Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against his Department for (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Year Received | Unfair Dismissal Only | Equality Act Only | UD AND EA | Total |
2022 | 6 | 76 | 20 | 102 |
2023 | 7 | 77 | 15 | 99 |
2024 | 11 | 91 | 15 | 117 |
2025 | 8 | 68 | 19 | 95 |
Total | 32 | 312 | 69 | 413 |
Notes: data for 2020 and 2021 is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on social media advertising by (a) influencer and (b) organisation in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2025 to PQ 81251.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
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 importance of furniture provision as an element of the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will be working closely with local authorities and external stakeholders on the detailed design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund and we will issue further information on our planned approach in due course.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference disabled people migrating to Universal Credit from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), for what reason income that was disregarded for the purposes of ESA is considered to be income for the purposes of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit was not designed to replicate previous legacy benefits. Therefore, customers migrating to Universal Credit may be subject to different rules, including different treatment of income and how it is disregarded in assessing their benefit entitlement.
Those moving from Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA(IR)) through the managed migration process will be assessed for Transitional Protection. Where benefit entitlement on claiming Universal Credit is lower than previous entitlement to ESA(IR), a Transitional Protection element will be applied. This element is determined prior to the application of any deductions. This ensures customers do not experience a reduction in their overall entitlement at the point of migration. However, the calculation does not replicate all legacy benefit rules, so previous disregards such as the permitted earnings disregard in ESA(IR), will not be applied on claiming Universal Credit.
Instead, customers who have limited capability for work qualify for a work allowance – the amount they can earn before the UC award starts to be reduced. The current monthly work allowances are:
Beyond the work allowance, we apply a single taper rate of 55% to net earnings. This means that for every £1 earned, customers keep 45p, helping them see a clear financial benefit from working.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has held discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the continuation of the two-child benefit cap on the (a) physical and (b) mental health of children in families affected by the cap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is determined to bring down child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is a member of the Taskforce, which is co-chaired by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. To date, Taskforce Ministers and their delegates have met nine times to discuss the critical issues that drive child poverty.
The Child Poverty Taskforce is hearing directly from families and children across the UK as part of its work to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, as well as front-line staff and leading campaigners, charities and organisations. The Taskforce is also working closely with local and devolved governments to hear how child poverty affects communities and what can be done to combat it.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has recently made an assessment of the adequacy of the approach to child maintenance for parents without custody arrangements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. Issues relating to access and contact are managed by family courts.
Reductions can be made for the extra cost of care where it is shared by the paying parent. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent of 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced by a maximum of fifty per cent within bands based on the number of nights overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The bands are used to give greater stability to maintenance payments and as a result there is greater reliability of payments, which contributes towards the welfare of the children in the case.
If evidence shows that both parties are providing equal day-to-day care of a qualifying child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78297 on Department for Work and Pensions: Social Media, which campaigns influencers were used on.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
For privacy and confidentiality reasons, we do not disclose our influencer database.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 30 hours free childcare on (a) Job Centre operations and (b) levels of returns to employment.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Education 30 hours free childcare is one of several government childcare offers, including the Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit childcare.
DWP has not made an assessment of the impact of the Department for Education’s 30 hours free childcare on job centre operations or returns to employment. In March 2023, when the government announced the extension of 30 hours of free childcare for working age parents of nine-month to two-year-olds, the OBR assessed as a result they would expect around 60,000 parents of young children to enter employment by 2027/28.
Economic and fiscal outlook - March 2023
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the early release of prisoners on Job Centre operations.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To date, Jobcentres have been supporting customers through the early release schemes. We will continue to monitor, liaising closely with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and the Ministry of Justice.
The Department deploys specialist resources to support individuals both in custody and upon release into employment. This includes around 200 Prison Work Coaches based in prisons, as well as additional specialist Work Coaches located in Jobcentres.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to stop illegal gas installation in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) forms the basis of the Health and Safety Executive’s approach to ensuring the safety of gas appliances and systems within England (a) and Romford (b). This includes taking enforcement action against those who do not comply with their legal obligations, including unsafe gas work or carrying out gas work whilst unregistered.
GSIUR also allows for the establishment of the Gas Safe Register (GSR). GSR aims to protect the public from unsafe gas work through:
GSR will apply appropriate sanctions on those businesses found carrying out unsafe gas work as per their Sanctions Policy.