Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increased employer National Insurance contributions on professional rugby league clubs competing in the Super League and the Championship.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria are applied when assessing levels of personal independence payment awarded to those suffering from myasthenia gravis resulting in severe mobility impairment.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Personal Independence Payment provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability. Individuals can be impacted by their health conditions in different ways, so the assessment considers the effect on a person’s day to day life, rather than focusing solely on the health condition or impairment itself. As such, our focus is on ensuring that PIP assessors are experts in disability analysis rather than diagnosing a condition or its severity or recommending treatment options.

The PIP assessment criteria are set out in legislation. The assessment looks at how a long-term health condition or disability impacts on daily life across 12 activities, taking into account fluctuations over a 12 month period. The activities are grouped into two components, for daily living and mobility and within each activity a descriptor must be chosen to score an individual depending on how well they are able to perform the activity. Every claim to PIP is assessed against all 12 activities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), what training or guidance is given to Personal Independence Payment assessors to ensure that fluctuating or invisible conditions, such as myasthenia gravis, are properly evaluated under the mobility descriptor including the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability, and a functional assessment is an important part of PIP.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring health professionals (HPs) have sufficient experience, skills, and training to undertake assessments. DWP has set out very clear rules on HP competency, both in guidance and in regulations.

All HPs receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, including how to assess the impacts of medical conditions on people’s day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in a range of conditions, symptoms and disabilities. The principles of assessing claimants on their ability to carry out an activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period are a core part of the HP training and guidance materials. Our assessment suppliers are required to demonstrate that their HPs meet all our requirements before they are approved to carry out assessments on behalf of DWP, and all HP core training and guidance material undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.

The Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide (PIPAG) provides guidance for assessment suppliers and HPs carrying out PIP assessments on applying the criteria set out in legislation. This includes sections on “Time periods, fluctuations and descriptor choices” and “Reliability”, which cover assessing the impacts of health conditions and impairments which can fluctuate over time in line with the reliability criteria.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in taking forward the provisions contained in Part 4 of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 relating to oral history and the memorialisation strategy.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Further to my Oral Statement in December 2024, the Government has been focussed on repealing and replacing the Legacy Act, ensuring that its mechanisms are human rights compliant and capable of commanding public confidence. We remain committed, however, to the oral history and other measures set out in Part 4 of the Act - which are widely supported in principle - and will set out further details in due course. In the meantime, progress has been made on two other, non-legislative, historical projects - digitisation and official history - the details of which were announced last month.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in taking forward the independent public history project regarding the troubles in Northern Ireland that was first announced on 24 April 2024.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The project’s independent expert advisory panel continues to work under the published terms of reference. Further to the announcement made on 9 April 2025, the panel is currently accepting applications from independently-minded historians as part of an open and transparent competition, and has launched a website with further information about the project.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), whether they intend to review how the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period, are applied for Personal Independence Payment assessments in cases involving fluctuating conditions or neurological conditions, such as myasthenia gravis.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We currently have no plans to review this specific criterion. However, in the Pathways to Work Green Paper ,we announced plans to launch a review of the PIP assessment, which the Minister for Social Security and Disability shall lead.

To make sure we get this right, we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details about the scope of the review as plans progress.