Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to include addressing systemic and administrative challenges, such as fluctuating conditions, assessment quality, appeal outcomes and interaction with health services, within the scope of the terms of reference for the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, to ensure that expertise from a wide range of perspectives is drawn upon.
On 30 October, the Government published revised Terms of Reference on GOV.UK which set out further details about its scope. The Review will include consideration of:
We also announced that the Review will be co-chaired by the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Stephen Timms, alongside Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. They will oversee a steering group responsible for leading the co-production process, setting the Review's strategic direction, priorities and workplan. The group will be made up of a majority of disabled people or representatives of disabled people's organisations and will be recruited through an open and transparent Expression of Interest process.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment will examine opportunities to improve assessment accuracy and reduce duplication by modernising delivery, including through the use of digital integration with NHS data and other public services.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, to ensure that expertise from a wide range of perspectives is drawn upon.
On 30 October, the Government published revised Terms of Reference on GOV.UK which set out further details about its scope. The Review will include consideration of:
We also announced that the Review will be co-chaired by the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Stephen Timms, alongside Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. They will oversee a steering group responsible for leading the co-production process, setting the Review's strategic direction, priorities and workplan. The group will be made up of a majority of disabled people or representatives of disabled people's organisations and will be recruited through an open and transparent Expression of Interest process.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the terms of reference of the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment state that the purpose of the review is not to generate proposals for future savings; and whether improving value for money and reducing inefficiency remains a priority in the design of disability benefits.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to spending public money as effectively as possible to support disabled people in living independent and fulfilling lives. The aim of the Review is to ensure we have a system that supports disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence, including through employment.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the full findings, evidence base and consultation responses of the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment, in addition to the outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Timms Review will report its findings to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for decision in autumn 2026, with an interim update expected ahead of this.
As my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disability set out to the House of Commons on the 9 July, the Government will report the Review's outcomes to Parliament.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that investment proposals submitted under the Local Government Pension Scheme pooling reforms are subject to formal cost-benefit analysis, include the use of standardised benefit-cost ratio (BCR) calculations; whether projects with a BCR below 1.0 will be deemed poor value for money; and what safeguards they will put in place to ensure projects are prioritised on economic returns rather than political factors.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
LGPS funds and strategic authorities will be required to co-operate with each other to identify and develop appropriate investment opportunities, but there is no plan to require local authorities or mayors to submit business cases. LGPS funds and strategic authorities should agree how best to work together within their region.
The decision to make local investments will be the responsibility of the pool who must implement the strategy set by partner funds. This delegation to the pools will help funds to manage potential conflicts of interest such as political pressures. While funds will be required to have regard to local growth plans and priorities, they have a legal fiduciary duty to pay benefits in the first instance. The pools will be FCA-regulated investment managers with the capacity to set their own assessment criteria for making local investments and will be required to conduct due diligence on local investments.
The Government will issue supporting guidance on these issues in due course.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they will issue to Local Government Pension Scheme administering authorities and pools on identifying, evaluating and prioritising local investment opportunities under the provisions in the Pension Schemes Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
LGPS funds and strategic authorities will be required to co-operate with each other to identify and develop appropriate investment opportunities, but there is no plan to require local authorities or mayors to submit business cases. LGPS funds and strategic authorities should agree how best to work together within their region.
The decision to make local investments will be the responsibility of the pool who must implement the strategy set by partner funds. This delegation to the pools will help funds to manage potential conflicts of interest such as political pressures. While funds will be required to have regard to local growth plans and priorities, they have a legal fiduciary duty to pay benefits in the first instance. The pools will be FCA-regulated investment managers with the capacity to set their own assessment criteria for making local investments and will be required to conduct due diligence on local investments.
The Government will issue supporting guidance on these issues in due course.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether local authorities and mayors will be required to submit business cases for local investments to Local Government Pensions Scheme pools; and if so, what criteria will be used to evaluate those cases.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
LGPS funds and strategic authorities will be required to co-operate with each other to identify and develop appropriate investment opportunities, but there is no plan to require local authorities or mayors to submit business cases. LGPS funds and strategic authorities should agree how best to work together within their region.
The decision to make local investments will be the responsibility of the pool who must implement the strategy set by partner funds. This delegation to the pools will help funds to manage potential conflicts of interest such as political pressures. While funds will be required to have regard to local growth plans and priorities, they have a legal fiduciary duty to pay benefits in the first instance. The pools will be FCA-regulated investment managers with the capacity to set their own assessment criteria for making local investments and will be required to conduct due diligence on local investments.
The Government will issue supporting guidance on these issues in due course.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide mayoral strategic authorities with clear guidance about what constitutes a suitable investment for pension funds, in accordance with regulatory requirements, when those authorities submit proposals to investment pools.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government intends to provide guidance in due course to strategic authorities and to Local Government Pension Scheme funds and asset pools, including on working together to increase local investment.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to communicate with vulnerable people about planned welfare reform, particularly in regard to providing clarity and alleviating concerns.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have set out proposals to reform the health and disability benefits proposals in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025. A full suite of accessible versions is available including Audio, British Sign Language, Braille, Large Print and Easy Read.
The consultation will close on 30 June 2025, to ensure that everyone has sufficient time to engage with and respond to the consultation.
We want to improve and refine our plans by consulting on certain measures as described within the paper. We are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do.
The Green Paper is an important staging post on a journey of reform, building on the vision and approach set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper in November 2024. It sets out our vision, strategy and proposals for change. We would like to hear views from a wide group of people, in particular disabled people and people with health conditions and disability organisations and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post.
We are also running a number of accessible virtual and face-to-face events on the Green Paper to hear from stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative organisations, directly. More information on these events and registration are available on GOV.UK.
In the Green Paper, we have also announced that we will set up collaboration committees to develop parts of our reforms further. This will involve bringing together disabled people and other experts with civil servants around specific issues to collaborate, provide ideas, challenge, and input into recommendations.
Asked by: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication on 26 March of Spring Statement 2025: policy costings, how many corrections to benefit claims they have forecasted, and how they made these estimates.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Table 1 shows the estimated corrections to benefit claims associated with the costing entitled “Welfare Fraud and Error: Recruit over 500 new counter fraud and error staff from April 2025”. This costing is described on page 15 of the Spring Statement 2025: Policy Costings document which accompanied the publication of the Spring Statement.
Table 1. Forecast corrections to benefit claims
Total | 360000 |
Caveats:
The methodology underpinning this forecasts is outlined on page 15 of the Spring Statement 2025: Policy Costings document which accompanied the publication of the Spring Statement.
The cost base
The cost base for this measure is estimated using DWP data on performance of current fraud and error programmes and current and forecasted levels of fraud and error in DWP benefits, including national statistics on DWP fraud and error.
Costing
The costing is estimated by taking the performance of the Verify Earnings and Pensions Service and the General Matching Service and applying this to forecasted levels of DWP benefit expenditure. This produces the savings achieved from correcting payments that were incorrect in the past, as well as correcting payments that would have otherwise been incorrect in the future without DWP’s intervention.