Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made on increasing capacity of English as a Second Language Provision (ESOL) in line with the Government’s White Paper on Immigration.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), the Department for Work and Pensions supports adults aged 19+ in England who speak English as a second or additional language to access English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision. ASF co-funds or fully-funds ESOL provision subject to the eligibility requirements laid out in the ASF rules. ESOL allows learners to develop the English language skills they need for everyday life, work or further learning. Overall, we are allocating £1.4 billion for a wide range of adult skills provision through the ASF in the 2025/26 academic year.
Currently, approximately 68% of the ASF is devolved to 12 Strategic Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents, the allocation of the ASF to learning providers, and deciding how the ASF best meets the needs of their local economy. By honouring our commitments to combine and further devolve adult skills funding, we give those with local knowledge the power they need to make decisions that are best for their areas.
The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas, where colleges and training providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their ASF allocations from the department to meet the needs of their communities. Where ASF funded provision is not available the Flexible Support Fund is sometimes used to procure ESOL provision that enables individuals to move into sustained employment, increase their earnings whilst in work, or move closer to the labour market.
Government publishes statistics on participation in ESOL provision through its Further Education and Skills publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/084d1d31-4477-488e-b95b-08de28d609b2
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 assessment has been made as to the impact on placement students following the changes to the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will give greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy.
In August, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.
From April 2026, we will introduce new short courses as part of the growth and skills offer with the first wave called apprenticeship units. They will be available in critical skills areas such as artificial intelligence, digital and engineering. Further details will be shared in due course.
An apprenticeship is a job with training, rather than a placement which is something that is part of some further or higher education courses.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the apprentice rate for those over 21 or in their first year of their apprenticeship from £7.55 to the minimum wage for their age of £12.21.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government remains committed to ensuring that apprentice wages support the attraction of talented individuals into apprenticeships and remain fair for employers. The Government considers the expert and independent advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) when setting minimum wage rates.
Apprentices are entitled to the apprentice rate if they are aged under 19 or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. In all other cases, they are entitled to the minimum wage for their age, so all apprentices who are aged 19 and over and have completed the first year of their apprenticeship are entitled to the minimum wage for their age. Many employers pay their apprentices more than the minimum and the latest data shows that the median gross hourly pay for apprentices in general in 2023 was £11.63 an hour.
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 assessment he has made of the impact of the 10% decrease in the number of Access to Work claims approved between March 2024 and March 2025 on the number of disabled people being supported into work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
While the number of people who were approved for any Access to Work provision was 61,670 in 2024/25, the number of customers in receipt of payment in 2024/25 increased to 74,190. As Access to Work awards are approved for up to three years, customers receiving payments in 2024/25 may have been approved for support at any point between 2021/22 and 2024/25.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of the Access to Work scheme. We also considered the role of employers in creating accessible and inclusive workplaces as well as how we can shape the market for aids, appliances and assistive technology, to reduce their cost and spread their adoption. We are considering responses to the consultation and will set out our plans in due course.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he will assess the potential merits of allowing local authorities to roll over unspent Connect to Work funding into the following year.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Expenditure on Connect to Work is annualised in line with standard practice for managing public funds. To retain funding controls, my Department cannot automatically carry forward underspends into future years. As part of the Connect to Work Delivery Plan approval process, local areas must profile their programme activity for the entire funding period, broken down by financial year and by month within those years. This ensures that funding is aligned with planned delivery and performance milestones. My Department will have regular performance conversations with lead authorities for Connect to Work and will seek to support any area that may not be delivering against their profile and will seek to support any area that may not be delivering against their profile. This will include the opportunity to reprofile in year as part of the annual review process
Asked by: Margaret Mullane (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of silicosis among workers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses the Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (SWORD) database to monitor trends in cases of silicosis.
HSE uses SWORD data that is reported voluntarily by around 350 physicians of respiratory disease to monitor cases of silicosis arising from work activity. HSE continues to monitor the number of cases recorded on the SWORD database.
Over the period from January 2024 to October 2025 HSE has seen an increased trend in notifications of silicosis on SWORD. HSE will continue to work with trade associations, material suppliers and manufacturers of products about their legal responsibilities and will continue to carry out a range of activities to raise awareness.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase take up of Pension Credit in Edmonton and Winchmore Hill constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all pensioners receive the support to which they are entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign, promoting Pension Credit to eligible pensioners and their family and friends through adverts on television and radio; on social media and on digital screens in GP surgeries and Post Offices, as well as in the press. The latest burst of the campaign began in September, and further promotional activity is planned until the end of the financial year.
We have also engaged with all councils in Great Britain, including Enfield Council, through regular Local Authority Welfare Direct bulletins on GOV.UK and targeted email communications. Councils have actively supported the campaign by promoting it on social media and distributing promotional materials, including posters and leaflets.
We are making better use of data to directly target potentially eligible households. Since February, all new Housing Benefit claimants who may be eligible have been invited to apply for Pension Credit. In September, the Department conducted a trial in partnership with Age UK and Independent Age targeting 2,000 households in England identified using HMRC and DWP data.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps they are taking to increase skills and training opportunities to become HGV drivers.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government offers a range of skills training which can be used to support the HGV sector. This includes apprenticeships such as the Urban Driver and Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) driver C + E standards, Skills Bootcamps, and sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs).
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since the Impact Assessment on Converting Support for Mortgage Interest from a benefit into a loan, published in June 2017, identified limited data on disabled claimants using the Support for Mortgage Interest loan scheme; and what measures they have taken to address the impact assessment's conclusion that the scheme was likely to have a disproportionate impact on disabled claimants.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) transitioned from a benefit to a loan in April 2018. Support was provided at the same level as before, ensuring the same degree of protection against repossession.
SMI loans are not repayable until the property is sold and then, only to the extent that there is any available equity.
Since SMI converted to a loan, the Department has regularly reviewed the impact of the policy on its recipients, including on people with disabilities. In March 2021, loan ‘porting’ was introduced to allow SMI recipients to transfer their loan to a new property rather than repay. The primary purpose of this change was to enable disabled recipients to move home due to changes in their disability requirements. Further changes were introduced in April 2023 which extended eligibility to in-work Universal Credit recipients and support was provided after three months instead of nine.
Two separate research projects related to SMI have been conducted and published, in March 2022 and May 2025. Both are publicly available, and a copy will be deposited of both publications in the House of Lords library.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department intends to respond to correspondence of 7 October 2025 from the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire on supporting neurodivergent people into employment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I replied to the Hon. Member on 25 November.