The Work and Pensions Committee is undertaking a short inquiry into the impact of the Government’s proposals to reform the disability and health related benefits system, as set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that disabled people receive support following reforms to PIP.

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

There will be no immediate changes. Our intention is that the new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment in which people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component, will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

The department already has processes in place to support and safeguard people who use our services, and we will continue to provide this support as changes are taken forward. We are mindful of the impact of this change and, as such, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to amend local housing allowance rates to reflect actual rental market costs (a) on the Isle of Wight and (b) in other areas.

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

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are reviewed annually, usually at an Autumn fiscal event. Rates are set based on the area of the country a person lives and their bedroom entitlement

The Secretary of State’s decision at last year’s Autumn Budget to maintain LHA rates at current levels for 2025/26 considered a range of factors including: rental data in areas across the country, the impacts of LHA rates, the challenging fiscal environment and the rate increases the previous April which cost an additional £7bn over 5 years.

Any future decisions on the LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context.

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities to those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those reforms on people with ADHD.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK receive the maximum award from PIP.

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

The Department regularly publishes Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics. The 'PIP Cases with Entitlement' dataset on Stat-Xplore, which contains the number of people entitled to PIP by geography including Parliamentary constituency and components received, can be used to calculate the number of people receiving PIP at the highest level. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: Introduction to the Stat-Xplore User Guide.

PIP has been devolved to Scotland since April 2020 and existing claims are currently being moved to the Scottish replacement benefit Adult Disability Payment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the annual cost of the Motability scheme in each of the past five financial years.

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

Whilst the Department works closely with the Motability Foundation and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, the Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

Motability Operation’s Annual Report and Accounts are publicly available and can be found on their website.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK receive the health rate top-up for Universal Credit.

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

Quarterly statistics for the number of People on Universal Credit with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work in Great Britain are published on Stat-Xplore. The latest release provides figures up to December 2024 which can be broken down by country, Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. Universal Credit statistics for Northern Ireland are published by the Department for Communities.

Note: the Universal Credit health element is paid at a household level, not to individuals, and Households on Universal Credit statistics can be broken down similarly, by the numbers receiving the Limited Capability for Work Entitlement and by geography.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what support will be available for new claims for Universal Credit health rate.

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

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding

As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector providers, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details in due course after we have completed our consultation process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, whether people with terminal illnesses will be affected by the new PIP eligibility threshold of four points in a single category.

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

Claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who are nearing the end of their life will be unaffected by the reforms to the PIP assessment criteria. Claims made under the special rules for end of life are automatically awarded the enhanced rate of the daily living component without having to take part in an assessment and without having to meet the required period condition. The majority of claimants are also awarded the mobility component.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, if she will make it her policy to publish an evaluation of the effectiveness of her proposed reforms once implemented in increasing long-term employment outcomes for disabled people.

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

We anticipate that we will assess effectiveness of Pathways to Work measures in the usual way, including through evaluation of their implementation and the impacts that they have on employment, incomes, benefit receipt and other indicators. We will publish more information on our evaluation strategy in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her proposed reforms on labour market participation by people with (a) disabilities and (b) long term health conditions.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to modernise Job Centres in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government’s number one mission is to grow the economy and drive up living standards right across the country as part of its Plan for Change. Building a thriving and inclusive labour market – which spreads the benefits of good work to as many people as possible – is central to achieving that goal.

Linking to the government’s missions of Kickstarting Economic Growth and Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunities, the Department is working to ensure that the DWP estate is more flexible and responsive and can react to the changing demands for services and economic changes. As set out in the ‘Get Britain Working White Paper’, the Department is transforming the Jobcentre Plus network across Great Britain to create a new national jobs and careers service that will enable everyone to access tailored support through an enhanced focus on people’s skills and careers, rather than merely monitoring and managing benefit claims.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of Personal Independence Payment assessments in ensuring support for people in need.

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

It is important that all people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are able to access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying and communicating with the Department and its providers.

In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we outline plans to improve the experience for people who use the health and disability benefits system, including recording more assessments to improve people’s trust in the assessment process through greater transparency and using recordings as a learning opportunity to consider potential improvements to the quality of the assessment process and to be available to people who are appealing the initial award given.

We also announced plans to launch a process to review the PIP assessment. We will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

The Health Transformation Programme is also transforming the entire PIP service, including introducing the option to apply and track applications online. The transformed service will improve how we gather health information, and tailor the process to the customer’s needs and circumstances, offering a better customer experience and improving trust in our services and decisions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what measures her Department will use to assess the effectiveness of the additional funding for employment, health and skills support.

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

We anticipate that we will assess effectiveness of Pathways to Work measures in the usual way, including through evaluation of their implementation and the impacts that they have on employment, incomes, benefit receipt and other indicators. We will publish more information on our evaluation strategy in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will exempt payments from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme as income when calculating means-tested benefits.

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

I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 5 December 2024 to question UIN 16635.

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 merits of establishing a Commissioner for Older People to amplify the voices of older demographics in policy-making.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP offers employment support for eligible older people through the network of Jobcentres across the UK.

The White Paper published on 26 November focuses on support for people who are economically inactive, people who are looking for work or want to progress, and people who are at risk of economic inactivity despite having a desire to stay in work. This includes and goes beyond people who are claiming benefits. The new national jobs and careers service will be instrumental in achieving this objective. This service will be available for anyone, including older people, who wants to look for work, wants help to increase their earnings, or who wants help to change their career or re-train. The service will be tailored to local needs.

We are committing to the establishment of ‘collaboration committees’ to further develop the reforms set out in our Pathways to Work Green Paper. These we will bring together groups of people for specific work areas, collaborating with civil servants to provide discussion, challenge, and recommendations. Each group will have a different mix of people including older people.

My department also engages with employers to ensure their recruitment practises attract and support the retention of older people and encouraging employers to sign the Age-Friendly employer pledge.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made, using the same static microsimulation model as in the Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit impact assessment, of the number of additional (a) people and (b) children who will be in (i) relative and (ii) absolute poverty after housing costs in Wales in 2029-30 as a result of modelled changes to social security, compared to baseline projections.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts

These estimates have been made at Great Britain level. It is not possible to provide figures for Wales because the static microsimulation model uses survey data and sample sizes are not large enough to provide robust estimates.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of personal independence payment claimants who have use of a Motability Scheme vehicle on the basis of non-physical conditions and disabilities, including depression and anxiety.

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

Claimants who receive the enhanced rate mobility component on Personal Independence Payment are eligible to join the Motability Scheme if they choose to do so.

We do not hold figures on the numbers of vehicles provided to individuals on the basis of non-physical conditions and disabilities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants are registered under the Motability Scheme.

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

The Motability Scheme operates throughout the UK and is open to recipients of enhanced mobility Personal Independence Payment, higher rate mobility Disability Living Allowance, War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement and Armed Forces Independence Payment (including equivalent Scottish benefits).

We recently announced plans to make changes to eligibility for the Daily Living component of PIP.

In our Green Paper: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working we also set out our intention to carry out a longer-term review of the whole PIP assessment, working closely with stakeholders and those with lived experience.

Motability’s latest annual report shows that there are approximately 815,000 individuals participating in the Scheme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has for future eligibility criteria for the Motability Scheme.

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

The Motability Scheme operates throughout the UK and is open to recipients of enhanced mobility Personal Independence Payment, higher rate mobility Disability Living Allowance, War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement and Armed Forces Independence Payment (including equivalent Scottish benefits).

We recently announced plans to make changes to eligibility for the Daily Living component of PIP.

In our Green Paper: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working we also set out our intention to carry out a longer-term review of the whole PIP assessment, working closely with stakeholders and those with lived experience.

Motability’s latest annual report shows that there are approximately 815,000 individuals participating in the Scheme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the revised Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment criteria accounts for (a) fluctuating and (b) hidden symptoms of multiple sclerosis; and if she will make an assessment of the accuracy of the PIP assessment process.

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

We have committed to introduce a new requirement that claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The PIP assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. Therefore, the impact in each case will depend on an individual’s circumstances. For those already on PIP, the changes will only apply from November 2026 at their next award review, subject to parliamentary approval. People will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstance. More information on the impacts and equality analysis for these changes published on 26 March can be found: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK .

In the Green Paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, we have committed to exploring ways to improve the PIP assessment. We are exploring digitalising transfer of medical information, using evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for people with very severe health conditions to undergo functional assessments, and improving communication with people receiving awards who are expected to remain on disability benefits for life. We have also committed to a full review of the PIP assessment.

Alongside this, the Green Paper also includes plans to improve trust in the process. These plans include reviewing our approach to safeguarding, recording assessments to increase transparency, and moving back to having more face-to-face assessments while continuing to meet the needs of people who may require different methods of assessment.

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 expedite Pension Credit claims from South Shropshire constituency.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government put in place the biggest ever pension Credit take-up drive. To help ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims within reasonable timeframes, the Department deployed over 500 additional staff.

On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025 statistics up to 23 February 2025. This shows Pension Credit processing times have improved and outstanding volumes returned to normal levels, 33,700 in February 2025.

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 (a) restricting eligibility for PIP, (b) reducing the health component of Universal Credit and (c) removing the health component of Universal Credit for 18-21 year olds on the unemployment rate.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure eligible people over State Pension age are aware that they may be entitled to Carer's Allowance.

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

Information on the availability of Carer’s Allowance is widely available, including online via GOV.UK and from places such as Carers Trust and Citizens Advice. DWP continually seeks to improve the information it makes available so as to encourage people to claim Carer’s Allowance where they may be entitled.

Although there is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. It has been a long-held feature of the GB benefit system, under successive Governments, that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid to avoid duplication for the same need. Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances they are nevertheless designed for the same contingency – as an income replacement. Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person and is unable to undertake full time employment due to their caring responsibilities, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.

However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance which is currently £81.90.

Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £45.60 a week and potentially other means-tested support. Around 125,000 people are receiving the Carer Premium with their Pension Credit. And even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, they may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.

Social Security is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of suspected fraud involving the Motability Scheme have been investigated in the past five years, and how many of those cases resulted in the removal of a vehicle or a criminal conviction.

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

Motability Foundation is a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Motability Scheme. The Scheme is delivered by Motability Operations which is an independent commercial company under contract to the charity. Any misuse of a scheme vehicle is a matter for Motability and they will take action as appropriate.

The Department takes benefit fraud extremely seriously, as has been underlined by our campaign to warn people of the consequences of trying to defraud the benefits system. People who suspect benefit fraud can ring the National Benefit Fraud Hotline number on 0800 854 4400 to report in confidence any information which would help the Department’s officials in their investigations.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has conducted an equality impact assessment on proposals in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025.

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

We published an Equality Analysis and Policy Rationale impacts alongside the Spring Statement.

Further analysis for the measures in the Green Paper, not included in the Spring Statement, will be published in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will review the minimum floor cap for self-employed individuals receiving universal credit.

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

The Minimum Income Floor (MIF) encourages self-employed customers to progress in work and grow their earnings to a sustainable level.

The Government has committed to reviewing Universal Credit to ensure it is supporting the Government’s objectives to make work pay and tackle poverty.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, whether she plans to amend the work allowance for people in receipt of the limited capability for work and work related activity element of Universal Credit.

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

The work allowance for individuals who are found limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA) will remain unchanged to continue to incentivise people to try work.

In the reformed system, work allowances will continue to be available to those who receive the UC health element. We want to enable people to take advantage of this strong financial incentive to work, which means they can earn up to £404 a month (or over £673 if they don’t get help with housing costs) without their benefits being affected.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the press notice entitled Nearly fifty thousand extra pensioners receiving vital Pension Credit support following surge in claims processed, published on 27 February 2025, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who were (a) eligible for and (b) not in receipt of Pension Credit on 24 March 2025.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Department does not have this data for the period up to March 2025.

The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Oral Statement of 29 July 2024 on Public Spending: Inheritance, Official Report, columns 1033-1040, how many Pension Credit claims have been awarded since the changes in the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment were announced.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application and award volumes up to 23 February 2025. Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what accessibility adjustments are in place for the consultation on the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper; and whether her Department consulted with disabled people on accessibility requirements for that consultation.

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

We are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do. Throughout the consultation period we will listen, learn and take feedback through an online form, email, post and through accessible in-person and online events.

We will publish a full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper, to ensure that everyone can engage with the consultation. The consultation will close 12 weeks after the point at which all the accessible versions are available, to ensure that all stakeholders have sufficient time to engage and we hear from as many people as possible. We will also be holding a full schedule of public events which we will publish along with the accessible versions in the coming weeks. The public consultation events will accommodate any reasonable adjustments for individuals who wish to attend, including re-imbursing travel costs and arranging accessible venues and interpreters for attendees.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, how much and what proportion of the additional funding for employment, health and skills support will be allocated to each region.

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

As the Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out, we are keen to engage widely on the design of our proposals for new employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions. We will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector providers, employers and potential users. Therefore, at this stage no decisions have been taken or estimates made of how spending may vary across regions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, whether people affected by changes to the Universal Credit health element will be able to appeal reassessments under the new system.

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

Decisions made by a decision maker on entitlement to benefit generally confer a right of appeal.

The outcome of any WCA will lead to a decision about the customer’s capability for work, which would have appeal rights. If the customer disagrees with that decision, they may request a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and can lodge an appeal if they remain dissatisfied following the MR process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the limited capability for work and work related activity element of Universal Credit on families of disabled people aged under 22.

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

No decision has been made on this policy. The key principle of our focus for 18-21 year olds should be helping them to be earning or learning, because of the long-term scarring effects for young people of a period of unemployment. That is why we are consulting on delaying access to the UC health top up until age 22 with savings reinvested into work support and training opportunities.

Universal Credit Health caseload statistics are available on DWP Stat-Xplore and were most recently updated with December 2024 data.

In December 2024, 13,650 and 68,350 16- to 21-year-olds in Great Britain were in the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) groups respectively.

Table: 16–21-year-olds in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar, (b) Scotland and (c) Great Britain on the UC Health caseload (December 2024)

1. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data and are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Totals may not sum due to this disclosure control and rounding.
3. Figures are a count of the number of people on Universal Credit health on the second Thursday of the month.
4. Figures are Experimental Official Statistics

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/ (opens in new window). An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people under 22 in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK will be impacted by changes to the limited capability for work and work related activity element of Universal Credit.

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

No decision has been made on this policy. The key principle of our focus for 18-21 year olds should be helping them to be earning or learning, because of the long-term scarring effects for young people of a period of unemployment. That is why we are consulting on delaying access to the UC health top up until age 22 with savings reinvested into work support and training opportunities.

Universal Credit Health caseload statistics are available on DWP Stat-Xplore and were most recently updated with December 2024 data.

In December 2024, 13,650 and 68,350 16- to 21-year-olds in Great Britain were in the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) groups respectively.

Table: 16–21-year-olds in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar, (b) Scotland and (c) Great Britain on the UC Health caseload (December 2024)

1. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data and are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Totals may not sum due to this disclosure control and rounding.
3. Figures are a count of the number of people on Universal Credit health on the second Thursday of the month.
4. Figures are Experimental Official Statistics

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/ (opens in new window). An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the average amount of money families would receive if the two-child limit was rescinded.

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

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty, including considering social security reforms, before publishing a strategy that will deliver lasting change.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what criteria she plans to use to assess the effectiveness of a reformed Access to Work scheme.

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

As set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025, we want to improve accessibility and support more disabled people into work. This includes helping employers increase productivity by supporting their employees with disabilities and health conditions. We want to do this through, in part, a reformed Access to Work. We are keen to ensure that, through future evaluation, we can demonstrate the value for money delivered through a new model as well as the positive impact it is having.

We will determine the nature of the evaluation as part of further policy development, reflecting on consultation responses.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to assess the value for money of the Motability scheme's investments in electric vehicles.

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

The Motability Foundation is independent of government, and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, including assessing the value for money of its investments and charitable donations.

Questions about the operations of the Motability Foundation should be addressed to the Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what estimate she has made of number of claimants receiving contributory Employment and Support Allowance who will be affected by the proposed replacement with Unemployment Insurance.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed reforms to the personal independence payment on the employment (a) rights of and (b) obligations of employers to disabled employees.

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

PIP is a non-means tested benefit that can be paid to those in or out of work, it therefore does not directly link with employment rights.

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 impact of the decision not to consult on all the measures listed in Annex A in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025 on disabled people's organisations.

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

We are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do. We want to improve and refine our reform plans by consulting on certain measures as described in the Green Paper. The consultation will close 12 weeks after the point at which all the accessible versions are available, to ensure that all stakeholders have sufficient time to engage and that we hear from as many people as possible

However, we urgently need this reform to stop people from falling into inactivity, restore trust and fairness in the system and promote the interests of disabled people. This means we need to take decisive action to tackle a situation in which PIP claims are set to double from 2 million to over 4.3 million this decade. We are consulting on how best to support those affected by the changes. We will also consider improvements to the PIP assessment. We will launch a wider review of the PIP indicators, which I shall lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.

We will rebalance payments in Universal Credit, reducing the health top up for new claims and delivering the first ever permanent, above inflation rise to the standard allowance of UC – actually offering help for people to get into work as quickly as possible.

We will be bringing forward the PIP and UC changes in a Bill so Parliament can fully debate and vote on them.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, whether her Department plans to publish statistics on the number of claimants who lose their (a) Personal Independence Payment and b) Universal Credit health entitlement following these reforms.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's proposed changes to PIP on households in which a PIP recipient is exempt from the benefit cap.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an impact assessment of the potential impact of changes to Personal Independence Payments on under 35's who claim Local Housing Allowance at the 1 bedroom rate.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make a comparative assessment of the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, and the Chance to Work Guarantee.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months alongside the consultation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the universal credit assessment period; and whether she plans to change the frequency of that assessment.

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

The first payment of Universal Credit is usually made around five weeks after the claim is made.

The first calendar month is the initial assessment period, during which information is verified to ensure accurate payments. At the end of that period, entitlement for that month is calculated and paid seven days later. Payments thereafter are made monthly in arrears. Assessment Periods, once made, are set and cannot be changed.

Universal Credit is designed to top-up earnings from employment, adapting to changes in the amount of earnings received each month. Assessing UC monthly ensures that we receive at least one update of earnings information for each working member of a household, meaning that the benefit calculated accurately reflects the needs of the household.

There are currently no plans to change Universal Credit assessment periods.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the additional funding for employment, health and skills support on the number of people who will return to work.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support PIP claimants into work.

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

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support, backed up by £1 billion of new funding. We want this guarantee to have a particular focus on early support, by offering everyone who claims UC and has a work-limiting health condition or who has recently been in receipt of PIP, with a support conversation. This would be focused on their goals and the help they need to achieve them.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Motability vehicles have been taken away due to (a) lapsed eligibility and (b) misuse in each year since 2010.

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

Whilst the Department works closely with Motability Foundation and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations. Any questions relating to the administration of the Scheme should be directed to Motability Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Motability vehicles have been (a) sold, (b) scrapped and (c) stolen in each year since 2010.

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

Whilst the Department works closely with Motability Foundation and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations. Any questions relating to the administration of the Scheme should be directed to Motability Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2025 to Question 39206 on Personal Independence Payment: Neurodiversity, if she will make it her policy to maintain the level of the Personal Independence Payment for (a) neurodivergent people and (b) people with severe mental distress.

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

Our intention is that the new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in which people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component, will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

The PIP assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. Therefore, the impact in each case will depend on an individual’s circumstances. From November 2026, at their next award review, people will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstance. More information on the impacts and equality analysis for these changes published on 26 March can be found: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing the lower standard rate of Universal Credit for under 25s.

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

There are no current plans to remove the under 25 Standard Allowance rate. Young people in work typically earn less than those over 25 and are also more likely to live in someone else’s household, with lower living costs.

A reduced Universal Credit rate maintains the incentive for young people to find, and progress in, work, as we continue to support them into employment and to improve their career opportunities. Support is available to help those who live independently or have additional living costs. Depending on their circumstances, they may also be eligible for additional Universal Credit elements, including for housing, children, childcare costs, and disability.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people leased a Motability vehicle in each year since 2010 by (a) benefit claim and (b) health condition.

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

The Motability Scheme operates throughout the UK and is open to recipients of enhanced mobility Personal Independence Payment, higher rate mobility Disability Living Allowance, War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement and Armed Forces Independence Payment (including equivalent Scottish benefits). Whilst the Government facilitates the transfer of benefits for claimants who choose to join the Scheme, we do not collate data on benefit type or health condition for those who chose to join the Scheme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) hydrogen, (d) hybrid, (e) plug-in hybrid and (f) fully electric vehicles were leased by Motability in each year since 2010.

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

The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and whilst we are responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, we do not fund vehicles, be they electric or otherwise.

Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

The Department does not hold data on the Motability fleet of cars.

Questions about the operations of the Motability Foundation should be addressed to the Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department funds electric vehicles through the Motability scheme.

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

The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and whilst we are responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, we do not fund vehicles, be they electric or otherwise.

Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

The Department does not hold data on the Motability fleet of cars.

Questions about the operations of the Motability Foundation should be addressed to the Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) hydrogen, (d) hybrid, (e) plug-in hybrid and (f) fully electric vehicles were purchased through Motability in each year since 2010.

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

The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and whilst we are responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, we do not fund vehicles, be they electric or otherwise.

Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

The Department does not hold data on the Motability fleet of cars.

Questions about the operations of the Motability Foundation should be addressed to the Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Motability vehicles were purchased in each year since 2010 by (a) manufacturer, (b) annual cost and (c) age.

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

The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and whilst we are responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, we do not fund vehicles, be they electric or otherwise.

Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

The Department does not hold data on the Motability fleet of cars.

Questions about the operations of the Motability Foundation should be addressed to the Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Motability vehicles by (a) manufacturer, (b) annual cost and (c) age were leased in each year since 2010.

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

The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and whilst we are responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, we do not fund vehicles, be they electric or otherwise.

Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

The Department does not hold data on the Motability fleet of cars.

Questions about the operations of the Motability Foundation should be addressed to the Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming the Personal Independence Payment are also claiming the (a) limited capability for work and work-related activity component of Universal Credit or old-style Employment and Support Allowance in (i) Blyth and Ashington constituency, (ii) Northumberland, (iii) the North East and (iv) England.

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

The information to answer these questions can be found on Stat-Xplore in the Benefit Combinations - Data from May 2019 for England and Wales dataset. The most recent month for which data is available is August 2024. The data can be filtered by Benefit to include PIP Claimants only. The data can also be broken down by Additional Claim Details to include ESA Payment type and UC Health Journey information, and for a range of geographical areas.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat-Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to (a) reform (i) employment support and (ii) disability services and (b) support more people into work.

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

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding.

As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector providers, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details in due course after we have completed our consultation process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of individuals that will have their benefit funding reduced under the Government's proposed welfare reforms.

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

The Department published an Impact Analysis alongside the Spring Statement on 26 March 2025.

This document contains forecast estimates of the numbers of individuals who will be affected by the proposed welfare reforms.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people that receive (a) enhanced daily living Personal Independence Payment awards and (b) standard daily living Personal Independence Payment awards did not score four or more in any individual activity in Leyton and Wanstead constituency in January 2025.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that changes to (a) Universal Credit taper rates and (b) other benefits (i) encourage more people into work and (ii) support people in work.

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

As the Chancellor has set out, this Government is reforming the social security system to support people into work, while protecting people who will never be able to – making the system sustainable so that it is there to help those of us that need it now and long into the future.

These changes come on top of our Get Britain Working White Paper which set out the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation, and the increase in the Universal Credit work allowance to £684 per month for those without housing costs or £411 per month for those with housing costs.

In addition, Universal Credit withdraws financial support at a steady rate allowing those on low incomes to keep more of what they earn. It does this by applying a single taper rate of 55% to net earnings before reducing the amount of Universal Credit someone is eligible for. This means claimants still benefit from their income as 45 pence in every pound earned would be kept. In some cases, claimants may also benefit from a work allowance, which is the amount someone can earn before the 55% taper is applied to their net earnings.

These policies are kept under regular review to ensure they continue to make work pay and provide the correct incentives to allow those receiving Universal Credit to move into and progress in work.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to encourage those eligible to apply for Universal Credit.

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

The Department provides extensive information including on Universal Credit on Gov.uk that supports claimants identify what support may be available. Additionally, we signpost potential customers to external benefit calculators where they can identify what they are likely to be eligible for. We also work closely with Citizens Advice who provide Help to Claim support for claimants in GB to make a claim to Universal Credit. This includes marketing and publicising Help to Claim support.

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 impact of the Disability Confident Scheme on the ability of disabled people to find work.

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

In 2022, the department commissioned a survey to understand from members’ perspectives the impact that signing up to the scheme has had on their recruitment and retention attitudes and practices towards disabled people. The survey can be accessed on gov.uk using the following link: Disability Confident: survey of participating employers, May 2022 - GOV.UK

There are currently over 19,000 employers signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. Collectively, these employers estimate over 12 million employees work in their organisations. It is not known how many of these employees are disabled, have a health condition, or are direct users of the scheme.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the scheme on the ability of disabled people to find work. I have been discussing with stakeholders in Disability Confident ideas for making the scheme criteria more robust, and plan to bring forward proposals for this in due course.

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 effectiveness of the Disability Confident Scheme.

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

In 2022, the department commissioned a survey to understand from members’ perspectives the impact that signing up to the scheme has had on their recruitment and retention attitudes and practices towards disabled people. The survey can be accessed on gov.uk using the following link: Disability Confident: survey of participating employers, May 2022 - GOV.UK

There are currently over 19,000 employers signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. Collectively, these employers estimate over 12 million employees work in their organisations. It is not known how many of these employees are disabled, have a health condition, or are direct users of the scheme.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the scheme on the ability of disabled people to find work. I have been discussing with stakeholders in Disability Confident ideas for making the scheme criteria more robust, and plan to bring forward proposals for this in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have used the Disability Confident Scheme.

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

In 2022, the department commissioned a survey to understand from members’ perspectives the impact that signing up to the scheme has had on their recruitment and retention attitudes and practices towards disabled people. The survey can be accessed on gov.uk using the following link: Disability Confident: survey of participating employers, May 2022 - GOV.UK

There are currently over 19,000 employers signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. Collectively, these employers estimate over 12 million employees work in their organisations. It is not known how many of these employees are disabled, have a health condition, or are direct users of the scheme.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the scheme on the ability of disabled people to find work. I have been discussing with stakeholders in Disability Confident ideas for making the scheme criteria more robust, and plan to bring forward proposals for this in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that older people can access all the benefits and allowances to which they are entitled.

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

The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are rightly entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign.

We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, which provides a vital safety net by guaranteeing a minimum level of income – and will also passport them to receive other benefits (including Winter Fuel Payments, help with rent, council tax, fuel bills and a free TV licence for those over 75).

Our drive to increase Pension Credit take up has successfully boosted applications, with the Department receiving around 235,000 Pension Credit applications in the 30 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement and making 117,800 new Pension Credit awards over the same period.  The campaign has included adverts on Television, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube, on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens as well as in the press.

We are now writing to all pensioners who make a new claim for Housing Benefit and who appear to be entitled to Pension Credit – directly targeting this group and encouraging them to make a claim. In the longer term, we will be bringing together the administration of Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, so that pensioners receive both Housing Benefit and any Pension Credit that they are entitled to.

For State Pensions, DWP sends out a letter to customers four months prior to their State Pension age, inviting a claim to State Pension. The letter signposts the customer to claim online which is the quickest and easiest way to claim and also includes the telephone number to call to make their claim to State Pension over the telephone. The customer can also request a paper claim form.

Attendance Allowance is currently undergoing a significant modernisation reform through the piloting of an on-line digital claim process as a part of the department’s wider Service Modernisation plans. This aims to provide a more streamlined alternative application method in addition to the current paper form. Online claims are currently being tested with a view to this becoming more widely available in due course.

Information and advice about entitlement to Attendance Allowance and other benefits may be available from a range of outlets including Jobcentre Plus offices, DWP and other helplines, gov.uk and other internet sites, local authorities, Citizens Advice and welfare benefit offices, Social Services, voluntary organisations, such as, Age UK and MacMillan, public libraries, health clinics, doctors' surgeries and health visitors.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, whether her Department plans to provide additional training to assessors carrying out PIP assessments.

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

All health professionals who carry out PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes evaluation as to how medical conditions affect claimants in their day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in specific conditions. The department works extensively with assessment providers to make improvements to guidance, training and audit procedures to ensure a quality service. All core training and guidance material for health professionals undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.

On 18 March we announced our plans to introduce a new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) so that people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in PIP to be eligible for the daily living component. All health professionals and DWP case managers will receive training and guidance on these changes to eligibility criteria before they are implemented.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her policy is on the continued payment of Personal Independence Payment while a decision to end the payment is subject to an appeal.

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

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is not an income replacement benefit. It is paid to help with the additional costs that arise from long term health conditions or disability where they impact on the activities set out in legislation. Claimants are assessed against the legislative criteria and a decision on entitlement is made by a DWP decision maker.

In line with the legislative requirement, we continue to apply the latest decision on a PIP award until such time as a new decision is made. Payment of PIP after a claim has been disallowed, or payment at a rate higher than the latest decision, whilst an individual is waiting for an appeal hearing could lead to incorrect expenditure of public funds. If a subsequent first-tier tribunal makes a new decision to reinstate PIP or give a higher award, then the Department will backdate any payments due.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's proposed changes to PIP on access to (a) carers allowance, (b) council tax support and (c) other benefits linked to PIP.

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

There will be no immediate changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Our intention is that the changes will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

For those already on PIP, the changes will only apply at their next award review. The average award review is about three years.

When people are reassessed, they will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional, and assessed on their individual needs and circumstances.

The personal impact will depend on an individual’s circumstances. We are consulting on how best to support those who are no longer eligible for PIP and linked entitlements, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support economically inactive young people with seeking (a) education and (b) employment opportunities in Wolverhampton.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Our plan to get Britain working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The West Midlands Combined Authority, of which Wolverhampton is a part, is one of the eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England set to receive grant funding to deliver the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers, as announced in the “Get Britain Working” White Paper from Spring 2025. We will use the learning from the Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee as it rolls-out across the rest of England.

DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside our partners. For example, in Wolverhampton we’ve partnered with Wolves Foundation to set up a programme called “Mindshift” which takes place at Molineux football ground and supports young people with health conditions, in particular mental health conditions, into employment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what discussions she has had with employers on mandatory reporting of the disability pay gap.

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

On 18 March 2025, the Government launched a consultation on mandatory pay gap reporting for both disability and ethnicity. Responses to the consultation will help to shape proposals which will be included in the upcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which was announced in the King’s Speech in July 2024.

Our engagement with stakeholders has included discussions with employers and employer representative bodies, for example the CBI and the Institute of Directors. We will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders including businesses as we develop the legislation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, with which organisations she has held discussions on her proposed reforms to the Personal Independence Payment.

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

We have set out proposals to reform the health and disability benefits system in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025. A full 12-week consultation will begin from the point all accessible versions are published on GOV.UK.

We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new PIP eligibility requirement, and we will consider improvements to the PIP assessment. We would like to hear views from a wide group of people, in particular disabled people and people with health conditions and disability organisations, and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post. We also intend to run a number of accessible virtual and face-to-face events on the Green Paper to hear from stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative organisations, directly. More information on these events and registration will be advertised on the consultation pages on GOV.UK in due course.

We also announced plans to launch a review of the PIP assessment which I will lead and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they expect their proposed changes to welfare payments in England to encourage more people into the workforce; and what is their estimate of the number of individuals who will enter the workforce as a result of those changes.

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

The reform proposals set out in the Pathways to Work Green paper on 18 March 2025, mean that people will get more support into work. We will rebalance payments in Universal Credit, offer help for people to get into work as quickly as possible and deliver the first ever permanent, above inflation rise to the standard allowance of UC. As part of rebalancing spending towards work over welfare, we will invest an additional £1 billion a year by 2029/30 to shape a new package of employment, health and skills support to make the system pro-work and reduce perverse incentives.

The changes we are consulting on are intended to galvanise a cultural shift towards more inclusive and accessible workplaces. We want to ensure that we target Government support to maximise the number of people we support. Together with the wider range of measures announced in Get Britain Working, we aim to increase the overall number of people in work. As we develop the reform proposals, we want to ensure that we are maximising existing opportunities in Government and the Department to create accessible and inclusive workplaces. We will consider how any new model would work alongside existing schemes.

All our plans are based on strong evidence of how support can make a real difference to individuals and have enough of an employment impact to provide a healthy return on the investment. Crucially, there is now strong evidence about the types of support that are effective in improving employment outcomes – Work Choice, which provided intensive employment support to disabled people, had a significant and enduring impact with participants 40% more likely to still be in work after eight years had passed. More detail will be announced in due course.

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 effectiveness of her Department's work with Motability.

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

The Motability Scheme is open to claimants who are in receipt of an eligible benefit. If a claimant elects to join the Scheme, the Department directly transfers the mobility allowance to Motability Operations on behalf of the eligible claimant. The Motability Scheme does not receive any direct funding from the Department for Work and Pensions.

A range of external bodies scrutinised the Scheme between 2018 and 2020, and the Government responded to each of the reports.

The Motability Foundation is independent of government, and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme. The department does however work closely with Motability and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Department officials have regular meetings with Motability and will continue to do so.

As the Minister for Social Security and Disability, I met with Motability Foundation in November 2024 to discuss the Scheme and its strategic objectives.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will conduct a value for money assessment of the funding provided as part of the Motability Scheme.

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

The Motability Scheme is open to claimants who are in receipt of an eligible benefit. If a claimant elects to join the Scheme, the Department directly transfers the mobility allowance to Motability Operations on behalf of the eligible claimant. The Motability Scheme does not receive any direct funding from the Department for Work and Pensions.

A range of external bodies scrutinised the Scheme between 2018 and 2020, and the Government responded to each of the reports.

The Motability Foundation is independent of government, and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme. The department does however work closely with Motability and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Department officials have regular meetings with Motability and will continue to do so.

As the Minister for Social Security and Disability, I met with Motability Foundation in November 2024 to discuss the Scheme and its strategic objectives.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to continue her Department's relationship with Motability.

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

The Motability Scheme is open to claimants who are in receipt of an eligible benefit. If a claimant elects to join the Scheme, the Department directly transfers the mobility allowance to Motability Operations on behalf of the eligible claimant. The Motability Scheme does not receive any direct funding from the Department for Work and Pensions.

A range of external bodies scrutinised the Scheme between 2018 and 2020, and the Government responded to each of the reports.

The Motability Foundation is independent of government, and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme. The department does however work closely with Motability and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Department officials have regular meetings with Motability and will continue to do so.

As the Minister for Social Security and Disability, I met with Motability Foundation in November 2024 to discuss the Scheme and its strategic objectives.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government which ministers have met representatives of the Business Disability Forum, whom they met, and on what dates since July 2024; and on which government bodies and advisory groups the Business Disability Forum is represented, and by whom.

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

The Minister for Social Security and Disability, Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP, met with the Business Disability Forum’s Director of Policy and Research, Angela Matthews and Director of Operations, Adrian Ward, at a roundtable event hosted by Scope on 11 September 2024. He has also met with Business Disability Forum’s CEO Diane Lightwood on multiple occasions: an introductory meeting with Disability Charities Consortium co-chairs on 17 July 2024, at the Labour Party Conference on 24 September 2024, a meeting about Disability Confident Business Leaders Group at Caxton House on 28 October 2024, Disability Charities Consortium meetings on 11 December 2024 & 12 March 2025 and the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group meeting on 4 December 2024.

The Minister for Employment, Alison McGovern MP, met Business Disability Forum’s CEO Diane Lightfoot at the introductory meeting with Disability Charities Consortium co-chairs on 5 September 2024 and at the Disability Charities Consortium meetings on 11 December 2024 and 12 March 2025. The Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports, Gareth Thomas MP, has met Business Disability Forum’s CEO Diane Lightfoot at a meeting of the Lilac Review Steering Board on 17 September 2024.

The Prime Minister met CEO Diane Lightfoot at a large reception at 10 Downing Street to celebrate Small Business Saturday on 3 December 2024. CEO Diane Lightfoot and Director of Policy and Research Angela Matthews have also been on group calls and roundtables with Ministers alongside multiple other stakeholders, for example on the recent NHS Ten Year Plan roundtable.

The Government bodies, advisory and representative groups where Business Disability Forum is represented are the Lilac Review Steering Board (Diane Lightfoot), the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group (Diane Lightfoot), Disability Charities Consortium (Diane Lightfoot & Angela Matthews), Access to Work Expert Reference Group (Diane Lightfoot & Angela Matthews), the Office for National Statistics Assembly (Angela Matthews) and the Work and Health External Advisory Group (Diane Lightfoot & Angela Matthews).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, which organisations will be responsible for spending the additional funding for employment, health and skills support.

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

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding.

As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector providers, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details in due course after we have completed our consultation process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she last met with Motability; and what she had discussions on.

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

The Motability Scheme is open to claimants who are in receipt of an eligible benefit. If a claimant elects to join the Scheme, the Department directly transfers the mobility allowance to Motability Operations on behalf of the eligible claimant. The Motability Scheme does not receive any direct funding from the Department for Work and Pensions.

A range of external bodies scrutinised the Scheme between 2018 and 2020, and the Government responded to each of the reports.

The Motability Foundation is independent of government, and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme. The department does however work closely with Motability and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Department officials have regular meetings with Motability and will continue to do so.

As the Minister for Social Security and Disability, I met with Motability Foundation in November 2024 to discuss the Scheme and its strategic objectives.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those reforms on the finances of people in receipt of carers' allowance caring for someone in receipt of PIP.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’. The publication ‘Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts’ may be of interest. In particular, Table A1 on page 6 and Table A4 on page 9.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what proportion of PIP assessments she expects to be face-to-face.

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

The Department is committed to assessing people for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as quickly as possible to ensure they receive the support they are entitled to in a timely manner. PIP assessments are currently carried out via a range of channels. As set out in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, we are committed to doing more face-to-face assessments, while preserving alternative health assessment channels to meet the specific needs of people who require a different channel, for example as a reasonable adjustment.

Further details on this commitment, along with other measures designed to improve the PIP assessment are set out in the Green Paper. We will set out further detail of the proposals for reform of the health and disability system following a full 12-week consultation period where responses are fully considered.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those reforms on people with (a) sarcoidosis, (b) ME and (c) other fluctuating health conditions.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the Access to Work scheme backlog.

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

We are committed to reducing waiting times for Access to Work and are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims and applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing are prioritised.

The Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to get Britain Working’ Green Paper was published on 18 March. Alongside the Access to Work reform proposals introduced in the Green Paper, we are considering further options to reduce the waiting time for customers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has commissioned an impact assessment on the proposed PIP reforms on household income with (a) at least one person in work and (b) at least one recipient of PIP, whether that be the person working or not.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of PIP recipients were in some form of (a) work and (b) training on 25 March 2025.

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

You can find the proportion of PIP recipients in employment in the evidence pack that was provided alongside the ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’, which shows that 17% of PIP claimants were in employment in March 2024.

(https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pathways-to-work-reforming-benefits-and-support-to-get-britain-working-green-paper)

Data for March 2025 is not currently available for analysts to access; the latest relevant data is for the financial year ending March 2024.

The department does not hold data regarding PIP recipients in training.

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 her Department's proposed social security reforms to PIP on trends in the levels of child poverty.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support visually impaired people in the workplace.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. The DWP & DHSC are committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including visually impaired people, with their employment journey.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.  As announced in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, we are investing £1 billion a year by the end of the decade in new employment, health and skills support – one of the biggest packages of new employment support for people with health conditions and disabled people ever - including new tailored support conversations for people on health and disability benefits, and more intensive programmes of support with health and work to break down barriers and unlock work. In addition, consulting on the future of the Access to Work scheme so that it better helps people to start and stay in work through reasonable adjustments, such as aids, appliances and making use of assistive technology

It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have launched the Keep Britain Working Review. This review will consider how to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities; promote healthy workplaces and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. After conducting an initial discovery into the underlying issues, Sir Charlie Mayfield has published his early findings on 20 March which sets out the key areas that he would like to explore in the next phase of the review. This publication is a call to all stakeholders to engage with the early review findings and input views, including via a survey also launched on GOV.UK. The review is expected to produce a report to Government in autumn 2025.

Additionally, the Joint Work and Health Directorate has developed a digital information service for employers, continues to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, and continues to increase access to Occupational Health.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions does not have specific targets for diversity, equality and inclusion in recruitment. Instead, the department looks to establish methods of recruitment that give all applicants a fair opportunity to succeed, based on merit. The department looks to build an organisation that is representative of the community that it serves that also fulfils all principles set by the Civil Service Commission.

The exception to this is a DWP ambition to fill 5% of AO/EO vacancies through Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) Life Chance Employment Schemes. This ambition of 5% is held across the whole Civil Service, in a scheme led by Cabinet Office, but is not a fixed target that must be met.

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 the new salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas on staffing levels in her Department.

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

Whilst the impact of changes to the Skilled Worker Salary threshold are affecting a very small proportion of staff within the Department, visa expiry and potential options for obtaining a future work visa are specific to individuals’ circumstances and the Home Office legislation which applies at the time that their current visa expires.

As current employees’ visa expiry dates span several years and not all will be impacted by the changes to the skilled worker salary thresholds, the department does not expect changes to the Skilled Worker salary threshold to negatively impact on service or resource levels.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, how she plans to introduce more active (a) engagement and (b) support for new claims for Universal Credit health rate.

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

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding

As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector providers, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details in due course after we have completed our consultation process.

In addition, Help to Claim provides tailored practical support to anyone who needs it. It enables individuals requiring additional support to make and maintain their Universal Credit claim, up until their first correct Universal Credit payment. It is also available to those moving from legacy benefits because of managed migration, voluntary moves, or a change of circumstances.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of claims made to the Health and Safety Executive that are subsequently referred by the HSE to local authorities for resolution.

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

The Health and Safety at Work Act establishes a co-regulatory partnership between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities (LAs). This co-regulatory partnership sees HSE and LAs working closely to ensure consistent enforcement of health and safety legislation.

The Enforcing Authority Regulations (EA Regulations) 1989 determine allocation of enforcement responsibility. LAs are responsible for enforcing health and safety requirements at 65% of business premises in Great Britain, which employ 46% of the national workforce. In general, LAs are the enforcing authority for retail, wholesale distribution and warehousing, hotel and catering premises, offices, and the consumer/leisure industries. HSE has the policy lead for all other sectors, and enforcement responsibilities for those sectors that traditionally have higher hazards/risks, e.g. factories, construction, agriculture, and off-shore industries.

Regulation 5 of the EA Regulations allows enforcement responsibility for any premises or any activity carried on there, to be transferred from HSE to the LA or vice versa. A transfer may be made only by agreement between the two enforcing authorities involved. The number of transfers under Regulation 5 from HSE to LAs show no discernible trend.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to meet disabled people to discuss the proposals set out in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 26 March 2025.

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

We have set out proposals to reform the health and disability benefits proposals in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025. A full 12-week consultation will begin from the point all accessible versions are published on GOV.UK. We would like to hear views from a wide group of people, in particular disabled people and people with health conditions and disability organisations, and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post.

We also intend to run a number of accessible virtual and face-to-face events on the Green Paper to hear from stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative organisations, directly. More information on these events and registration will be advertised on the consultation pages on GOV.UK in due course.

In the Green Paper, we have also announced that we will set up collaboration committees to develop parts of our reforms further. This will involve bringing together disabled people and other experts with civil servants around specific issues to collaborate, provide ideas, challenge, and input into recommendations.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposals costs for disabled people.

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

The Department published a Policy Rationales Impact report “Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impact” alongside the Spring Statement on 26 March 2025.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2025 to Question 30412 on Sick Leave: Productivity, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of workplace sickness on productivity.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department published an estimate of the overall cost to the economy due to sickness absence in The cost of working age ill-health and disability that prevents work on 18 March 2025. The analyses do not estimate the specific impact of workplace sickness on productivity at work, but do consider the overall economic output lost as a result of sickness absence. This found that lost output due to sickness absence cost the economy between £38 billion to £56 billion in 2022. The Department currently has no plans to specifically assess the potential impact of levels of workplace sickness on productivity.

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 the two-child limit policy on recent trends in the levels of child poverty.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics show trends in poverty, including child poverty. The latest statistics cover years up to and including 2023/24: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.

The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the median age is of computers issued to officials in their Department.

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

The median age of computers issued to officials in DWP is 2 years.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the number of disabled people who will lose access to PIP following changes to the daily living assessment criteria.

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

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’. The publication ‘Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts’ may be of interest. In particular, Table A4 on page 9.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the PIP assessment process for (a) all claimants and (b) claimants with fluctuating conditions.

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

It is important that all people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are able to access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying and communicating with the Department and its providers.

In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we outline plans to improve the experience for people who use the health and disability benefits system, including exploring ways to use evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for some people with very severe conditions to undergo a full PIP functional assessment, digitalising the transfer of information from the NHS (with consent) to speed up the process of assessment, and look at recording assessments as standard to increase trust in the process.

We also announced plans to launch a process to review the PIP assessment. We will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

The Health Transformation Programme is also transforming the entire PIP service, including introducing the option to apply and track applications online. The transformed service will improve how we gather health information, and tailor the process to the customer’s needs and circumstances, offering a better customer experience and improving trust in our services and decisions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the proportion of children in relative poverty in Stockport constituency.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government. The Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy looking at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Government

The Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and ensuring the voices of families and children with experience of poverty are brought into policy thinking and decision making as part of the development of the Child Poverty Strategy. This includes three key stands of work – a Parents and Carers Forum, engagement with the Changing Realities Project and research with children and young people.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April to boost the pay of three million workers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Business Disability Forum has shared with Ministers or officials the research informing the Forum's decision to oppose the introduction of mandatory employment and pay gap reporting, and whether they will place a copy of any such research in the Library of the House.

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

The Government welcomes views from disabled people, businesses and their representative organisations on our proposals for disability pay gap reporting to help make sure they work for everyone. Being open to a wide range of views, experiences and concerns will support a more successful implementation of disability pay gap reporting.

Research conducted by the Business Disability Forum with their members has been shared with policy officials, as has other relevant research such as the Institute of Directors’ report Progress through transparency: the case for mandatory disability employment and pay gap reporting.

Since both reports mentioned are publicly available and can be found online at their respective organisations’ websites, we do not plan to place them in the Library of the House.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total value is of grants provided by her Department under the Access to Work scheme in each financial year since 2020-21; and how much her Department plans to provide in the (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27 financial years.

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

The most recently available data on Access to Work (AtW) outturn expenditure is available in the Access to Work official statistics. Expenditure on Access to Work elements, for financial years 2020/21 to 2023/24 was:

This includes expenditure on all AtW elements, including the Mental Health Support Service (MHSS), but excludes expenditure on the Transitional Employer Support Grant (TESG). Further information on AtW expenditure, including breakdowns of expenditure by AtW element type, is published in the Access to Work official statistics and currently covers financial years 2007/08 through to 2023/24.

The most recently available data on AtW grant expenditure forecast under the current policy is published here for 2025/26 and 2026/27: Access to Work grant expenditure forecasts - GOV.UK. These figures do not align with figures from the AtW official statistics as they exclude grant expenditure on MHSS and include expenditure on TESG.

The department has budgeted £385m for grants in 2025/26 based on the current expenditure forecast. The budget for 2026/27 has not been set.

The budget is subject to significant change due to the uncertainty in the forecast and based on affordability and departmental funding pressures

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people they expect to move into employment as a result of the £1 billion employment package announced on 18 March.

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

The DWP published an impact assessment which explained how employment interventions can have a significant and enduring impacts on peoples’ employment prospects and showed the substantial savings associated with supporting disabled people into work. For every 10,000 additional people in full time work, there would be fiscal savings of around £180m per year, with societal savings around £280m per year, (£80m and £150m respectively if in part-time work.

The Department has extensive evidence on what works, which includes the evaluation of Work Choice, a specialist employment programme for disabled people and those with health conditions, that showed people receiving tailored support were 40% more likely to be in work eight years later. We will be developing more detailed assessments of the potential impacts of the employment measures proposed in the Green Paper as these are developed in detail. The Office for Budget Responsibility has also stated that it intends to assess the labour supply impacts of the Green Paper measures in their Autumn forecast.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to provide longer-term support for local services via the Household Support Fund.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty across the UK.

That is why we are providing £742 million in England to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will enable Local Authorities to continue to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, and develop their schemes to help prevent poverty locally and build local resilience.

To support Local Authorities, we have clarified what is meant by both crisis and preventative support, updating the schemes’ objectives to include both types of support, and providing definitions and examples of each eligible spend category in the guidance.

We encourage Local Authorities to consider how their provision of crisis support could have a longer-term, sustainable impact, and to offer some level of preventative support to stop vulnerable households from falling into, or falling further into, crisis.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to protect (a) low-paid civil servants and (b) civil servants affected by recent increases to Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds who might be at risk of losing their right to live and work in the UK.

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

Part (a)

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will implement, where applicable, the new National Living Wage rate of £12.21 per hour with effect from 1 April 2025. DWP annual salaries will reflect this new hourly rate regardless of age and working pattern.

DWP offers a comprehensive range of employee benefits, including enhanced discounts that make both essential and leisure purchases more affordable for our colleagues. Our Cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme promotes health and sustainability by making commuting more cost effective. Employees can also apply for salary advances to assist with budgeting, covering expenses like travel, rentals deposits, bike and safety equipment. We are committed to continuously enhancing our benefits offer, including the launch of a colleague dental insurance scheme next month.

Part (b)

Whilst employees who have a current time limited work visa should have an expectation that they may be unable to work beyond the date their visa expires, we realise this situation in relation to potential sponsorship via a skilled worker visa is extremely unsettling for those affected.

DWP takes the welfare of its staff very seriously and continue to provide a range of support to colleagues employed on time limited visas who may be impacted by the uplift to salary thresholds introduced in April 2024.

This support includes ensuring they understand their responsibilities in establishing whether they will be eligible to apply for other visas to enable them to remain in employment with DWP and signposting to wider employee assistance support that is available to them via departmental contracts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, with which organisations she has held discussions on the proposed changes in rate of Universal Credit components.

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

We urgently need reform to stop people from falling into inactivity, restore trust and fairness in the system and promote the interests of disabled people. Therefore, there are some measures announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the 18 March 2025 that we will not be consulting on.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out our wider plan to reform the system by rebalancing the levels of the UC standard allowance and the UC health element. Our objective is a social security system which is pro-work but provides adequate financial support for people when they are not working, regardless of the reason. The changes to UC payment rates will be introduced in primary legislation, and so will be fully debated in Parliament, and are not subject to consultation.

No additional engagement on the changes to UC payment rates was sought before the publication of the Green Paper. We are, however, consulting on a number of other measures in the Paper. We would like to hear views from disabled people and representative organisations, and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to provide additional support for young people with lifelong conditions following reforms to the Universal Credit health top-up.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Pathways to Work Green Paper is an important staging post on a journey of reform. It sets out our vision, strategy and proposals for change. Before any decisions are made, we are consulting on the design options for a work, health and skills support package. We are specifically seeking input on the proposal to raise the age of eligibility for the health element of the Universal Credit (UC) award to 22. The government will actively engage with a diverse range of stakeholders, including young people with health conditions and disabilities. This consultation is now open and will close on 30^th June.

As we set out at point 256 in the Pathways to Work Green Paper: “Delaying access to the UC health element would remove any potential disincentive to work during this time. Proceeding with this change would be on the basis that resources could be better spent on improving the quality and range of opportunities available to young people through the [Youth] guarantee, so they can sign up to work or training rather than long-term benefits.” Such a change could support the establishment of a distinct and active transition phase for young people, based on learning or earning for all.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total cost was of providing translation services in her Department in the last year.

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

In the last 12 months the total money spent on interpretation services was £8,496,578.37.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Gingerbread report entitled Fix the CMS, published on 25 November 2024, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling Child Maintenance Service users to correspond with caseworkers via the digital platform.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to delivering the best possible digital service for our customers.

The CMS Service Modernisation Programme has delivered improvements to the customer experience, enabling parents to access their case on-line through My Child Maintenance Case and ensuring parents can report changes of circumstances and access their digital communications at any time of the day.

CMS are currently discussing with stakeholders how we can further improve our digital messaging function for customers as well as updates to our current SMS and email notifications. The aim of further digital Improvements is to further increase flexibility for customers to correspond, gather customer information at an accelerated rate, and reduce inbound and outbound telephony demand allowing caseworkers more time to support vulnerable customers and those who cannot use digital channels.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders as we consider CMS reforms and recommendations from the Gingerbread report ‘Fix the CMS’.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish algorithmic transparency records for (a) the Universal Credit Advances model and (b) other decision making algorithms used by her Department on the Algorithmic Transparency Reporting Standard Hub.

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

We are working with colleagues in The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to finalise the publication of algorithmic transparency records for existing tools as well as tools being considered for future deployment in the DWP.

Found: Q18 Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: We had a hearing with the DWP where two bits of AI had to be dropped

Found: deliver skills programmes across vocational skills, employability programmes and careers for the DfE, DWP

Found: Our partnership with DWP is exactly the integration between businesses and government we have been calling

Found: Industrial Strategy Council, Skills England, the Migration Advisory Committee, the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Stronger collaboration with the DWP and Jobcentre Plus could help embed employability skills into support

Found: cross-government approach to skills and drive partnerships with key government departments such as DBT, DWP

Found: implementation of the curriculum including, for example, local NHS health trusts, county councils, DWP

Found: The funding that is available for job coaches via the DWP is long and complex and deters from accessing

Found: Towards the end of the session, I asked what engagement you had had with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: AFC0070 22 Crawford, Chris AFC0027 23 Department of Health and Social Care AFC0079 24 Department for Work and Pensions

Found: In this area policy also rests with the HSE and DWP is the sponsoring Department. 2.

Found: Storage HC 351 7th Asylum accommodation: Home Office acquisition of former HMP Northeye HC 361 6th DWP

Found: Care (DHSC), the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Pensions Campaign on the Social Security Up-rating Regulations 2025 and Response from the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: families once they are in temporary accommodation. 89. recommendation MHCLG and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: How could the CMS work with the wider DWP and other departments and bodies to address child poverty?

Found: How could the CMS work with the wider DWP and other departments and bodies to address child poverty?

Found: Enforcement Delays & CMS Inaction  Despite a successful DWP tribunal in November 2024 proving that

Found: The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for welfare benefits, pensions and child maintenance

Found: including with the OBR and the Departments involved—in this case, that will obviously be closely with the DWP—that

Found: There is evidence from the DWP itself on the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service, which

Found: Storage HC 351 7th Asylum accommodation: Home Office acquisition of former HMP Northeye HC 361 6th DWP

Found: That is something that is used by the Department for Education to look at schools and by the DWP to

Found: When I, as an elected Member, submit a written question to the DWP saying, “When are you going to publish

Found: When I, as an elected Member, submit a written question to the DWP saying, “When are you going to publish

Found: As the DWP told us when it published the impact assessment, those losing PIP eligibility will lose

Found: Yuan Yang: When you talk to the Department responsible, does that mean a conversation between you and DWP

Found: Schools has done a very comprehensive update recently, as has the DWP.

Found: Our Work Foundation colleagues on the study analysed the DWP jobs portal’s advertised jobs in January

Found: Department for Work and Pensions 14. Department for Health and Social Care 15.

Found: Do you think the structure at the moment is all right, with the DWP, the careers service, local authorities

Found: work closely with other Government Departments—the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: work closely with other Government Departments—the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: definitely opportunities there with the reducing parental conflict programme, which is run through DWP

Found: We are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to promote adult social care careers

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will work with Versus Arthritis to (a) bring down waiting times for people with arthritis and (b) support them while waiting for treatment.

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

On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their populations, including for those with arthritis. To support this, the Department of Health and Social Care is delivering the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme jointly with NHS England and the Department for Work and Pensions. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT will work with the ICBs to reduce MSK community waiting times.

The Department funds research into MSK conditions, including arthritis, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Through that route, the Department spent approximately £26.3 million on MSK research in 2023/24, and £79.2 million since 2019/20. In particular, the Leeds Biomedical Research Centre aims to improve treatment for osteoarthritis. The NIHR, in collaboration with Versus Arthritis, also funds a dedicated UK MSK Translational Research Collaboration, aligning investment in MSK translational research and creating a United Kingdom-wide ambition and focus to drive cutting edge research and improve outcomes for patients.

The GIRFT programme in NHS England has had a paediatric rheumatology workstream since April 2024. The team has assembled the largest ever set of data and information about paediatric rheumatology in England and is visiting every department in England to discuss its findings. It will produce its national report with recommendations later this financial year. This will include a focus on supporting young people and their parents as they transition to adult services.

The GIRFT team will be working with the British Society for Rheumatology and rheumatology departments in England to implement the findings and recommendations of the GIRFT paediatric rheumatology national report.

NHS England Specialised Commissioning has a Clinical Reference Group for specialised paediatric rheumatology, which has produced a service specification naming juvenile idiopathic arthritis as one of the conditions that should be managed by a specialist paediatric rheumatology team. The service specification also sets out that specialised paediatric rheumatology teams will provide transitional care to facilitate transfer to, and ongoing care in, adult rheumatology. Specialised paediatric rheumatology services are expected to be commissioned in line with this service specification.

The Department will continue to work with Versus Arthritis as we consider how best to provide National Health Services for people with MSK conditions such as arthritis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will work with Versus Arthritis to improve (a) care and (b) support for young people with arthritis.

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

On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their populations, including for those with arthritis. To support this, the Department of Health and Social Care is delivering the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme jointly with NHS England and the Department for Work and Pensions. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT will work with the ICBs to reduce MSK community waiting times.

The Department funds research into MSK conditions, including arthritis, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Through that route, the Department spent approximately £26.3 million on MSK research in 2023/24, and £79.2 million since 2019/20. In particular, the Leeds Biomedical Research Centre aims to improve treatment for osteoarthritis. The NIHR, in collaboration with Versus Arthritis, also funds a dedicated UK MSK Translational Research Collaboration, aligning investment in MSK translational research and creating a United Kingdom-wide ambition and focus to drive cutting edge research and improve outcomes for patients.

The GIRFT programme in NHS England has had a paediatric rheumatology workstream since April 2024. The team has assembled the largest ever set of data and information about paediatric rheumatology in England and is visiting every department in England to discuss its findings. It will produce its national report with recommendations later this financial year. This will include a focus on supporting young people and their parents as they transition to adult services.

The GIRFT team will be working with the British Society for Rheumatology and rheumatology departments in England to implement the findings and recommendations of the GIRFT paediatric rheumatology national report.

NHS England Specialised Commissioning has a Clinical Reference Group for specialised paediatric rheumatology, which has produced a service specification naming juvenile idiopathic arthritis as one of the conditions that should be managed by a specialist paediatric rheumatology team. The service specification also sets out that specialised paediatric rheumatology teams will provide transitional care to facilitate transfer to, and ongoing care in, adult rheumatology. Specialised paediatric rheumatology services are expected to be commissioned in line with this service specification.

The Department will continue to work with Versus Arthritis as we consider how best to provide National Health Services for people with MSK conditions such as arthritis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time taken to diagnose ankylosing spondylitis was in each of the last five years.

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

We do not hold data in the format requested. To support health and care professionals in the early diagnosis of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, such as ankylosing spondylitis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published expert guidance on the diagnosis and management of spondyloarthritis in over 16 year olds, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng65

The NICE guidance aims to raise awareness of the features of spondyloarthritis and provide clear advice on what action to take when people with signs and symptoms first present in healthcare settings.

As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with ankylosing spondylitis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if HMRC will provide (a) National Insurance records, (b) historic income tax records showing taxable payments of state pensions and (c) any other related records of deceased people to bereaved family members for claims for underpaid state pensions.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) operates a strict duty of confidentiality to protect customers’ data. Therefore they can only supply information regarding the deceased to family members in certain circumstances permitted in law, for example to enable the tax and National Insurance affairs of the deceased to be settled.

At present HMRC does not have the power to provide families with tax and National Insurance information for the purpose mentioned.

The State Pension is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC shares information via an established legislative gateway with DWP for its administration.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many people in Wales will be impacted by welfare reform.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK.

There are currently 347,100 Universal Credit claimants in Wales, with 267,100 claimants of Personal Independence Payments. 89,000 claimants in Wales are receiving both Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit. Overall, 15% of working age people in Wales receive a disability or incapacity benefit and around a quarter are neither in work nor looking for work.

To raise living standards in every corner of our country, we need to unleash the talents of people across the UK wherever they live. However, the system we inherited has left millions of people trapped on benefits, without the support they need to build a better life.

We know many sick and disabled people want to work, with the right help and support. They deserve the same rights, chances and choices to get good jobs as anybody else. That is why the government is fixing the social security system so that it gives those who could work the help they need, and those who can’t work the dignity and security they deserve.

The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to work with the Welsh government and other devolved governments, which will include looking at Welsh specific impacts to help support people back into work if they are able to, but also protect those who rely on our social security system.

Question to the Leader of the House:

To ask the Leader of the House, how many (a) oral statements, (b) urgent questions, (c) end of day adjournment debates and (d) Westminster Hall debates each Department has responded to since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

Urgent questions, adjournment debates and Westminster Hall debates are a matter for the House. Information relating to each of these is available on the Parliament website.

The Government is responsible for the arrangement of oral statements. As of 3rd April 2025, there have been 129 oral statements from the following departments:

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help (a) people seeking asylum and (b) refugees to (i) develop their skills and (ii) increase their employability.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The UK has a long history of providing protection to those that need it and supporting refugee integration and employment. This includes work across government to ensure that mainstream services meet the needs of refugees.

Refugees granted refugee status or humanitarian protection (as well as those
arriving under one of the UK’s resettlement schemes) have immediate access to the labour market, including employment support from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work coaches in the same way as other jobseekers. Unemployed refugees are eligible for full funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learning.

In addition, through the Skilled Worker visa, the UK has labour mobility initiatives for refugees and displaced people to take up employment in the UK. We are currently reviewing labour mobility initiatives for refugees and displaced people to ensure we are learning from what works to increase employability and outcomes.

We continue to provide local authorities with a core tariff to support the integration of those who arrive through the UK’s Resettlement Scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy. We work across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees and continue to keep our policies under review.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of welfare reform on veterans.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

This Government is committed to providing veterans with the support they need after their time in service, whether that's through specialist housing provision or employment advice and career support. This commitment applies equally to the welfare and benefits space, and while most veterans require limited support after they leave the military, some, including those who were wounded or injured while in the Armed Forces, rely to varying degrees on being able to access the health and disability benefits system.

The Department for Work and Pensions are consulting on the impact of changes to the benefits system, and I will continue to work closely with my colleagues in the Department to ensure the needs of our veterans are understood. No changes are being made to Armed Forces Independence Payments.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assist employers whose premises are inaccessible to potential employees with disabilities.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) runs the Access to Work Scheme which provides grant funding to disabled people, as well as those with a health condition. The grant supports workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010.   This can include grants to make appropriate changes to a place of work, to make them more accessible for the customer.

In addition, as set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March, DWP are consulting on the future of the Access to Work scheme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost to the NHS of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to unaffordable travel costs.

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

The Department knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of their local communities are met, including providing support for travel.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.

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

The Department has not made an estimate of the potential cost to the NHS of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to travel costs. On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The Taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The Taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will introduce a fund to support young cancer patients and their families in access to treatment and care.

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

The Department knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of their local communities are met, including providing support for travel.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.

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

The Department has not made an estimate of the potential cost to the NHS of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to travel costs. On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The Taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The Taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of four-day working weeks.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

While the government continues to monitor the impact of flexible working, it has made no assessment of the four-day week specifically. Additionally, the government has no plans to mandate a four-day week, however, through the Employment Rights Bill we are giving employees better access to flexible working arrangements, where reasonably feasible. Not all businesses will be able to offer all forms of flexible working, and not all arrangements will suit all employees equally. We want to create a framework that encourages employers and employees to explore options for flexible working arrangements that suit both parties.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the research by Young Lives vs Cancer, The cost of waiting, whether they have considered the recommendations of the report, and if so, what action they are taking to ensure children and young people receive disability benefits immediately after their cancer diagnosis.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to improving outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer and we are aware that the cost of travel is an important issue for many cancer patients and their families.

NHS England and the integrated care boards are currently responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel. The National Health Service runs schemes in England to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) provides financial assistance to patients in England who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services.

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. The provision of disability benefits is also the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not made a formal assessment of the cost to the NHS, and long-term health outcomes, of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to lack of support with travel costs. The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will explore a range of issues, including patient experience alongside clinical care, to identify improvements for children and young people with cancer and their families.

Young Lives vs Cancer is a valued stakeholder with a unique perspective on the issue of travel support for children and young people with cancer. We will continue to engage with Young Lives vs Cancer, as well as other children and young people cancer charity stakeholders as we progress this important work.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the cost to the NHS, and (2) long-term health outcomes, of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to lack of support with travel costs.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to improving outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer and we are aware that the cost of travel is an important issue for many cancer patients and their families.

NHS England and the integrated care boards are currently responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel. The National Health Service runs schemes in England to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) provides financial assistance to patients in England who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services.

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. The provision of disability benefits is also the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not made a formal assessment of the cost to the NHS, and long-term health outcomes, of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to lack of support with travel costs. The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will explore a range of issues, including patient experience alongside clinical care, to identify improvements for children and young people with cancer and their families.

Young Lives vs Cancer is a valued stakeholder with a unique perspective on the issue of travel support for children and young people with cancer. We will continue to engage with Young Lives vs Cancer, as well as other children and young people cancer charity stakeholders as we progress this important work.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund as proposed by Young Lives vs Cancer.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to improving outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer and we are aware that the cost of travel is an important issue for many cancer patients and their families.

NHS England and the integrated care boards are currently responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel. The National Health Service runs schemes in England to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) provides financial assistance to patients in England who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services.

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. The provision of disability benefits is also the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not made a formal assessment of the cost to the NHS, and long-term health outcomes, of missed appointments by children and young people with cancer due to lack of support with travel costs. The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will explore a range of issues, including patient experience alongside clinical care, to identify improvements for children and young people with cancer and their families.

Young Lives vs Cancer is a valued stakeholder with a unique perspective on the issue of travel support for children and young people with cancer. We will continue to engage with Young Lives vs Cancer, as well as other children and young people cancer charity stakeholders as we progress this important work.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps she is taking to reduce economic inactivity in Wales.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we have committed £240m of investment towards sixteen trailblazers to test new and innovative ways to support people into work and tackle the root causes of inactivity, including one in Wales. My department has been working in close partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Welsh Government to co-develop and deliver the trailblazer in Wales.

Since coming into government, I have worked with UK and Welsh Government colleagues to drive over £1.5 billion in private investment from Eren Holding and Kellogg’s, creating and sustaining over 400 jobs. Wales is also set to benefit from a £250 million investment from one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers which is expected to support over 500 high value jobs and hundreds more through the wider supply chain. In addition, we will support tens of thousands of new jobs through our Welsh Investment Zones and Freeports.

Found: The Department for Work and Pensions has experimented with White Mail, a correspondence

To recognise that Type 1 Diabetes is a severe disability. People especially children deserve to have adequate disability benefits and care provide, schools should have a fully funded care package and the DWP should see type 1 is a severe disability that justifies higher care a mobility rates.

Found: adequate disability benefits and care provide, schools should have a fully funded care package and the DWP

Found: this page Background Scope NAO team Background In 2023-24, the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP

Found: (e) To evidence a pension: (i) Official documentation from: (1) The Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Tackling Homelessness 20 Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government Sixth report: DWP

Found: Tackling Homelessness 20 Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government Sixth report: DWP

Found: Government 466.3 0.030389782650042 98.28 0.0069869831696899 -368.02 -0.78923439845593 Department for Work and Pensions

Found: pensions/about/research#research-and-analysis-publications If you would like to know more about DWP

Found: From: Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care and Government Social Research

Found: Timms MP, Minister for Social Security & Disability, and Minister of State for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Timms M P , Minister for Social Security & Disability, and Minister of State for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: pensions/about/research#research-and-analysis-publications If you would like to know more about DWP

Found: From: Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care and Government Social Research

Found: care plans, access to work grants, voluntary sector 42 grants and funding from the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Nursing Officer; an Occupational Therapist; a Physiotherapist; or an officer of the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: If a treated pa�ent (able to do these things) filled in a DWP PIP form they would be considered normal

Found: If a treated patient (able to do these things) filled in a DWP PIP form they would be considered normal

Found: If a treated pa�ent (able to do these things) filled in a DWP PIP form they would be considered normal

Found: If a treated patient (able to do these things) filled in a DWP PIP form they would be considered normal

Found: WHP replaced the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Cold Weather Payment (CWP) in winter 2022/23

Found: ...................................................................................... 12 Links to DWP

Found: Support Whether being considered for a Hardship Payment of Short-Term Benefit Advance through the DWP

Found: You can find information on the Turn 2 Us website. 3130 Department for Work and Pensions The Department

Found: April 2021, we successfully completed our self-assessment exercise and as a result, The Department for Work and Pensions

Found: April 2021, we successfully completed our self-assessment exercise and as a result, The Department for Work and Pensions

Found: sources and the need to have agreements in place in order to access those sources: “The Department for Work and Pensions

Found: National Insurance numbers are used for data matching verification with Department for Work and Pensions

Found: National Insurance numbers are used for data matching verification with Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Local authorities have historically been encouraged to use income benefit data provided by HMRC and DWP

Found: Focus group contributor, Newport “When I worked with DWP, they were brilliant.

Found: Focus group contributor, Newport “When I worked with DWP, they were brilliant.

Found: research found that disabled people mistrusted the scheme due to its association with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: research found that disabled people mistrusted the scheme due to its association with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: research found that disabled people mistrusted the scheme due to its association with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: research found that disabled people mistrusted the scheme due to its association with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The UK Government Department for Work and Pensions makes deductions from regular benefit payments for

Found: I wouldn’t know where to go in terms of the DWP or I remember Jobcentres . . .where are they now?

Found: I wouldn’t know where to go in terms of the DWP or I remember Jobcentres . . .where are they now?

Found: Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs are currently exploring a pilot with DWP , WeCare Wales, Local Authority

Found: PaCE) programme is funded by the European Social Fund and Welsh Government, with the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The UK Government Department for Work and Pensions makes deductions from regular benefit payments for

Found: We continue to work DVLA, DVSA, DWP, training providers and industry to ensure the highest possible

Found: We continue to work DVLA, DVSA, DWP, training providers and industry to ensure the highest possible

Found: In particular, issues surrounding the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the difficulties in

Found: the Knowledge and Analytical Services Social Justice statistics team collaborate with Department for Work and Pensions

Found: • Training and guidance for statutory organisations (including the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: • Training and guidance for statutory organisations (including the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: .29 She highlighted the deteriorating picture for most households and called on the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: language support workers, family support workers, dads sup port workers, Flying Start coordinators and DWP

Found: The Bill is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions and the UK Cabinet Office. 8.

Found: (DWP) in Part 2 of the Bill.

Found: The Welsh Government works closely with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on skills and employability

Found: If for example the Home Office, DWP, Probation Service and Prison Service had a duty to effectively

Found: We note that funding for Discretionary Housing Payments comes from the UK Department for Work and Pensions

Found: carried out by Ipsos MORI, Imogen Blood & Associates and Housing & Support Partnership on behalf of the DWP

Found: We have worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to achieve an increased sample for Wales on

Found: Rural Affairs Committee, 26 May 2022 Cost of Living Pressures 27 return, and the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: One wanted to get back to work for their own mental health as she is a carer, another was told by DWP

Found: One wanted to get back to work for their own mental health as she is a carer, another was told by DWP

Found: policy, noting that: “A variety of employability services are delivered by the Welsh Government, the DWP

Found: Budget 2025-26 28 funding provided by the Welsh Government or recoverable from the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: The Minister for Climate Change last wrote to the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: funding of £4.1m across 2020-21 and 2021-22 has also been provided to local authorities to top up DWP

Found: This is combined with information on income in each quintile from the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: One area of uncertainty is whether the Department for Work and Pensions will co-operate with the Welsh

Found: One parent described how the need to work part time was not understood or supported by the DWP. 36.

Found: parent told us that the need to work part-time was not understood or supported by the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: organisations, including our procured programme, Digital Communities Wales, Ofcom, Department for Work and Pensions

Found: announcement regarding changes to Winter Fuel Payment last year we have been in correspondence with the DWP

Found: most vulnerable learners were in training which sits outside of the Commission’s remit, such as the DWP

Found: written response in November 2023, the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: announcement regarding changes to Winter Fuel Payment last year we have been in correspondence with the DWP

Found: Any analysis provided by the UK Department for Work and Pensions to the Welsh Government on the impact

Found: I know that DWP officials engage effectively with Welsh Government officials .

Found: . • Ensure frontline workers across sectors, e.g. local authorities, housing, DWP, teachers, receive