Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they gave, before deciding to increase tuition fees to £9,535 from September 2025, to using the powers in Schedule 2 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 to limit the fee rise only to higher education providers that hold a high-level quality rating in order to ensure good value for money for students.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The government recognises that UK higher education (HE) creates opportunity, is an engine for growth in our economy and supports local communities. In making the tough decision to increase tuition fee caps, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, the department’s immediate priority is helping all providers manage the financial pressures they are facing.

However, if the department is to maintain and enhance our national and international reputation, we need a culture that accepts nothing less than high standards, and that requires continuous improvement from all providers. This requires a rigorous approach to improving quality and supporting improvement. The department expects all providers to raise the bar further on teaching standards to maintain and improve our world-leading reputation and to drive out poor practice.

Following Sir David Behan’s review, the department will work closely with a re-focused Office for Students (OfS) as it develops its new approach to assessing quality. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has already taken the crucial first step of appointing Sir David as interim Chair of the OfS to oversee this important work.

The department expects the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for students and for the country. The department will publish its plan for HE reform by summer 2025 and will work with the sector and the OfS to deliver the change that the country needs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the National NHS Muslim Network’s New Muslim guidance in August to "help new Muslims navigate through the early stages of their journey", whether it is their policy to produce similar documents for all faiths.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

This document is owned by the NHS Muslim Network, which is one of several staff networks which have formed within the National Health Service. Other staff networks include the Jewish Staff Network and the Care Experienced Staff Network.

Staff networks make materials for their members with no input from NHS England or the Department, and the networks determine policies useful for their network members.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conclusions of The symbolic violence of setting: A Bourdieusian analysis of mixed methods data on secondary students’ views about setting, published in 2018, that setting children by ability in schools is (1) “symbolic violence”, and (2) “incompatible with social justice approaches to education”; and whether they took these views into consideration when appointing the article’s co-author Professor Becky Francis as Chair of the Curriculum and Assessment Review.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review and its recommendations will be driven by evidence and a commitment to high standards for all young people, irrespective of background. Professor Francis OBE was appointed due to her professional expertise including as Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the spending on support workers through Access to Work in each of the last five financial years.

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

The annual Access to Work Official Statistics show expenditure on the Support Worker element within each financial year from 2007/08 to 2023/24. The latest publication can be found here: Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2024 - GOV.UK

The below table shows expenditure, in real terms (2023/24 prices), on the Support Worker element type from 2019/20 to 2023/24. These figures can be found in Table 12a of the Access to Work Official Statistics:

When interpreting results, particularly comparing time periods, please be aware of the potential effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic between 2020/21 and 2022/23.

Nominal expenditure for the Support Worker element type can be located in Table 12 of the Access to Work Official Statistics.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what were the most common specialist aids and equipment paid for by Access to Work in the last five financial years.

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

Access to Work provides funding towards the cost of a range of equipment, these should be items that are beyond what would normally be required under an employer’s responsibility to provide reasonable adjustments. Information on specific items of Special Aids and Equipment (SAE) for which grants were approved is not readily available. This is stored as descriptive, free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and therefore falls outside of the costs limit. Expenditure on SAE was £21m in 2023/24, this was the third highest of all Access to Work elements and an 82% increase in real terms compared to the previous financial year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance transitioned to Personal Independence Payment over the last five financial years.

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

The table below shows the proportions of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) caseload that have undergone a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessment in each of the last five financial years (FY).

Points to note:

- Figures are for England and Wales only.

- Figures are split for children and adults. Adults include those of working age and those over state pension age.

- Reassessment statistics count individual people who have registered PIP claims that are classified as DLA reassessments, where there is a matching DLA record.

- Children are usually invited to claim PIP on or shortly after their 16th birthday. If they choose to apply for PIP this will be considered a reassessment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what data they have on the employment rate of individuals (1) before they claim Personal Independence Payment, and (2) in the 12 months after their claim is approved.

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

Of all individuals who subsequently went on to apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), 37% were in employment in the month their PIP case was cleared.

Of those who were awarded PIP, 23% were still in employment after 12 months.

Notes:

• Figures are based on the 2021-22 financial year cohort where the claims have been cleared – the latest financial year of data available for the analysis.
• Data is for England and Wales only.
• Data is for New Claims only.
• Employment includes both employed and self-employed individuals.
• The 2022-23 tax records for self-employment were not available when the analysis was conducted, therefore the 2021-22 self-employment data was used as a proxy.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many and what proportion of Personal Independence Payment assessments were carried out (1) face-to-face, (2) remotely and (3) on paper in each month since March 2020.

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

The number and proportion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments carried out (a) face-to-face (b) remotely (this includes telephone and video) and (c) paper-based can be found in the tables below.

March 2020 to December 2020

2021

2022

2023

January 2024 to November 2024

Please Note

• All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 10.
• Percentages and volumes may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
• Remote assessments include telephone and video assessments.
• There are a proportion of assessments where the channel is unspecified. We have included these assessments for completion.
• All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers
• The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the savings of one disabled person being in full time work, rather than out of work and fully reliant on benefits.

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

The department published an estimated saving for the Government of having one extra disabled person in full-time work, in July 2023. This can be found in the Consultation outcome Occupational Health: Working Better.

For Government, having one extra disabled person in full-time work, rather than being out of work and fully reliant on benefits, would mean the Government could save an estimated £18,000 a year. It could give societal savings of £28,000 a year when considering increases in output, reductions in healthcare costs and increased travel. The societal savings could increase to £34,000 a year if including Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) impacts, or £36,000 a year if including subjective wellbeing impacts. For a disabled person working part-time, the equivalent figures could be a saving to the Government of £8,000 a year, and a societal saving of £15,000 a year, rising to £19,000 a year if including QALY impacts, or £20,000 a year if including subjective wellbeing impacts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many disabled people were employed by small, medium, or large businesses in the financial years (1) 2021–22, (2) 2022–23, and (3) 2023–24.

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

The department publishes a range of statistics from the Annual Population Survey (APS) on the employment of disabled people. This includes the number of disabled people who were employed by workplace size. Workplace size refers to the total number of employees at the respondent’s workplace, not just the section/department or the whole organization. The APS does not collect information on the size of the whole organization, therefore only analysis on workplace size can be provided. A full time-series from 2013/14 can be found in the employment of disabled people 2024 supplementary table EMP006.

Number of disabled people in employment by workplace size, aged 16 to 64, UK

Source: The employment of disabled people 2024: Table EMP006

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many disabled people were in receipt of an Access to Work grant in the financial years (1) 2021–22, (2) 2022–23, and (3) 2023–24, and by sector.

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

• 38,620 people were in receipt of payments for Access to Work provision in 2021 to 2022.

• 49,020 people were in receipt of payments for Access to Work provision in 2022 to 2023.

• 61,630 people were in receipt of payments for Access to Work provision in 2023 to 2024.

Table 6 of the latest Access to Work Official Statistics includes the number of individuals who were in receipt of Access to Work Provision within each financial year. The latest publication can be found here: Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2024 - GOV.UK

The information requested about the number of individuals who received a payment for AtW provision by sector is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were in receipt of an Access to Work grant by small, medium, or large business in the financial years (1) 2021–22, (2) 2022–23, and (3) 2023–24.

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

Estimates of the number of individuals who received a payment for an Access to Work element, by employer size, at the end of each of the last three financial years, are provided in the table below.

These figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and do not include payments for an Access to Work assessment. Data on the number of Access to Work recipients by employer size is not directly recorded in the Access to Work admin datasets, so these estimates are derived from information which may provide insights to employer size. They may change in future as a consequence of subsequent system updates or changes to methodology.