Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many clearances for Carer's Allowance claims have been made involving carers' earnings being averaged since 3 September 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Obtaining this information would require a manual review of individual claims and could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, what his planned timetable is for the implementation of the earned income disregards; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of these changes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced at Autumn Budget, the Department will be introducing new earned income disregards for those in receipt of Housing Benefit and live in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation. These disregards will help smooth the transition between the Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for individuals in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation as they move into work or increase their earnings, ensuring work always pays.
The new disregards will be in place from Autumn 2026. This will require legislative changes and be accompanied by IT changes made to local authority IT systems. In preparation for this, we have already begun engagement with stakeholders to ensure that the implementation meets the needs of those affected. This is accompanied by clear communications to support local authorities, housing providers and third sector organisations to ensure that eligible customers are aware of and able to utilise this change.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of Mobility Scheme users who exceeded 10,000 miles per year in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors.
The changes to the leasing package were announced on 26 March and include reducing the mileage allowance from 20,000 per year to 10,000 per year. Changes only apply to new leases and there are no changes to the mileage allowance of existing leases. Motability Foundation have advised that approximately 75% of customers on the Scheme already use less miles than the proposed new mileage allowance. They have acknowledged that there will be an impact on some customers and are considering if the impact can be mitigated in some limited circumstances.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Access to Work staff receive specialist advice on visual impairment when assessing applications and renewals for blind and partially sighted customers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work staff are trained to assess applications from all disability groups and individual impairments, taking account of each customer’s needs and circumstances. Staff are able to access specific support relating to individual impairments where necessary.
Where specialist advice is required to inform the outcome, Access to Work staff may arrange a workplace assessment through one of its contracted providers to help identify appropriate adjustments and support to address workplace barriers.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2026 to Question 125067 on Motability, in what circumstances the reduction in mileage allowance from 20,000 miles to 10,000 miles a year can be mitigated.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors. This includes how they will determine what circumstances the reduction in mileage allowance can be mitigated.
Motability have indicated that they will be introducing an exceptions process for very limited situations and will share an update before 1 July.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Health and Safety Executive will publish a regularly updated list of GB exports of highly hazardous substances listed in Annex II and III of GB PIC that are permitted using the waiver for explicit consent, including (a) the importing country, (b) the UK company, (c) the substance exported and tonnage band and (d) the reasons for which the export met the waiver conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no statutory requirement to publish information on waivers used under the Great Britain (GB) Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulations. However, each year, companies have to report the name of the chemical in the GB PIC list that they have exported or imported during the previous calendar year, the quantity of the chemical, and the name of the importing or exporting country. The Health and Safety Executive, as the Designated National Authority, publishes that information on its website: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pic/annual-reporting.htm.
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, whether trade unions will be formal stakeholders in the Disability Confident Reform Delivery Plan.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Disability Confident Reform Delivery Plan (Disability Confident Reform Delivery Plan for December 2025 to December 2026 - GOV.UK) sets out a clear commitment to meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout the reform period, recognising that the scheme’s credibility and impact depend on being shaped with those it affects.
Trade unions are an important part of this engagement landscape. The Reform Delivery Plan makes it clear that reform will be developed collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders, including employee representative organisations, to ensure the scheme is robust, credible and focused on real‑world outcomes for disabled people.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the level of misuse of Motability Scheme vehicles in the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme, including identifying and tackling misuse of the Scheme, sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors.
Any misuse of scheme vehicles is taken seriously and Motability Operations has a dedicated unit that works to prevent, detect and handle such cases, and take action where appropriate. Motability investigates the information it receives about misuse of scheme vehicles and works with a range of partners.
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions his Department has had with the Health and Safety Executive on the effectiveness of artificial intelligence-led safety systems in reducing workplace fatalities in the (a) construction and (b) logistics sectors; and if he will make a statement on the development of industry protocols for these systems.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has undertaken research into how businesses are adopting AI and its implications for workplace health and safety. This research has examined the use of AI in developing health and safety provisions across a wide range of sectors, including construction and logistics.
HSE is working with industry partners to develop benchmarks that enable best use of AI in workplaces. It is also contributing toward the development of international standards for AI interaction with machinery and functional safety.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Unpaid carers impacted by unclear guidance to have debts cancelled, published on 13 April 2026, how many unpaid carers in (a) Basildon, (b) Thurrock and (c) Essex are expected to have their Carer’s Allowance debts (i) reduced, (ii) cancelled or (iii) refunded.
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 to the department.