Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that English language learning provision is accessible to those who require it, including individuals with no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 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.
Currently, approximately 68% of the ASF is devolved to 12 Strategic Authorities (SAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA). 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 DWP has not made recent changes to the way the ASF operates regarding ESOL.
The DWP is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas, where colleges and learning 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. We also give providers in receipt of an ASF allocation from the department the opportunity to earn an additional 10% on top of their ASF allocation for over-delivery to support growth in adult skills participation, by giving them the confidence to increase the volume of training and invest in high value skills provision.
In non-devolved areas, learners earning less than 25,750 (annual gross salary), are eligible for full funding through the DWP’s ASF. This directly supports social mobility by allowing individuals to move out of unemployment or progress further in their career. The ASF also funds providers to help adult learners to overcome barriers which prevent them from taking part in learning. This includes Learner Support, to support learners with a specific financial hardship, and Learning Support to meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
The learner’s immigration permission in the UK may have a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition. Public funds does not include education or education funding. Therefore, this does not affect a learner’s eligibility, which must be decided under the normal eligibility conditions. Detailed eligibility rules are published online.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on local authorities of funding changes for English for speakers of other languages programmes.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 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.
Currently, approximately 68% of the ASF is devolved to 12 Strategic Authorities (SAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA). 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 DWP has not made recent changes to the way the ASF operates regarding ESOL.
The DWP is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas, where colleges and learning 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. We also give providers in receipt of an ASF allocation from the department the opportunity to earn an additional 10% on top of their ASF allocation for over-delivery to support growth in adult skills participation, by giving them the confidence to increase the volume of training and invest in high value skills provision.
In non-devolved areas, learners earning less than 25,750 (annual gross salary), are eligible for full funding through the DWP’s ASF. This directly supports social mobility by allowing individuals to move out of unemployment or progress further in their career. The ASF also funds providers to help adult learners to overcome barriers which prevent them from taking part in learning. This includes Learner Support, to support learners with a specific financial hardship, and Learning Support to meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
The learner’s immigration permission in the UK may have a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition. Public funds does not include education or education funding. Therefore, this does not affect a learner’s eligibility, which must be decided under the normal eligibility conditions. Detailed eligibility rules are published online.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce processing times and improve communication with applicants for British citizenship.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The service standard for deciding applications for citizenship is six months. The most recent published Transparency Data shows that 97.9% of applications were decided within this standard.
Migration transparency data - GOV.UK
If any further information is required from an applicant while their application is being processed, they will be contacted via their preferred method of communication and direct reply details provided. For general matters applicants are encouraged to use the UK Visas and Immigration contact form so that they may be directed to the right department to answer their query.
Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help - GOV.UK
A service to allow applicants to track the progress of their application online is currently in the early stages of development.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 3 February (HL13743), what assessment they have made of the reasons that Universal Credit sanction rates vary by (1) ethnicity, and (2) region.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No formal assessment has been made, but work is ongoing to expand the benefit sanction statistics, detailed below, to allow analysis in the future.
The Department regularly publishes Universal Credit sanction rate statistics for Great Britain as part of the benefit sanction statistics. These include a breakdown of the sanction rate by ethnic group and an analysis of the sanction ethnicity statistics which can be found at section 5 of the latest publication.
The Department also published an ad-hoc analysis in February 2025 of the Variation in the Universal Credit sanction rate by jobcentres using the UC Sanction Rate dataset on Stat-Xplore.
The ‘Benefit sanction statistics to August 2025’ and the ‘Variation in the Universal Credit sanction rate by jobcentres from January 2017 to August 2024’ are provided in the attached PDF documents.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of potential data processing measures to enable automatic registration for free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We want to make sure that every family that needs support can access it.
We are introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals so that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals from September 2026. This will make it easier for parents to know whether their children are entitled to receive free meals. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty and putting £500 back in families’ pockets.
We are also rolling out improvements to the Eligibility Checking System, the digital portal currently used by local authorities to verify if a child meets the eligibility criteria for free lunches. Giving parents and schools access will accelerate eligibility checks, making it easier to check if children are eligible for free meals.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who are offered a work placement through the Youth Guarantee scheme will have a choice over the sector, location, or type of role.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Guarantee is backed by an £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit to get them into employment or training. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.
With over 350,000 opportunities, there will be flexibility for young people to find roles in different sectors, locations, and professions. To achieve this, we will work with national and local employers and training providers to create a range of high-quality job and training opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how long they will remove the right to claim benefits from 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who do not accept the offer of a work placement through the Youth Guarantee scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Guarantee is part of a new social contract with young people – opportunity matched by responsibility. Young people who can work will be expected to engage with the support offered. If the support is declined without good reasons, existing benefit sanction rules will apply. The Jobs Guarantee is no exception and the full conditionality regime will apply.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the rate of benefit sanctions varied by (1) region, and (2) ethnicity, in the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department regularly publishes monthly Universal Credit sanction rate statistics for Great Britain as part of the benefit sanction statistics. The latest statistics to August 2025 are available in table 2.1 of the latest benefit sanction statistics tables, with sanction rates by ethnic group provided in table 7.6.
The UC Sanction Rates dataset on Stat-Xplore can be used to produce the same information in table 2.1 for lower-level geographical breakdowns, such as region.
Monthly sanction rates by region, extracted from Stat-Xplore, and by ethnic group, from table 7.6 of the published tables, for September 2024 to August 2025 are provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that cash payments received through the Crisis and Resilience Fund do not lead to a deduction in a person's Universal Credit payment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Support from the Crisis and Resilience Fund is classed as local welfare provision. As a result, payments received from the Fund will be disregarded as capital when calculating a person’s entitlement to Universal Credit. Given the nature of the provision, it is expected this will be spent within the 12 months of receipt. Any monies from the fund unspent within this timeframe will be classed as capital in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will ensure the jobs created for the Youth Guarantee scheme for 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit are genuinely new roles which would not otherwise have been advertised.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Jobs Guarantee will provide six months of paid employment for every eligible 18 to 21-year-old who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months. The scheme will break the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing meaningful paid employment opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.
Appropriate requirements will be built into the scheme, with guidance provided to those delivering the jobs guarantee to ensure that opportunities are high quality, fair and deliver the intended outcomes for young people. In phase one, the Department will deliver over 1000 job starts across six areas in the first six months. To achieve this, we will work with local employers to create a range of high-quality job opportunities.
We will provide more detail on the scheme in due course.