum accommodation.

The Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions work together to ensure universal credit can be accessed as early as possible following a positive decision being issued. The standard timeframe for an individual to receive their first Universal Credit (UC) payment is 35 days from application.

The 42 days’ notice period best enables the Home Office to fulfil our statutory obligations whilst looking to minimise impact on Local Authorities and individuals granted leave. This further supports our commitment to deliver reductions to the cost of asylum accommodation and end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.

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