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, pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2026 to question 13207, if he will publish a breakdown of the i) spending in Purchase of goods/services - Hosting and ii) spending in Purchase of goods/services - Social Care for a) 2023-24 and b) 2024-25.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Please see attached breakdown of spend for ‘Purchase of goods/services – Hosting’ and ‘Purchase of good and service - Social care’.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department will make n assessment of the potential merits of increased reporting of Financial Investigation Unit decisions and variation outcomes by the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a parent provides credible evidence that income has been misrepresented, the case may be referred to the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU). The FIU investigates whether the financial information used in the child maintenance assessment is correct and will either confirm the existing assessment or identify grounds for a revised liability.
Investigation timescales vary according to the complexity of the case. All credible allegations are investigated thoroughly and proportionately, with relevant evidence fully considered before a decision is made, helping to ensure accurate and evidence-based outcomes. The Child Maintenance Service's primary objective remains securing maintenance for children, and more intrusive investigatory action may, in some cases, risk disrupting ongoing payments.
FIU referrals and outcomes, for the last financial year, can be found at GOV.UK, table 7 in the following link: Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to March 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average investigation timescale is for referrals by the Child Maintenance Service to the Financial Investigation Unit.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a parent provides credible evidence that income has been misrepresented, the case may be referred to the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU). The FIU investigates whether the financial information used in the child maintenance assessment is correct and will either confirm the existing assessment or identify grounds for a revised liability.
Investigation timescales vary according to the complexity of the case. All credible allegations are investigated thoroughly and proportionately, with relevant evidence fully considered before a decision is made, helping to ensure accurate and evidence-based outcomes. The Child Maintenance Service's primary objective remains securing maintenance for children, and more intrusive investigatory action may, in some cases, risk disrupting ongoing payments.
FIU referrals and outcomes, for the last financial year, can be found at GOV.UK, table 7 in the following link: Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to March 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases were referred to the Financial Investigation Unit in the last financial year.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a parent provides credible evidence that income has been misrepresented, the case may be referred to the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU). The FIU investigates whether the financial information used in the child maintenance assessment is correct and will either confirm the existing assessment or identify grounds for a revised liability.
Investigation timescales vary according to the complexity of the case. All credible allegations are investigated thoroughly and proportionately, with relevant evidence fully considered before a decision is made, helping to ensure accurate and evidence-based outcomes. The Child Maintenance Service's primary objective remains securing maintenance for children, and more intrusive investigatory action may, in some cases, risk disrupting ongoing payments.
FIU referrals and outcomes, for the last financial year, can be found at GOV.UK, table 7 in the following link: Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to March 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of excluding zero-hours contracts from the Youth Guarantee on employment opportunities for young people who are not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Government’s investment of an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years in the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy, young people on Universal Credit are benefiting from enhanced support to help them get into employment, apprenticeships, work experience, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre.
Eligible young people can also benefit from the Jobs Guarantee, which will provide a guaranteed paid job offering regular hours of work of up to 25 hours per week for six months at the relevant National Minimum Wage. Participants will receive the same statutory employment rights and protections as other employees, alongside opportunities to develop skills and experience that support progression into sustained employment. The scheme aims to provide meaningful, secure and predictable employment opportunities for eligible young people who have experienced long-term unemployment. By offering a guaranteed paid job with regular hours, the scheme is designed to help the participants to develop the skills and experience they need to progress into sustained employment.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of temporary work in helping young people who are not in education, employment or training to gain experience and enter the labour market.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.
This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.
We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.
The government recognises that temporary work can help young people, including those not in education, employment or training (NEET), to gain valuable experience and enter the labour market. Through the Youth Guarantee, the government is expanding access to work experience, training and employment support to help more young people move into work. For example, several Youth Guarantee Trailblazers are connecting young people who are NEET with work placement opportunities to help them gain the experience they need and develop the skills to get sustained employment.
The Employment Rights Act preserves flexibility for genuinely temporary work, including through limited-term contracts. The government is consulting employers, trade unions and wider civil society to ensure the right to guaranteed hours works for businesses and workers.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many FTE equivalent staff in (a) their Department and (b) each Arm's Length Body it sponsors are dedicated to fulfilment of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED); what the (i) annual employment and (ii) total annual cost incurred is as a result of PSED and compliance with PSED for each of those bodies; what the outputs are from the work of PSED teams and personnel dedicated to PSED; and if they will publish an assessment of their Department's compliance with PSED.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP, as a public authority, is required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). Responsibility for meeting these requirements is embedded across the Department and forms part of the responsibilities of all DWP employees. Guidance and support relating to the PSED are available to staff through departmental intranet resources.
There are no dedicated roles whose sole purpose is the fulfilment of the PSED, reflecting the Department's approach of embedding equality considerations into policy development, service design and delivery.
It is not possible to provide the total annual cost of compliance with the PSED across the Department, as responsibility for considering and meeting the Duty is integrated into a wide range of activities undertaken by employees as part of their normal roles.
The Department publishes information annually to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty. This information includes data relating to both employees and service users and is published through the Department's Annual Report and Accounts (DWP annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK).
DWP’s sponsored Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) are independent public bodies directly responsible for their own compliance. Information regarding ALBs’ internal resource allocation is not held by DWP.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to help increase access to flexible and modular training for people seeking to move into occupations experiencing skills shortages.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education and skills are devolved matters, the response outlines the information for England only.
We are transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, giving employers greater flexibility, creating more opportunities for young people, and directly supporting the Industrial Strategy.
In April 2026 we launched the first apprenticeship units focussing on priority sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), digital, construction and engineering. Apprenticeship units are short courses built from the knowledge and skills within existing employer-led occupational apprenticeship standards, ensuring high-quality, targeted training. They target immediate shortages in areas that will drive productivity and growth and will help employers upskill existing employees quickly and flexibly.
We have also reduced the apprenticeship minimum duration to 8 months, where this is appropriate for the role or the apprentice, as we know the previous 12-month minimum duration meant some employers and learners were prevented from accessing apprenticeships.
Additionally, we are also supporting more entry-level opportunities for young people, by introducing new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, such as construction and health and social care.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of non-British nationals claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Figures are routinely published of the number of non ‘Common Travel Area’ (CTA) nationals in the Universal Credit statistics available on GOV.UK.
From the most recently published Universal Credit statistics, there were 8.3 million people on Universal Credit in January 2026, and the percentage of those people by nationality group, compiled from Table 2 of the immigration and nationality data tables, is shown in the table below.
Table 1: Proportion of People on Universal Credit by Nationality group, Great Britain, January 2026
| January 2026 (%) |
CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | 85% |
EEA (Excluding Ireland) | 7% |
Non-EEA | 6% |
No nationality recorded on digital systems | 2% |
Source: DWP Universal Credit - Immigration Status and Nationality statistics
Notes:
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost of changing the minimum Personal Independence Payment award to four years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Autumn Statement 2025 the then Chancellor announced three measures which will make operational improvements to health assessments to ensure people receive the right health or disability benefit, deal with the reassessment backlog for the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and ensure the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system is sustainable: increasing face to face assessments across health and disability benefits, increasing WCA reassessment capacity and changing the frequency of PIP award reviews (AR). Together, this package of measures were scored by the OBR at the last Budget as set to deliver around £2 billion in savings over the scorecard.