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 link between the fitness for work test and (a) suicides, (b) other deaths and (c) harm.

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

DWP does not collect or record the cause of a customer’s death and will not usually be made aware of how a customer died.

Cause of death is determined by a doctor or a coroner. There is no requirement for a Coroner to inform the department of the outcome of an inquest unless named as an Interested Person at that inquest - or the coroner decides to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the department.

As a result, we are unable to collect information on or make any assessment on any potential links between the fitness for work test and suicides, other deaths and harm and only a coroner would be able to determine if one did exist on a case-by-case basis.

Attempted suicides and suicides are very complex issues. Where there is an allegation that the Department’s actions, including any related to the fitness for work test, may have had an impact on a customer’s circumstances, we take it very seriously and where appropriate we would undertake an Internal Process Review to establish if we could have done anything differently, to inform future learning and improve services. These reviews do not investigate the cause of a customer’s death and are not undertaken as a result of every suicide or death and therefore would not provide the information to show if a link existed.

Internal Process Reviews themes are considered quarterly at the department’s Serious Case Panel, which has an external Chair. Arrangements are being made to start publishing fuller minutes of the Panel’s meetings from the new year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will allow people in receipt of a state pension to claim carer’s allowance.

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

Pensioners can claim Carer’s Allowance, but under overlapping benefit rules it is not normally payable. I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 17 December 2024 to question UIN 18844 which sets this out.

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 adequacy of the level of support available to people going through tribunals for claiming (a) Universal Credit and (b) other benefits.

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

Appeals are lodged directly with, and administered by, HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). At the First-tier Tribunal, proceedings are designed to be straightforward and accessible to all. The tribunal panel is trained and experienced in dealing with a wide range of appellants with individual needs.

At the First-tier Tribunal, Legal Aid, which is administered by Ministry of Justice (MoJ) may be available through the exceptional case funding scheme, if failure to provide Legal Aid may risk a breach of an individual’s human rights. Legal Aid is still available for advice and assistance on welfare benefits appeals to the Upper Tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

At all appellate stages, claimants are able to appoint a representative to assist with their appeal and there is helpful signposting to free support available on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the mean average waiting time has been for PIP applications in each of the last five years.

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

We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner and reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.

The following figures are for normal rules new claims only.

Median PIP application clearance times are also available on a monthly basis as part of the PIP Official Statistics quarterly release. The latest release, with data to October 2024, is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/675bf09bb915d092055a01d8/tables-pip-statistics-to-october-2024-eng-wales.ods

Table 1A in this release shows the median average clearance times for normal rules new claims.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to negotiate a reciprocal social security agreement with Taiwan.

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

There are no current plans to negotiate a reciprocal social security agreement with Taiwan.

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 impact of (a) industrial injury compensation for civilians and (b) military service compensation on (i) the awarding of benefits and (ii) tax treatment.

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

There are no plans to make such an assessment.

The precise treatment of compensation payments depends on the details of the individual scheme (whether industrial, military or other) will depend on the benefit concerned. Tax treatment is a matter for HMRC not DWP.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of students whose Universal Credit has been affected by receipt of a student loan in the most recent period for which data is available.

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

The requested information is not readily available as student loan income is not separated in the data we have and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) tackle discrimination and (b) enhance inclusion policies for neurodiverse people in the workforce in Surrey.

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

Neurodivergent people bring many positive benefits to businesses but can face stigma and disadvantage. We understand the importance of tackling discrimination and encouraging employers to adopt neuro-inclusive working practices so that everyone can thrive at work.

In our plan to Make Work Pay, we committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace. We will be gathering expert evidence on how best to improve employment for all neurodivergent people and will be considering the Buckland Review of Autism Employment’s findings.

Employers have a key role to play. Our support to employers includes a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme. Both help employers to understand their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010. We will be considering how to enhance our work with employers in the months ahead, including in response to the independent employer review announced in the Get Britain Working White 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 provide financial support to people on lower incomes in Aldershot constituency.

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

We are committed to tackling poverty.

We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

Alongside this, we are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We have begun this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and will continue to work with stakeholders closely as the review progresses. We will regularly update Parliament on progress.

We are taking the first steps to tackle poverty through our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers. Furthermore, our plan to Make Work Pay aims to create opportunities for all by tackling low pay, poor working conditions and job security.

To further support struggling families, £1 billion, including Barnett impact, will be invested to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a full year until 31 March 2026, on top of the six months already announced, and to maintain Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire will receive additional funding as a result of the Youth Guarantee in the Get Britain Working White Paper, published on 26 November 2024.

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

The Get Britain Working White Paper announced £45 million funding for eight trailblazer areas to test delivery of the Youth Guarantee. The results from these trailblazers will help us to develop the most effective offer for all young people in England, including those in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and the rest of Lincolnshire.

Young people in South Holland and the Deepings constituency will also continue to have access to the Department’s Youth Offer, which provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This will include a new Youth Hub at Pescod Hall, in partnership with Tonic Health & Boston Brilliance, due to launch in February 2025. The hub will provide employment and wellbeing support for young people in the area.

The Department will also be supporting and providing funding to develop local Get Britain Working plans to tackle inactivity, working with Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire Councils and, once established, the Greater Lincolnshire Strategic Authority.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trade Union Congress report entitled Sick pay that works, published February 2021, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) current Statutory Sick Pay policies and (b) planned Statutory Sick Pay reforms on ethnic minority workers; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure Statutory Sick Pay covers those in insecure work.

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

The pandemic exposed how precarious work and life is for those on low incomes, with many forced to choose between their health and financial hardship. This is why, through the Employment Rights Bill, we are removing the Lower Earnings Limit so that up to 1.3 million low-paid employees will become eligible for Statutory Sick Pay. We are also removing the waiting period so that all eligible employees will receive payment from the first day of sickness absence. This will ensure the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it most.

The impact of planned changes to Strengthen Statutory Sick Pay on ethnic minority employees is set out in full in our Equality Impact Assessment, which we published on 7 November 2024 and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/making-work-pay-strengthening-statutory-sick-pay/equality-analysis-for-statutory-sick-pay-reform-measures-in-the-employment-rights-bill.

We know that employees in insecure work tend to be on lower incomes, and our planned changes to SSP will benefit millions of additional employees. The rate lower paid employees are entitled to will be based on their actual average weekly earnings, protecting those who work irregular hours.

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 on recent trends in the level of child poverty; and whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of ending the policy via the child poverty strategy.

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

We published the framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.

The Child Poverty Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, which includes 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.

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Strategy in Spring 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 impact of the two-child benefit cap on trends in the level of child poverty in (a) the UK and (b) Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

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

We published the framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.

The Child Poverty Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, which includes 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.

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Strategy in Spring 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 extending access to benefits for families with children who have no recourse to public funds on levels of child poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

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

In developing a Child Poverty Strategy, the Child Poverty Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom. We recognise the distinct challenges of poverty faced by migrant children. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted, with solutions that go beyond government, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers in response.

The Home Office sets the immigration rules and grants immigration leave to individuals which allows them to live and work in the UK. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits to individuals where the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking through the welfare system to support children and young people diagnosed with cancer.

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

The extra costs disability benefits available to children and young people, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), provide a contribution towards the additional costs that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition. These benefits are assessed on the basis of needs arising and not on the condition itself, so are available to those with cancer and other conditions.

The extra costs benefits are non-contributory, non-means-tested and can be worth over £9,500 a year, tax free. Individuals or Parent/guardians for DLA child cases can choose how to use the benefit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences. The benefit also acts as a gateway to other financial support such as Carer’s Allowance, disability additions in Universal Credit, Motability Scheme, Blue Badge Scheme and exemption from the benefit cap.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support low-income families by (a) improving access to opportunities for children to play and learn, and (b) enhancing financial independence and living standards.

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

Through our Opportunity Mission, this Government will break the link between a child’s background and their future success. We will deliver across four areas including helping every child to achieve and thrive through excellent teaching and high standards, with a focus on disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Worth over £2.9 billion in 2024/25, the pupil premium grant continues to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. Furthermore, all local authorities in England continue to deliver the Holiday and Activities Food programme, providing heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families throughout the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.

Poverty limits children’s opportunities and holds them back. The number of children living in poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This is why tackling child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish our child poverty strategy in Spring 2025.

As set out in the Taskforce’s publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ s our ambition is to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change. To deliver this, we will look at all available 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 Governments.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, create 3,000 additional nurseries, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what partnerships they plan to establish with local government to deliver the new Youth Guarantee outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper (CP 1191).

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

The Get Britain Working White Paper identified a lack of accountability for support that joins up the various education, training and employment opportunities available to 18-21 year olds.

As a first step, the Get Britain Working White paper announced £45m funding for eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England. Our partnerships with local government will test one of the key objectives of the Youth Guarantee that ensures better connections through local systems, of knowledge and awareness of resource and services in local areas, to ensure all 18-21 year olds have easy access to a wide range of education, training or employment opportunities.

By working closely on the detail of the design and delivery of the Youth Guarantee with the eight trailblazer areas, we will be able to maximise the difference it makes to young people’s lives locally. The findings of the trailblazers will inform future approach.

We will also work in partnership with organisations at the national and local level to join up, enhance and champion their efforts as part of our new Youth Guarantee. Our first partnerships will be developed with Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company and leading sports organisations including the Premier League.​

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the rate of statutory stick pay on (1) employee retention, (2) economic activity, and (3) growth.

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

The Department has not made an assessment of the impact of the rate of Statutory Sick Pay on employee retention, economic activity and growth.

The Department has undertaken a Regulatory Impact Assessment and an Equality Impact Assessment of the Statutory Sick Pay changes to remove the Lower Earnings Limit and remove the 3-day waiting period. Our RIA demonstrates that businesses may stand to benefit from the changes through increased employee productivity, lower staff turnover and reduced recruitment costs. Both impact assessments can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6715f848386bf0964853d848/Impact_assessment_improve_access_statutory_sick_pay_removing_lower_earnings_limit_removing_waiting_period.pdf

https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2024-0716/Statutory_Sick_Pay_EA.pdf

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on implementing the Disability Action Plan.

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

The Disability Action Plan and the National Disability Strategy were both initiatives of the previous administration. The National Disability Strategy was delayed as it was originally declared unlawful, due to a challenge as to whether an information gathering exercise constituted a consultation. The Court of Appeal later overturned the original High Court declaration. This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people. We will build on the insights shared by disabled people and their representative organisations, working closely with them so that their views and voices are at the heart of everything we do.

We will provide further updates on the Government’s priorities for disability policy in due course.

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 (a) encourage victims of sexual harassment in the workplace to come forward and (b) ensure their protection during the reporting process.

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

DWP internal guidance encourages those experiencing sexual harassment to come forward via their choice of several available routes:

Line Managers

DWP colleagues can speak to their own or a trusted alternative manager.

Ambassadors for Fair Treatment

DWP has over 500 Ambassadors for Fair Treatment (AFTs) who support colleagues to speak up about all forms of bullying, harassment and discrimination. AFTs are ACAS-trained volunteers who provide confidential listening and signposting to any colleague who believes they are facing, have witnessed, or have been accused of bullying, harassment (including sexual harassment) or discrimination. AFTs also deliver information sessions across the department to raise awareness of bullying, harassment and discrimination, and to signpost to further sources of support.

Speak Up Safely helpline

DWP operates a “Speak Up Safely” helpline, which colleagues can call, anonymously if they choose, and in confidence, for advice and signposting. From the 4^th – 8^th November 2024 DWP ran its annual Speak Up Safely week as part of the wider civil service Speak Up campaign. The week featured a range of events for colleagues across DWP focused on the important role of line managers in creating teams where colleagues feel safe to speak up on concerns and on demystifying the concern raising process in DWP to help colleagues understand the informal, formal and protected way colleagues can speak up on any concerns.

Whistleblowing helpline

Colleagues may raise concerns, including concerns relating to sexual harassment, by speaking to senior managers or through independent routes including the confidential Whistleblowers’ Hotline or via email to the Counter Fraud and Investigation team. Colleagues may choose to raise concerns anonymously.

To ensure protection during the reporting process, managers provide support including regular check-ins with colleagues reporting harassment, to ensure they are not experiencing any repercussions as a result of the report made, and that they feel adequately supported. There is a range of support available to colleagues including Mental Health First Aiders, counselling services, temporary or permanent relocations or change of role, and signposting to external support and advice bodies.

Confidentiality is guaranteed throughout the process.

As a public sector organisation, DWP have a duty to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). In line with this we regularly carry out mandatory PSED training across DWP. The most recent training data shows that almost 99% of the target audience completed this learning.

DWP policies are currently being reviewed in line with the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training her Department provides to investigators handling sexual harassment cases to ensure investigations are (a) trauma-informed and (b) compliant with best practices.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ensures that its investigators handling sexual harassment cases are accredited and equipped with the necessary skills to conduct trauma-informed investigations, compliant with best practice. All DWP investigators assigned to these sensitive cases have undergone specialised training and have successfully completed the Advanced Professional Certificate in Investigative Practice.

This certification ensures they are proficient in best practices for handling complex and sensitive investigations, including:

• Trauma-Informed Approaches: Understanding the impact of trauma on individuals, employing empathetic and non-judgmental communication, and avoiding re-traumatisation during interviews.

• Compliance with Legal and Procedural Standards: Adhering to relevant laws, such as the Equality Act 2010, and ensuring fair, impartial, and thorough investigations.

• Advanced Interview Techniques: Using open-ended, non-leading questions to gather accurate information while being sensitive to the needs of all parties involved.

• Impartial Analysis and Reporting: Maintaining objectivity throughout the investigation, analysing evidence comprehensively, and delivering well-structured and unbiased reports.

By requiring this certification, DWP demonstrates its commitment to fostering a respectful and supportive environment, ensuring that all investigations are handled with the highest standards of professionalism and care.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she is taking steps to improve staffing levels in the Child Maintenance Service.

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

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), demand for the service increases. To allow us to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take the appropriate steps to ensure that the CMS staffing levels meets the current demand.

CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign; this will continue into 2025. This will ensure that CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand. Additionally, through extensive modernisation to both telephony and digital channels, and by promoting self-service online, we are ensuring customers use the most appropriate and efficient contact method to quickly resolve their queries and reduce demand on our services. Furthermore, we have taken timely action to further train, support and redeploy resources within CMS to where it is needed most.

Every change and improvement made to our processes, systems, and resourcing are all part of modernising our service. This will be an ongoing process of regular review and improvement to ensure CMS has the capability to deliver a service which is accessible to all parents.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific (a) care, (b) counselling and (c) support services are made available to staff who have been victims of sexual harassment within her Department.

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

DWP offers the provision and delivery of a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme delivered by People Asset Management (PAM). The provision is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can be accessed either via telephone or email for in the moment support and referrals for counselling by trained personnel.

DWP also has:

• A community of 600 trained Ambassadors for Fair Treatment, who are trained volunteers and whose remit is to be approachable at a time of need, to listen in confidence and to empathise with anyone who believes they are facing bullying, harassment or discrimination, as well as anyone who has been accused of it, and to signpost to further support where appropriate.
• A community of 1600 trained Mental Health First Aiders who are a point of contact for any DWP colleague in need, offering initial help, to listen and reassure, and guide a person towards the right 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 welfare reforms since 2010 on (a) poverty, (b) child poverty, (c) disabled people, (d) women, (e) people of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and (f) older people.

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

In 2022/23 there were 1.3 million more people in relative low income after housing costs than in 2010/11. The 1.3 million increase comprises 700,000 children, 300,000 working age individuals and 300,000 pensioners. During this period, there was a gradual upward trend in relative poverty (before and after housing costs) for pensioners driven by working age incomes growing at a faster rate than pensioner incomes despite uprating of State Pension and Pensioner benefits limiting this gap.

The table below provides employment rate/level data for disabled people, women, people from an ethnic minority and older people in 2010 and 2024. Employment level and rates rose for the groups between 2010 and 2024.

We are committed to tackling poverty and raising living standards. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

The Child Poverty Taskforce also continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.

We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We started this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and will continue to work with stakeholders as the review progresses.

Further steps to tackle poverty include our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and to increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.

It is Government provision through (and ongoing improvement of) the State Pension and benefits system – combined with key interventions for private pensions and the labour market – that forms the foundation of support for pensioners of today and tomorrow.

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 (a) young cancer patients and (b) their families in into employment.

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

NHS England is committed to ensuring that all cancer patients are offered Holistic Needs Assessment and Personalised Care and Support Planning, ensuring care is focused on what matters most to each person. This is being delivered in line with the NHS Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer and maximise the potential of digital and community-based support.

The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will be relaunched in 2025 to identify ways to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with cancer. We will set out further details on next steps in due course.

Access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key to supporting a successful return to work. We, therefore, have a range of specialist initiatives including 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.

Employers also play a key role in supporting people with health conditions to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, Support with Employee Health and Disability service, a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme.

The Department’s Youth Offer also provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.

To support unpaid carers to remain in work, DWP has launched Jobhelp, to provide advice and information, all in one place, to existing, new and potential unpaid carers to help them make informed decisions about combining work and care.

We urge the UK Government to review Universal Credit and Job Centre operations. We believe there are issues with delays, sanctions, and support which can negatively impact claimants. We want to see improvements in staffing, payment resolutions, and help for disabled and vulnerable people.

Change the law so that people who claim universal credits & work, don't get penalised if they receive a bonus in work or if they work a small amount of overtime for a special occasion coming up i.e. a child's birthday, xmas.

We urge the Government to extend the maximum holiday allowance from one month to 6 weeks. We believe this is crucial as it aligns with the six-week school holiday period that families only experience once a year.

Carers allowance is only granted if you earn under a certain amount and is treated like a benefit. Some carers are struggling but exempt from carer's allowance. We think that carer's allowance needs to be offered to all unpaid carers.

We think the government should scrap the two-child benefit cap to support struggling families as we think this policy pushes many children into poverty and worsens inequality. We think scrapping the cap would provide vital support, alleviate hardship, and ensure equal opportunities for all children.

We think veterans injured on active duty should not be passed to civilian benefit system to be dealt with, and there should be a special system for injured veterans to apply for disability benefits.

We call on the Government to recognise gambling as a trade and professional gamblers as self-employed. We would like the earnings made by professional gamblers to be used to calculate how much child support should be paid.

Stop DWP repeating Personal Independence Payments assessments for disabled people.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase uptake of free school meals among eligible children in areas with high levels of (a) child obesity and (b) household food insecurity.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

There are currently around 2.1 million pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM). The department recognises the vital role played by FSM in supporting disadvantaged children and families and encourages all those who are eligible to take up their entitlement. To make this process as easy as possible, the department provides the Eligibility Checking System, which allows local authorities to quickly verify eligibility for FSM. Further to this, our published guidance on FSM provides clarity to families about whether they may qualify for, and how they may claim their FSM entitlement.

The department is aware of a range of measures aimed at maximising take-up of FSM, including through approaches being trialled by local authorities. We welcome local authorities taking action to ensure government support reaches families, subject to them meeting legal and data-protection requirements.

In addition to this, we are also rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school, so children start the day ready to learn. This is part of the department‘s commitment to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all children have the freedom to achieve and thrive in education.

The department is also working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop a child poverty strategy to reduce child poverty by tackling its root causes and giving every child the best start in life. The strategy will be published in the spring.

Found: Order of the Bath Sarah Winifred ALBON Chief Executive, Health and Safety Executive, Department for Work and Pensions

Found: number of transactions with other government departments and other central government bodies including DWP

Found: Some people told us they are not happy with how Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) run the current