Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps with the Health and Safety Executive to review the level of criminal penalties and enforcement mechanisms for illegal gas work; and if the Health and Safety Executive will issue guidance to police on prioritising such cases.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) which address the safe installation, maintenance, and use of gas systems, in commercial and domestic premises. These regulations require that no employer or self-employed person shall carry out gas work without Gas Safe Registration. HSE and Local Authorities regulate this through enforcement powers set under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.  Enforcement powers available to regulators include prosecution, prohibition notices and improvement notices.

HSE will apply the principles laid down in the Enforcement Policy Statement (EPS), Enforcement Management Model (EMM) and internal gas procedures to ensure that enforcement action is proportional to the health and safety risks and the seriousness of the breach.

HSE cannot review the level of criminal penalties for illegal gas cases. The Health and Safety Sentencing Guidelines are set by the Sentencing Council.  HSE and Local Authorities are the enforcing authorities under GSIUR and the police investigate homicide cases. Where a person dies because of illegal and/or poor-quality gas work; the police must decide whether a manslaughter offence has been committed, the priority given to the case is a matter for the investigating police force. Guidance is in place to support the HSE and police in the event of a fatal gas incident though the Work-Related Death Protocol.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the findings of the report by the Brain Tumour Charity entitled The Price You Pay: The Financial Impact of a Brain Tumour.

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

The welfare system is there to support people with their living costs in times of need. Universal Credit provides means-tested support including a standard allowance and additional amounts to provide for individual needs such as housing, children, disability, and childcare costs.

Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment provide a contribution towards the extra costs that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition. These benefits are non-contributory, non-means-tested and can be worth up to £9,747.40 a year, tax free.

Additionally, we have launched the Timms Review to ensure PIP is fair and fit for the future. To ensure lived experience is at the heart of its work, the Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts.

More details about the Review’s scope can be found in its Terms of Reference, available here: Timms Review of PIP: Terms of Reference.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many pension schemes have entered the Financial Assistance Scheme; and for what proportion of (1) schemes, and (2) scheme members, does the Pension Protection Fund have definitive copies of the original scheme's trust deed and rules in relation to pre-1997 pension increases.

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

As of 16 December 2025, 1,045 schemes have transferred into the Financial Assistance Scheme.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) holds a significant amount of scheme information. We are confident that the PPF will be able to identify the information needed and successfully implement the reforms to award pre-97 indexation uplifts to compensation payments.

The PPF is reviewing the information it holds for each scheme. Alongside scheme rules, the PPF will use additional data sources, including scheme return data, member booklets, data provided on transfer, valuation reports, annuity reports, and bulk buyout schedules.

Where the position is unclear, the clauses within the Pension Schemes Bill provide that the presumption is in favour of the members. In such cases, the PPF will award pre-97 indexation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve the enforcement of child maintenance obligations in cases where non-resident parents repeatedly change employment or sources of income in order to evade their child maintenance liabilities.

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

Where a paying parent changes jobs, The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses real-time information from HMRC where available, to quickly identify new employment and adjust maintenance calculations accordingly.

People who are self-employed are required to keep accurate records of their business income and expenses for tax purposes. HMRC can charge penalties for inaccurate reporting where it results in tax being unpaid.

Where the information available from HMRC does not give rise to a liability which accurately reflects what a customer believes a paying parent should be paying, the parent can seek a Variation. Variations allow the CMS to look at some circumstances which are not covered by the basic maintenance calculation. A variation can be requested on grounds of diversion of income. This is when the paying parent may be able to control the amount of income they receive. This includes diverting income to another person or for another purpose (including excessive pension contributions).

Cases involving complex income can be investigated by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the Child Maintenance Service is given.

If paying parents fail to meet their financial obligation to their children, the CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers including deduction from earnings orders and bank accounts, removing a parent’s passport or driving license and commitment to prison. These require time to be deployed effectively; this is obviously frustrating for parents, but is necessary to ensure that, as far as possible, the right person pays the right amount without imposing an excessive burden on employers, the banks, or the court system.

The government is working to introduce administrative liability orders which will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order. Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.

Once the system is in place, wee expect the new liability order process in the majority of cases to take around 6 weeks. Changes will mean the CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly to go after those who wilfully avoid their financial obligations to their children.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of young people entering the construction sector in Surrey Heath constituency.

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

The Government is committed to ensuring young people have access to high-quality technical education that leads to real job opportunities in construction. Earlier this year, we announced a £625 million investment to address skills shortages and support major national projects, including housing and clean energy.

This investment will expand construction courses in colleges and grow Skills Bootcamps - short, flexible courses designed for those starting out or looking to upskill. Foundation Apprenticeships in construction launched in August, providing a clear route into the industry, and additional Skills Bootcamps are now being delivered by local and national providers.

This package also created 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges across England.

The South East region’s designated Construction Technical Excellence College (CTEC) is North Kent College. As the regional hub, it supports a network of local providers across the South East - including Surrey Heath.

The package also funds more local placements and apprenticeships, giving learners practical experience close to home. Through these measures, we are creating strong pathways for young people, including those in Surrey Heath, to enter construction and build rewarding careers in a sector critical to the UK’s growth and Net Zero ambitions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet the plastics manufacturing industry to discuss upskilling and the training of existing employees.

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

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and ministers often meet with stakeholders regarding a range of matters. We are currently focusing our skills plans on the Government Priority sectors aligned to the industrial strategy which focuses on eight priority sectors.

We continue to engage with industry to support the upskilling and training of employees. The reforms set out in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper support adult skills training for industries across our economy through the Growth Skills Levy, which received an additional £725m of investment at Budget 2025, the Adult Skills Fund, and the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) which will be available from academic year 2026/27.

Government provides a range of support that can help employers develop their workforce including apprenticeships, the growth and skills levy and free courses for jobs. In addition, Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) and the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) can bring significant benefits to existing employees. HTQs can help employees move into higher-paying technical or managerial roles without needing a full degree. The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) allows employees to access funding for these courses flexibly over their lifetime, reducing financial barriers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish HSE enforcement data on illegal gas work, including (a) investigations, (b) prosecutions, (c) convictions, and (d) penalties imposed since 2020.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) which address the safe installation, maintenance, and use of gas systems, in commercial and domestic premises. These regulations require that no employer or self-employed person shall carry out gas work without Gas Safe Registration. HSE and Local Authorities regulate this through enforcement powers set under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.  Enforcement powers available to regulators include prosecution, prohibition notices and improvement notices.

HSE will apply the principles laid down in the Enforcement Policy Statement (EPS), Enforcement Management Model (EMM) and internal gas procedures to ensure that enforcement action is proportional to the health and safety risks and the seriousness of the breach.

HSE cannot review the level of criminal penalties for illegal gas cases. The Health and Safety Sentencing Guidelines are set by the Sentencing Council.  HSE and Local Authorities are the enforcing authorities under GSIUR and the police investigate homicide cases. Where a person dies because of illegal and/or poor-quality gas work; the police must decide whether a manslaughter offence has been committed, the priority given to the case is a matter for the investigating police force. Guidance is in place to support the HSE and Police in the event of a fatal gas incident though the Work-Related Death Protocol.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of gas jobs conducted annually by unqualified workers and (b) the proportion assessed as unsafe; and what proportion of unsafe gas works are linked to carbon monoxide leaks.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) which address the safe installation, maintenance, and use of gas systems, in commercial and domestic premises.  Under GSIUR, gas engineering businesses must be registered with the Gas Safe Register (GSR) to carry out work covered by the Regulations legally. GSR runs the approved registration scheme for gas engineers on behalf of HSE and, as part of its remit, it ensures that all registered engineers have the appropriate qualifications to conduct gas work, and it conducts investigations into illegal gas work.

HSE has not made an estimate of the number of gas jobs conducted annually by unqualified workers, but it does have statistics for HSE enforcement notices for work carried out by unregistered gas fitters and GSR investigations into unregistered gas work.

In 2024/2025, 522 site investigations were carried out into unregistered gas work and those investigations identified 4548 immediately dangerous, at risk or not to current standard defects which were attributed to unregistered fitters. HSE issued 44 prohibition notices in relation to unregistered gas work against 42 businesses.

HSE is unable to provide figures for the proportion of unsafe gas works that were linked to carbon monoxide.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) introducing a national inventory registrar for gas‑critical products and parts and (b) restricting access to those items to operatives holding Gas Safe Register accreditation.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 November 2025 to Question UIN 89028.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has plans for digital verification tools to confirm operative identity and competence at the point of purchase and installation of gas‑critical parts.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 November 2025 to Question UIN 89029.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people are not in education, employment or training because they are waiting for mental health, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism services or diagnosis.

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

Data is not available on the number of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) because they are waiting for mental health, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or autism services or diagnosis.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to support young people in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes into employment, education or training.

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

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

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

• Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
• Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.
• c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
• Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years. We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1,000 job starts in the first six months. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.
• Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.

The Growth and Skills Levy’s £725 million investment will deliver more apprenticeships for young people and help match skills training with local job opportunities. Young people will benefit from:

• increased access to training with full cost of apprenticeships at SME’s covered by Government.
• A new wave of foundation apprenticeships in sectors such as retail and hospitality sectors to get young people into work.
• Thousands more apprenticeship starts through a £140 million partnership with local leaders.

50,000 young people across the country will be better equipped for jobs of the future through a major investment to create more apprenticeships and training courses.

As this programme is across Great Britian, my hon. Friend will be assured that it will have an effect on his constituency.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the sustainability of prosthetics and orthotics apprenticeship provision in England; and what steps she is taking to support its continuation.

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

The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. We have worked with the health and care sector to design the Level 6 prosthetics and orthotics and Level 6 therapeutic radiography standards. These are approved for delivery and information about these standards, including funding bands, is published here and here.

Apprenticeship providers are independent bodies responsible for making their own decisions about which courses they deliver.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of therapeutic radiography apprenticeship provision; and what steps she is taking to support the long-term viability of those courses.

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

The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. We have worked with the health and care sector to design the Level 6 prosthetics and orthotics and Level 6 therapeutic radiography standards. These are approved for delivery and information about these standards, including funding bands, is published here and here.

Apprenticeship providers are independent bodies responsible for making their own decisions about which courses they deliver.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who have left or are at risk of leaving employment due to reductions in Access to Work awards upon renewal.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions does not collect data on the number of people who may have left or are at risk of leaving employment due to reductions in Access to Work awards upon renewal. Access to Work is only available to individuals who are starting or in employment, so this type of data is not recorded.

Customers who disagree with a renewal outcome may request a reconsideration of their award.

The Access to Work scheme supports disabled people start and stay in employment by providing tailored support based on individual needs.

In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of the Access to Work scheme. We are considering responses to the consultation and will set out our plans in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals have migrated from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit in the last 12 months.

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

The Department regularly publishes monthly Move to Universal Credit statistics, with the latest statistics available for July 2022 to end September 2025. The next publication on 17 February 2026 will include data up to and including December 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, within Crawley constituency in the most recent 12 months for which data is available, what is the total amount resulting from (a) deductions and (b) sanctions applied to Universal Credit claims.

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

a) Universal Credit deductions statistics are published quarterly with the latest figures available in table 6, row 365 in Universal Credit deductions statistics, September 2024 to August 2025, supplementary data tables, at Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 9 October 2025 - GOV.UK

b) The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Deductions policy in Universal Credit is to support customers by providing a repayment method for arrears of essential services, such as, housing, electricity, and gas and enable customers with a child maintenance liability meet their obligation to make child maintenance payments. The deductions policy also enables obligations, such as, paying Court Fines and Council Tax arrears to be enforced when other repayment methods have failed, or are not cost effective, and ensures that benefit debt is recovered in a cost-effective manner.

From April 2025 the Government introduced the Fair Repayment Rate which reduced the level of deduction taken from Universal Credit from 25% to 15%, and meant that 1.2m households retained on average £420 per year enabling these UC households to have more of their award to meet their day-to-day needs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households received more than £1,835 per month in benefits in the last period for which data is available.

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

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is an annual report that provides facts and figures about the incomes and living circumstances of households and families in the UK. The FRS uses a nationally representative sample of UK households and includes data on benefit receipt, at both individual and family levels.

The latest FRS is available for 2023/24 and, in the ‘Income and state support data tables’, Table 2.14a shows the number of benefit units in the UK by the total amount of annual state support received for that financial year, plus the two preceding years. This data is also available in the ‘FRS Family 2’ table in the ‘Family (Benefit Unit) Dataset’ on Stat-Xplore. Please read the notes which accompany these tables.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required. In addition there is also the FRS Stat-Xplore User Guide.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households have been assessed as qualifying for each exemption from the household benefit cap in each of the last 12 months.

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

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

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households are exempt from the household benefit cap because they meet the earnings rule.

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

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

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) Health and Safety Executive policy not to adopt new hazard classes in GB CLP unless agreed at the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of classification and labelling of chemicals (UN GHS) and (b) proposed legislative changes by HSE that would remove the statutory obligation on it to respond to new EU hazard classifications within a statutory timeframe on trade within the UK internal market.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently sought views on the application of a consistent UK-wide Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) regime as part of the Chemicals Legislative Reform Proposals consultation which took place from 23 June 2025 to 18 August 2025. This included seeking views on whether the adoption of EU CLP measures in GB, including the EU hazard classes, would be one way of minimising possible trade disruption in the UK Internal Market. The consultation response is expected to be published in early 2026 subject to ministerial approval and the responses received will be used to inform future work to deliver a consistent UK-wide CLP regime. In the meantime, the current GB CLP framework allows duty holders to self-classify against the new EU hazard classes and for HSE to evaluate proposals for substances covered by the EU hazard classes to be added to the GB Mandatory Classification and Labelling List on a case-by-case basis.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will implement the recommendations of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s 2025 report entitled Women’s state pension age: our findings for the Department for Work and Pensions’ communication of changes.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in his oral statement on 11 November 2025, we have decided to retake the decision made last December as it relates to the communications on state pension age.

The work is underway, and we will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to take steps to provide compensation to women impacted by changes to the state pension age.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in his oral statement on 11 November 2025, we have decided to retake the decision made last December as it relates to the communications on state pension age.

The work is underway, and we will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support employment businesses in verifying Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) eligibility in circumstances where agency workers may be registered at multiple agencies and claim SSP from each party.

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

Currently, agency workers can sign up to work for multiple agencies and, once they have done some work under that contract, are eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from each individual employer during periods of sickness absence. This will not change. Guidance on gov.uk already provides support to employers in verifying an employee’s eligibility to SSP.

The changes being made to SSP through the Employment Rights Act ensure that people who work through employment agencies and employment businesses have comparable rights and protections to their counterparts who are directly employed. The changes to SSP are limited and do not change the existing eligibility criteria beyond removing the waiting period and Lower Earnings Limit.

The Government intends to conduct a post-implementation review (PIR) of the Employment Rights Act within five years of implementation. The impact of the measures to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay will be monitored on employers and employees alike. This can include considering the impact on workers in the agency sector.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what their assessment is of the number of additional families and children who will be affected by the benefit cap as a result of its thresholds not being uprated from April 2026; and what its thresholds would be from April 2026 had they been uprated in line with the universal credit standard allowance since (1) 2016 when the current thresholds were set, and (2) 2023 when they were last uprated.

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

No assessment has been made of the number of additional families and children who will be affected by the benefit cap as a result of its thresholds not being uprated from April 2026.

The requested figures for thresholds uprated in line with the Universal Credit standard allowance are shown below. Note these are annual figures for 2026/27.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce additional pension protections to recognise periods of unpaid childcare, to mitigate the long-term pension disparities faced by women arising from maternity leave and reduced earnings.

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

The new State Pension, introduced in 2016, addresses historically poorer outcomes for women, low earners and self-employed people. This means, on average, women on the new State Pension are receiving almost £20 more per week than those on the pre-2016 system. That is around 98% of the amount received by men (the average for women under the pre-2016 system is 86%).

There are a wide range of National Insurance credits available to support a diverse range of people to build up entitlement to a State Pension, including credits linked to the provision of care for children (under 12).

Automatic Enrolment has succeeded in transforming workplace pension participation rates, in particular for women. We have seen participation rates amongst eligible women in the private sector now equal with those for men.

However, significant gaps remain, both in terms of pension participation and wealth. That is why we revived the Pension Commission, to consider what is required in the long term to deliver a pensions framework that is stronger, fairer and more sustainable. This will include exploring how to improve retirement outcomes, including for women, and those on the lowest incomes and at the greatest risk of poverty or under-saving.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment it has made of the level of investments by open UK defined benefit schemes, including the Parliamentary Pension Scheme, into UK equities.

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

Private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes which are open to new members allocate 42% of their assets to equities. However, this is not broken down by UK equities. See the PPF Purple Book for further detail: https://www.ppf.co.uk/-/media/PPF-Website/Public/Purple-Book-Data-2025/Pension-Protection-Fund-Purple-Book-2025-accessible.pdf

Public sector DB pension schemes are estimated to allocate around 9% of their assets to listed UK equities. See the Pension Policy Institute’s 2025 “Pension scheme assets” report: https://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/media/i2cgonin/20250604-pension-scheme-assets-2025-final.pdf

The scheme trustees are responsible for the investment strategy of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund and information on asset allocation is published in the scheme’s Annual Report and Accounts. These are published on the website of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority www.theipsa.org.uk/annual-reports.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from the Welsh Government concerning Allied Steel and Wire pensioners; and what response they have made.

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

A significant number of Welsh Government ministers have written to the Minister for Pensions regarding Allied Steel and Wire pensioners or raised the issue orally.

Partly in response to Welsh Government representations, Budget 2025 announced that the UK Government will introduce increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme that relate to pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These will be CPI-linked (capped at 2.5%) and apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward) for members, including Allied Steel and Wire pensioners, whose former schemes provided for these increases.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many households out of the total affected by the decision to end the two-child benefit cap will still experience a reduction in universal credit because of the overall benefit cap; and how many households affected will not experience any financial gain.

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

The requested information is internal analysis that is being quality assured to official statistics level. Plans to publish this in due course are ongoing.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the past twelve months, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct.

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

As of 30 November 2025, the current figure for disciplinary cases stands at 1,342, covering the period from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025. This total includes both concluded and ongoing cases. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a more detailed breakdown beyond this level.

Regarding information about the Department’s agencies, Skills England is being transferred to DWP, however, some functions, including HR, are still being covered by the Department for Education, therefore DWP does not hold this data.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) the Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.

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

DWP’s absence data is publicly available in the https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence., which includes the average working days lost. The Cabinet Office collates sickness absence data from DWP on a quarterly basis, and this management information is published annually.

Data for the year ending 31st March 2025 was published on 16th December 2025.

In the past year, 1,649 formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absences exceeded departmental triggers. However, because of the way data are recorded, the Department cannot confirm whether in each case the warning was specifically due to absences exceeding those triggers. As of November 2025, the total DWP headcount stands at 95,164.

DWP has one executive agency, Skills England however their HR functions is provided by Department for Education, therefore sick absence data for Skills England will not be included DWP figures.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households received benefit payments above the level of the household benefit cap in each of the last 12 months.

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

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

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households on Universal Credit have a combined income between £831 and £861 a month after tax and national insurance contributions, broken down by those who are (a) employed and (b) self-employed.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households returned to the benefit cap because of the loss of an exempting benefit other than PIP during (a) the quarter to August 2025, (b) the quarter to May 2025, (c) the quarter to February 2025 and (d) the quarter to November 2024.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households returned to the benefit cap because of the loss of PIP during (a) the quarter to August 2025, b) the quarter to May 2025, (c) the quarter to February 2025 and (d) the quarter to November 2024.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with employer representatives regarding barriers that prevent businesses from offering apprenticeships, and what support is being put in place to address them.

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

The government engages regularly with employers and their representative organisations to understand and address barriers to offering apprenticeships, as well as to inform the ongoing development of the growth and skills offer.

In addition, Skills England engaged with over 700 employers and other key organisations between November and December 2024 to establish initial views on what priority training should be accessible through the growth and skills offer. It summarised the findings of this analysis and engagement in its Skills for Growth and Opportunity report published in June.

To deliver the greater flexibility which employers have called for, this government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer. In August we introduced new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. From April 2026, we will introduce new short courses as part of the growth and skills offer in critical skills areas such as artificial intelligence, digital and engineering. Further detail on the offer will be set out in due course.

Additionally, from the next academic year, the government will fully fund apprenticeships for non-levy paying employers, essentially small and medium sized enterprises, for all eligible people aged under 25. This change will make it easier for smaller employers to engage with apprenticeships by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers.

The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England through nine regional networks which provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce youth unemployment.

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

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

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

• Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
• Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.
• c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
• Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years.
• Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances).

The £725 million package of reforms to the apprenticeship system will help to tackle youth unemployment and drive economic growth with thousands more young people expected to benefit over the next 3 years. This will include funded SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25, and £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the apprenticeship budget for the Department for Education in 2024–25; what proportion of that budget was spent in total; and what proportion was spent on (1) training for apprenticeships with levy-paying employers, (2) training for apprenticeships with non-levy-paying employers, and (3) other activities.

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

In the 2024-25 financial year, the English apprenticeships budget was fully spent.

The following table provides a breakdown of total spend for the 2024-25 financial year, including the proportion of total spend on training for apprenticeships with levy paying employers and training for apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers in England.

In addition, the table reflects the spend on apprenticeships that started prior to the introduction of the apprenticeships levy and new funding system, as well as non-apprenticeships participation spend, such as the cost of running digital services and marketing and communications campaigns.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received the following payment per customer under the Access to Work scheme – a) £0 - £9,999 b) £10,000 - £19,999 c) £20,000 – £29,999 d) £30,000 – £39,999 e) £40,000 - £49,999 f) £50,000 - £59,999 g) £60,000 - £69,999 h) above £70,000.

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

The table below shows the number of people who received total payment values within each specified band during the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years. The figures refer to individuals who received any Access to Work provision.

The figures do not sum to the total due to rounding.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many civil servants in his Department are working on the Access to Work Scheme.

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

The Full Time Equivalent number of staff working on the Access to Work Scheme is currently 540.

Notes:

• The Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figure supplied is as at October 2025. This is the most up to date Data held.
• The number Access to Work scheme staff has been derived from DWP's Activity Based Model (ABM). This model gives an estimated FTE based on a point in time estimate by Line Managers, as recorded on our internal systems each month.
• This total represents all aspects of AtW delivery, including case maintenance, decision making, telephony, and associated management
• Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 FTE.
• The number of staff employed is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s current forecast is for its staffing requirements in benefit processing centres for the next financial year.

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

The Department continually impacts and assesses the service being offered to customers. Staff numbers are reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the latest economic and benefit forecasts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households have (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more individuals in receipt of Carer’s Allowance.

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

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

Published information on the number of people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance using DWP administrative data, and information on benefit receipt on a household and benefit unit basis is available through the Family Resources Survey (FRS), is available on Stat-Xplore.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access

guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also Family Resources Survey data on Stat-Xplore: user guide available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the causes of the increase in Universal Credit claimants who are not required to work; and what steps he is taking to reduce the number of Universal Credit claimants who are not required to work.

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

The vast majority of the increase in the UC Health caseload is because the decision was taken by the last government to move sick and disabled people from Employment and Support Allowance onto Universal Credit at scale - a transition we inherited, along with a system where the incentives were wrong and health claims had been growing since 2019.

We’re determined to fix the broken system we inherited and are removing the financial incentives in Universal Credit that discourage work, and we have redeployed 1,000 work coaches to help thousands of sick and disabled people who were previously left without contact for years.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing departmental staff in the last year.

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

This information is available in DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25: DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 25

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Access to Work scheme on the economy and society.

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

Access to Work (AtW) is a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant which supports the recruitment and retention of disabled people in employment. The Scheme has been providing support for over 30 years.

In 2024-2025, 74,190 people received a payment for an Access to Work provision. This is around a 10% increase when compared to 2023/24. Expenditure on Access to Work provision was around £320.7 million.

We recognise that Access to Work is providing a poor experience for some applicants with processing delays affecting employees’ ability to start or continue in employment, and employers’ ability to support them.

That is why in the Pathways to Work green paper, we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to reform the Motability scheme.

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

The government announced a package of reforms to the Motability Scheme which will ensure the scheme delivers value for money for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people. Full details were set out in the budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of heritage skills training to support employment and regeneration in rural and post-industrial areas.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 November 2025 to PQ 89153 regarding investment in skills to support technical routes and work-based learning in England, including heritage skills training. At Budget, the Government announced a package of £725 million additional investment to deliver the next phase of the Growth and Skills Levy in England.

The Government recognises the importance of skills training to supporting employment, including in rural and post-industrial areas. As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department are permitted to undertake diversity-related network time during core working hours; and what proportion of overall working time are they permitted to spend on such network activity.

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

DWP is transitioning its EDI Networks in line with the new Cabinet Office Guidance.

Currently in DWP we have 8 Departmental EDI Networks. Each Network has 2 co-chairs who receive 25% time allowance and up to 10 committee members who receive 10%. When all roles are occupied (which is not the case currently) this equates to 12FTE. As of November 2025 DWP has an FTE of 84,699, so this equates to around 0.01% of working time.

From April 2026, DWP will still have 8 Departmental EDI Networks. Each Network will have 2 co-chairs who receive 10% time allowance and up to 5 committee members who also receive 10%. EDI Community Network Chairs (of which we have 14) will also receive a 10% time allowance. If all roles are filled this will equate to 7FTE, a reduction of 5FTE.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average time between a Child Maintenance Service complaint being received by the Independent Case Examiner and the issuing of a final decision.

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

As of 31 October 2025, Child Maintenance Service (CMS) cases in investigation waited an average of 25 weeks from the date they were received by the Independent Case Examiner’s office to the date they were allocated to an Investigator. This is a significant improvement compared to January 2024, when CMS cases in investigation had waited an average of 66 weeks from receipt date to the date they were allocated to an Investigator. The Independent Case Examiner’s office continually seeks to improve this further.

In CMS cases cleared between 01/04/25 – 31/10/25, it took an average of 33 weeks from the date complaints were received into the Independent Case Examiners office to the date a decision was made and issued. The 33 weeks is made up of 25 weeks awaiting allocation to an Investigator and 8 weeks in investigation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employers who (a) pay and (b) do not pay the apprenticeship levy started new learners on apprenticeship programmes in 2024-25.

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

Employers start and manage apprenticeships through their apprenticeship service accounts. Employers may have more than one apprenticeship service account for their business.

In the 2024/25 academic year, 13,829 levy accounts and 58,628 non-levy accounts had apprenticeship starts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average time between a Child Maintenance Service complaint being received by the Independent Case Examiner and its allocation to an investigator.

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

As of 31 October 2025, Child Maintenance Service (CMS) cases in investigation waited an average of 25 weeks from the date they were received by the Independent Case Examiner’s office to the date they were allocated to an Investigator. This is a significant improvement compared to January 2024, when CMS cases in investigation had waited an average of 66 weeks from receipt date to the date they were allocated to an Investigator. The Independent Case Examiner’s office continually seeks to improve this further.

In CMS cases cleared between 01/04/25 – 31/10/25, it took an average of 33 weeks from the date complaints were received into the Independent Case Examiners office to the date a decision was made and issued. The 33 weeks is made up of 25 weeks awaiting allocation to an Investigator and 8 weeks in investigation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how people will access professional careers advice within the new Jobs and Careers Service.

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

We are committed to continuing the delivery of high quality, impartial careers advice in the new Jobs and Careers Service through professionally qualified careers advisers and recognise that their expertise is essential to enabling the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity and to drive economic growth. We will ensure that anyone will be able to access support, including through the channel that best meets their needs.

In spring 2026, we will publish a report setting out more detail on how we will deliver the new Jobs and Careers Service. This report will bring together the evidence available and show how it has informed, and will continue to inform, the design and development of the new service. We will set out how we will focus on providing genuine, personalised employment support and careers advice, along with a clear outline of the support that people might expect to receive under the new service.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the a) gender and b) demographic breakdown of people aged 16-24 not in education, employment and training.

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

The Department for Education (DfE) publishes statistics on those aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24 . In this release, estimates of the number and proportion of young people who are NEET by sex and age group are available and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f4e23f94-bfd1-4bcc-49c0-08de398c3998

This release also provides information on young people aged 16-24 who are NEET by health characteristics using the annual population survey (APS). The following link provides the latest data on the proportions of NEET young people aged 16-24 who have recorded a specific health condition, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2d152296-fc61-4e6c-b1be-08de39895a0e

The Office for National Statistics publish NEET estimates from the LFS for the UK broken down by age group and sex, and can be found here: Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK - Office for National Statistics

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many supported exempt accommodation housing benefit claims in Birmingham during 2024-25 were referred to the Single Fraud Investigation Service; how many of these claims led to an investigation; how many of these investigations found evidence of fraudulent activity by providers of supported exempt accommodation in receipt of direct payment of housing benefit; what actions were taken against providers found guilty of fraudulent activity; how many of these investigations found evidence of fraudulent activity by tenants of supported exempt accommodation; and what actions were taken against tenants found guilty of fraudulent activity.

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

Referrals of suspected fraud received by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) are recorded under generalised categories for data reporting purposes, and it is not possible to specifically isolate the volume of referrals relating to supported exempt accommodation. Where the DWP feels there is sufficient evidence of benefit fraud in any case, the DWP will refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for Scotland) to consider prosecution. We cannot comment on any on-going investigations, however the DWP will continue to work closely with other Government agencies and Local Authorities to tackle abuse of the Housing Benefit system.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review the definition of income used in the Child Maintenance Service 2012 Scheme to ensure that it includes income derived from (a) investments, (b) dividends, (c) rental income, (d) director’s loans and (e) other company-based income arrangements.

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

A review of the child maintenance calculation is currently underway. As part of this work, my Department has already announced plans to include gross unearned income automatically within the calculation, removing the need for either parent to request a variation in order to have this income included within their calculation.

Gross unearned income, as envisaged, will include taxable income from investments, dividends and rental property recorded by HMRC for the individual. Income taken through other company-based arrangements, such as a director’s loans, will continue to be considered under existing diversion of income powers where appropriate. Implementation of the changes to unearned income will be taken forward once the consultation has concluded.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households where (a) Pension Credit and (b) Housing Benefit is claimed receive additional consideration due to there being a polygamous marriage.

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

Since 1988 rules have been in place under successive governments which limit access to benefits for people in polygamous marriages to those who were married in a country which allows such marriages. Any polygamous relationship formed in the United Kingdom is excluded by these rules and the second or subsequent partner is treated as a non-dependant. People in polygamous relationships where they are not married to the other members of the relationship are also excluded by these rules.

Where a claimant is allowed to claim benefits as part of a polygamous marriage their benefit entitlement is based on the standard amount for couples, plus an amount for each additional partner calculated as the difference between the standard amount for a couple and the standard amount for a single person. There is no financial benefit to someone claiming as part of a polygamous marriage as more would be paid in benefits if the additional person claimed as a single person.

The Pension Credit information that has been requested is not held by the Department. Based off the most recent published data (August 2025) from the Housing Benefit Single Housing Extract (SHBE), there are fewer than ten households where the claimant is recorded as having more than one partner. This has been used as a proxy for polygamous marriage.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the number of young people who are on incapacity benefits due to mental health, categorised by mental health condition, in each of the past five years.

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

For Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC), the specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Information on the volume of 18- to 24-year-old ESA claimants with main disabling condition ‘mental and behavioural’ disorders is held and is provided below. Note that Income-related ESA has not been available to new claimants since January 2021 as this benefit is being replaced by UC.

ESA 18 -24-year-old caseload with main disabling condition ‘mental and behavioural disorders’ by year:

• All figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
• New Style ESA is a contributory benefit. Normally, it is only available to those who have been paid or been credited with enough National Insurance contributions in the 2 full tax years before the year they are claiming in.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the overall cost of removing the two-child benefit cap, and (2) what percentage of that cost will be spent on foreign-born children.

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

1. Removal of the two-child limit policy costs £2.3 billion in 2026- 27 and £3.0 billion in 2029-30 as set out in table 3.2 of the Economic and fiscal outlook (November 2025) published by the Office for Budget Responsibility, on 26 November 2025. EFOs - Office for Budget Responsibility

https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_November_2025.pdf

Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit

2. Universal Credit is primarily reserved for people settled in the UK, and overall, the proportion of claimants in this country who are foreign nationals has fallen since October 2024.

We have announced plans to double the standard time most migrants have to wait before they can access benefits to 10 years, reducing the burden on the taxpayer and making sure settlement rights are earned.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of departmental staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.

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

DWP’s performance management policy utilises a team-based approach. The policy requires the performance of every employee to be robustly assessed on an ongoing basis. However, the approach does not involve employees below the Senior Civil Service being assigned a performance rating. Consequently, we are unable to provide data on employees rated in a top performance category.

For Senior Civil Servants (SCS) there are four performance ratings available within the Performance management framework for the Senior Civil Service: Exceeding, High Performing, Achieving and Partially Met. In 2024-25, the DWP Pay Committee agreed to use three of the four performance ratings available for SCS1 and SCS2s, and the ‘top’ performers were recorded as high performing. Exceeding was used for SCS3s / Director Generals (DGs), following instruction from the Senior Leadership Committee for Director General performance management which set specific criteria for the assessment of DGs to improve consistency between departments. The number and proportion of SCS in each grade rated in the top performance categories for 2024-25 was as follows:

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the comments by Baroness Sherlock comments in reply to Lord Hunt of Wirral in the House on 18 December, whether the independent investigation into rising youth inactivity will look at incentives, in particular earnings relative to benefits and the effect of rises in the minimum wage on the attractiveness of employing young people.

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

The Young People and Work Report will take a holistic view to identify any and all of the factors that may be driving the increase in the number of young people who are not in education, employment, or training.

The Report’s Call for Evidence, launched on 16 December, is seeking evidence and insight to answer two questions:

1. What is stopping more young people from participating in employment, education or training?
2. What would make the biggest difference to support more young people to participate?

In answering these questions, the report’s Call for Evidence has asked for insight and evidence on a range of potential factors, including:

• The benefits and employment support systems
• The changing nature of the labour market and work,
• Any changes in the aspirations and attitudes of young people and employers

The Right Honourable Alan Milburn will author the report. He will share his interim findings with Government in Spring 2026, with final recommendations in Summer 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many fraud and error reviews under the Housing Benefit Award Accuracy Initiative were carried out during 2024-25 for supported exempt accommodation housing benefit claims in Birmingham; and what proportion of all claims in Birmingham were these reviews.

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

14,000 supported exempt Housing Benefit claims in Birmingham were subject to an Housing Benefit Award Accuracy 'full case review' in 2024/25. This represents 15% of all Housing Benefit claims in Birmingham over the period.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the forthcoming review of disability support will include the needs of people with colour-vision deficiency; and whether he will assess low-cost steps to improve accessibility for people with red/green colour-blindness.

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

The overarching aims and scope of the Timms Review are set out in its Terms of Reference, which are available on GOV.UK.

The Review will consider the role of PIP in enabling disabled people to live independently; whether the assessment criteria effectively capture the impact of long-term health conditions and disability in the modern world; and whether any other evidence should be considered as part of the assessment. It will also look at how the assessment could ensure people access the right support at the right level.

It will be for the Review’s steering group, once in place, to set the Review’s strategic direction, priorities and workplan. Following an open and accessible expression of interest process, which ran from 30 October to 30 November, we are in the process of shortlisting candidates and will provide an update shortly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Child Maintenance Service safeguarding procedures for parents who have experienced domestic abuse; and whether changes have been made to those procedures recently.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the issue of domestic abuse very seriously and is committed to ensuring victims and survivors of abuse get the help and support they need to use the CMS safely.

The CMS has substantially strengthened its procedures and processes to support customers who are experiencing domestic abuse. They will not be complacent and will always look at ways to go even further.

The CMS has refreshed its approach and understanding of domestic abuse to include financial and coercive control and better awareness of how abuse affects all genders.

A programme of refresher training has been underway for all existing CMS colleagues during 2025.

The CMS has access to resources which help caseworkers provide signposting to supporting organisations, and a Domestic Abuse Plan which includes clear steps to follow in order to support customers who are experiencing abuse. The list of resources and Domestic Abuse Plan are regularly reviewed.

As well as the Domestic Abuse Plan, the CMS responds to cases involving domestic abuse in several ways, including by acting as an intermediary in Direct Pay cases, and providing advice on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code to limit the risk of a parent’s location being traced.

There is a specialist team in CMS who deliver targeted support to parents subject to the most challenging and complex domestic abuse.

We have implemented a more efficient process to move a case to collect and pay when the receiving parent reports missed payments.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the annual collection rate is for child maintenance under (a) Collect and Pay and (b) Direct Pay.

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

The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025. Table 4 and Table 5 of the accompanying National tables provide information on the amount of child maintenance that should have been paid through Direct Pay and Collect and Pay arrangements, as well as the amounts that remain unpaid under each method.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether as part of the Timms review ministers will consult Social Security Scotland and look at how assessments and reassessments are carried out.

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

We engage closely with officials and disability stakeholders from across the devolved governments, including the Scottish Government, to ensure the Timms Review is informed by diverse approaches to disability support from across the United Kingdom.

The Review’s Terms of Reference, which set out its scope, include an explicit reference to re-assessments to recognise that PIP must be fair and fit for new and existing claimants. You can view the Terms of Reference on GOV.UK.

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 Child Maintenance Service delays and errors on child poverty levels and low-income households.

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

We know that children in separated families are poorer and more likely to live in poverty than those in non-separated families. Child maintenance payments through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements keep approximately 120,000 children out of poverty each year.

The Department legally relies on data from HM Revenue & Customs and its own benefits data to assess 90% of paying parents earned income and benefit status, which are key parts of the maintenance calculation and maintains a stable accuracy rate of 99.5%

CMS undertake regular quality assurance checks and continually monitors processes to identify improvements.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children are included in Child Maintenance Service cases in which the paying parent has been subject to three or more separate enforcement actions for non payment.

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

The information requested on the number of children in Child Maintenance Service cases which have been subject to three or more separate enforcement actions is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases in each of the last five years have had a safeguarding flag applied due to domestic abuse concerns; and how many of those cases involved Collect and Pay arrangements.

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

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

The Child Maintenance Serviced (CMS) takes the issue of domestic abuse very seriously and is committed to ensuring victims and survivors of abuse get the help and support they need to use the CMS safely.

CMS caseworkers are provided with domestic abuse training to ensure they understand, recognise and respond safely and appropriately to customers who are experiencing domestic abuse, or are survivors of domestic abuse. A programme of refresher training has been underway for all existing CMS colleagues during 2025.

There is a specialist team in place in CMS who deliver targeted support to parents subject to the most challenging and complex domestic abuse.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential disparity in treatment between members of private sector defined benefit pension schemes and members of the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme following the introduction of indexation for pre-1997 service.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has brought forward legislation to introduce increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme that relate to pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These will be CPI-linked (capped at 2.5%) and apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward). This will only apply for members whose former schemes provided for these increases and will therefore create greater equality between private sector defined benefit pension schemes who provide pre-97 indexation and members of the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme who had this feature in their original pension.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made as to the (a) merits of and (b) funding for retrospective indexation arrangements for all pre 1997 pensions scheme members.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Most defined benefit schemes pay some indexation on pensions earned before 1997. The Government recognises that the absence of indexation on pre-1997 rights in pension schemes can erode the value of pensions over time and affect members who rely on these benefits in retirement.

Reforms in our Pension Schemes Bill will enable more trustees of well-funded defined benefit pension schemes to share surplus with employers, deliver better outcomes for members, and benefit the wider economy. As part of any agreement to release surplus funds to the employer, trustees will be better placed to negotiate additional benefits for members, including discretionary indexation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December to Question 96308 on State Retirement Pensions, if he will publish a timeline for the Pensions Commission's work.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Pensions Commission is expected to publish its final report in the first half of 2027.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many professionally qualified Level 6 and 7 careers advisers the National Careers Service employs; and how this number will change under the planned new Jobs and Careers Service.

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

Accurate information on the number of level 6 and 7 qualified careers advisers employed by the National Careers Service is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Following a Written Ministerial Statement made on 16th September 2025 (HCWS930), responsibility for adult skills in England transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The current National Careers Service contracts with the Department for Education (DfE) are due to expire on 30th September 2026 and adult careers advice will be brought in house to DWP from 1st October 2026.

The implications of this change in service arrangements will be worked through carefully with the relevant organisations, and where the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) TUPE Regulations apply, they will be followed.

Consequently, we will not know the number of level 6 and 7 advisers under the new Jobs and Careers Service until the process is complete and the new service starts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of PwC’s Youth Employment Index, particularly the finding that the United Kingdom has fallen four places to rank 27th out of 38 for youth employment outcomes among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries.

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

The Government has reviewed the PWC Youth Employment Index report. With 1 in 8 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), the number of young people who are NEET has been rising too long. At Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

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

Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up.

Further Expanding Youth Hubs: We are establishing Youth Hubs in over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.

Creating c300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training: We will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers, including the number of our Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.

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

Preventing young people from becoming NEET: We are making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better NEETs data sharing, further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school—often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances).

This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn. To make sure young people move smoothly from school into post-16 education or training, we are working with schools to improve support for transitions and piloting automatic enrolment at Further Education providers for those without a confirmed place. This will make it easier for young people to stay on in education and succeed later in life.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding in PwC’s Youth Employment Index that the youth-to-adult unemployment ratio in the United Kingdom is now the highest on record across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

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

The Government has reviewed the PWC Youth Employment Index report. With 1 in 8 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), the number of young people who are NEET has been rising too long. At Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

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

Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up.

Further Expanding Youth Hubs: We are establishing Youth Hubs in over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.

Creating c300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training: We will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers, including the number of our Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.

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

Preventing young people from becoming NEET: We are making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better NEETs data sharing, further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school—often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances).

This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn. To make sure young people move smoothly from school into post-16 education or training, we are working with schools to improve support for transitions and piloting automatic enrolment at Further Education providers for those without a confirmed place. This will make it easier for young people to stay on in education and succeed later in life.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in response to the findings of PwC’s Youth Employment Index to strengthen school-to-work and university-to-work transitions for young people.

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

The Government has reviewed the PWC Youth Employment Index report. With 1 in 8 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), the number of young people who are NEET has been rising too long. At Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

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

Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up.

Further Expanding Youth Hubs: We are establishing Youth Hubs in over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.

Creating c300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training: We will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers, including the number of our Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.

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

Preventing young people from becoming NEET: We are making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better NEETs data sharing, further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school—often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances).

This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn. To make sure young people move smoothly from school into post-16 education or training, we are working with schools to improve support for transitions and piloting automatic enrolment at Further Education providers for those without a confirmed place. This will make it easier for young people to stay on in education and succeed later in life.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times and improve contact accessibility for Child Maintenance Service users in Winchester constituency.

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

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to improving accessibility and customer experience for all users, including those in the Winchester constituency. The Department recognises that call waiting times and contact routes have not always met expected standards and has taken steps to address this.

CMS has implemented the Digital Assist Telephony Service to support customers to use online services and reduce avoidable call demand.

CMS has invested in enhanced telephony routing to prioritise vulnerable customers and direct callers to the right support quickly, with additional operational capacity deployed when required to maintain service levels. CMS has extended weekday telephony hours to 6pm to meet demand.

CMS has expanded digital self-service, including Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance (GHACM) and My Child Maintenance Case (online account), which provide 24/7 access for parents to manage their case without needing to call, improving accessibility and offering greater flexibility on how and when customers make contact. Communication has been further improved through the introduction of online messaging for specific processes, with further expansion planned.

By promoting self-service options online and efficient call routing, we have freed up valuable resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. These measures are delivering progresses.

The Department will continue to monitor performance and invest in further improvements to ensure customers receive timely, high-quality support through the channels that best meet their needs and remains committed to providing a reliable, fair and responsive service for all parents across the country.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 79779 on the Timms Review, when he will provide more details on the membership of the steering group overseeing the review and planned next steps in the process.

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

On 18 December, the Timms Review’s co-chairs provided an update on the work of the Review, including recruitment of the steering group and next steps. You can find this update on GOV.UK via the following link: The Timms Review: Co-Chair Update, December 2025 - GOV.UK.

We will continue to publish updates on GOV.UK as the Review progresses.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was receiving Universal Credit with limited capability for work and work-related activity during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.

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

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025.

Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

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

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was PIP during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.

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

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025.

Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

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

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.

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

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025.

Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

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

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,how many households include (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more people in receipt of Carer’s Element in the latest period for which data is available.

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

There is a maximum of two claimants on a Universal Credit (UC) claim therefore there cannot be 3 or more claimants on the UC claim being attributed with the carer’s element.

a) In August 2025, 1,045,000 UC households had the UC carer's element of £201.68 for one claimant.

b) In August 2025, 37,000 UC households had the UC carer's element of two lots of £201.68 – one attributed to each claimant on a joint claim.

Notes:

1. Figures are for GB.
2. Figures relate to UC claims with an assessment period covering the 2nd Thursday of the month.
3. Figures are rounded to nearest 1,000.
4. Nil award claims are not included. However, some UC claims will have been reduced for adjusting factors such as capital, earnings and other income.
5. Household in this definition is a single person or couple living together, and any child dependants. This may also be known as a benefit unit.

We call on the Government to reduce the Pension age for night shift workers who have worked night shifts for 15 years or more. The recommended reduction in pension age would be by 5 years for men and women.

Stop the deduction of Carers Allowance from the carers Universal Credit award, it shouldn’t be treated as an income.

We ask Government to deliver a fair, timely, fully transparent apology that reflects ALL evidence based on what we think constitutes maladministration and discrimination; and addresses the financial, emotional and personal hardship experienced by 1950s women caused by pension changes.

The “Polkey deduction” lets tribunals reduce compensation for unfair dismissal by estimating the chance an employee would have been dismissed even if a fair process had been followed. We think this undermines the statutory right to a fair procedure and rewards employers who bypass due process.

Introduce universal, publicly-funded day care for children, including meals. This could support early development, ensure nutrition standards for children, reduce pressure on families, improve workforce participation for parents and strengthen the economy and productivity.

We call on the Government to change child benefits payments so it’s shared between the parents who share 50/50 custody.

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Found: Council relating to Free home care Correspondence with the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions

Found: Q19 Harriet Cross: Ms Stevenson, can we talk a wee bit more about the DWP and its involvement?

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the financial impact of brain tumours on people with brain tumours.

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

The Government recognises the importance of sufficient support for cancer patients, including those with brain tumours. NHS England has committed to ensuring that every person diagnosed with cancer has access to personalised care. This includes needs assessments, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support. Through the provision of information, personalised care empowers people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. This approach ensures that each person’s care is planned holistically, covering mental and physical health, as well as any practical or financial concerns.

The National Health Service in England runs schemes 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. This includes the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), which provides financial assistance to patients 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 who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met, including to those on low incomes to access cancer treatments and appropriate care.

The National Cancer Plan will be published in the new year. It will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including those with brain tumours.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support people with brain tumours.

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

The Government recognises the importance of sufficient support for cancer patients, including those with brain tumours. NHS England has committed to ensuring that every person diagnosed with cancer has access to personalised care. This includes needs assessments, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support. Through the provision of information, personalised care empowers people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. This approach ensures that each person’s care is planned holistically, covering mental and physical health, as well as any practical or financial concerns.

The National Health Service in England runs schemes 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. This includes the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), which provides financial assistance to patients 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 who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met, including to those on low incomes to access cancer treatments and appropriate care.

The National Cancer Plan will be published in the new year. It will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including those with brain tumours.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of financial barriers on people who wish to train as commercial airline pilots.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This government works closely with industry to address financial barriers to pilot training and to support the growth of a diverse aviation workforce, including through the Aviation Industry Skills Board. This area is a priority, not only for my department, but also the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Work and Pensions and Skills England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of the potential impact of Long Covid on levels of (a) employment and (b) long-term sickness.

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

The Government understands the scale of the issue at hand, particularly the impact of long COVID on employment and the economy.

We are committed to ensuring that those with long COVID have timely access to a diagnosis and appropriate treatment and services, as well as workplace support.

Across the National Health Service in England, there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome, also known as long COVID. These services offer physical, cognitive, and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation. People with long COVID symptoms should see their general practitioner, who will be able to refer them to services depending on their clinical needs.

The role of the health and care system in improving population health and in preventing health issues from becoming work issues is crucial to achieving the 80% employment rate and reducing the disability employment gap.

We have a range of initiatives that integrate health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, and WorkWell, as well as support through the Department for Work and Pensions from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.

The NHS 10-Year Health Plan builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising that good work is good for health. The plan also states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 12-month period insurance firms require for terminal illness benefits to be paid, and in particular whether that requirement meets the needs of terminally ill people.

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

In England, the term ‘end-of-life care’ refers to the care given to those identified as likely to be in the last 12 months of their life.

Under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consumer duty, insurers must ensure that their products and claims processes deliver good outcomes for consumers. This includes those relating to terminal illness benefits. In October 2023, the FCA published a review of insurance companies’ approaches to terminal illness benefits, which is available on the FCA's website.

The findings from the review did not suggest that insurance firms are routinely delivering poor customer outcomes for terminal illness benefits. The review considered the requirement for a 12-month prognosis of death. The FCA concluded that it’s not clear that overall outcomes would be better for customers if insurers implemented a different time frame for the prognosis, for instance if policies required a diagnosis that the insured was likely to die within six months or 24 months, rather than 12 months. If the 12-month period was extended, it’s possible insurers would increase premiums to reflect increased risk. The FCA believes that insurance firms should be able to set their own policy terms by taking into account policy costs and the level of cover offered. The FCA suggested best practice was not to assume the 12-month requirement is appropriate without evidence that it meets customer needs.

The Government continues to monitor the FCA’s work in this area and supports its efforts to ensure that insurance products and claims processes meet the needs of terminally ill people.

The Department for Work and Pensions supports people nearing the end of life through the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). This enables people who are likely to have less than 12 months to live to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment or serve waiting periods. In most cases, they receive the highest rate of benefit. SREL applies to five key benefits that support people with health conditions or disabilities: Personal Independence Payment; Disability Living Allowance; Attendance Allowance; Universal Credit; and Employment and Support Allowance.

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Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that all eligible recipients of the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will receive payments in 2025-26.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will support at least 880,000 pensioners with their heating bills this winter.

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Found: investigation were clear and unequivocal in this respect - maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions