Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for construction-related courses in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 November 2025 to Parliamentary Question UIN 90589.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support pensioners with (a) energy, (b) food and (c) housing costs in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government provides a range of measures to help pensioners with the cost of living.
Most significantly, the Government’s commitment to supporting and delivering for older people by maintaining the Triple Lock throughout this Parliament will ensure the value of State Pensions continues to rise faster than prices over time. On current forecasts it means pensioners’ yearly incomes are set to rise by up to £2,100 by the end of this Parliament.
From this Winter, around 9 million pensioners in England and Wales, over three quarters of all pensioners, will benefit from Winter Fuel Payments. In addition, for eligible households, Cold Weather Payments are made automatically during periods of severe weather, and the Warm Home Discount provides a £150 annual rebate on electricity bills. Pensioners receiving Pension Credit qualify automatically for Cold Weather Payments and the Warm Home Discount.
Pension Credit continues to provide invaluable financial support to help low-income pensioners with their day-to-day living costs. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign, promoting it to eligible pensioners, their families and friends, so that more pensioners receive the financial help to which they are entitled. Housing Benefit is also available to help pensioners who rent their homes. Pensioner homeowners who receive an income-related benefit, including Pension Credit, can receive Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI), which provides help towards the interest on eligible loans secured against their home and means they can stay in their homes without fear of repossession.
Finally, we have enabled local authorities such as Surrey County Council to provide discretionary assistance to pensioners facing hardship, through the Household Support Fund, which has been extended until March 2026. This fund helps vulnerable households with the cost of essentials such as food and energy.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle pensioner poverty in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The State Pension remains the foundation of our support for pensioners, and our commitment to maintain the Triple Lock throughout this Parliament will ensure its value continues to rise over time. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the basic and new State Pensions will, increase by 4.8% in April 2026, benefitting over 12 million pensioners by up to £575. It also means the new State Pension is set to rise by over £2,000 over this Parliament.
Pension Credit continues to provide vital financial support for pensioners who, for whatever reason, find themselves on a low income. It does this by guaranteeing a minimum level of income - called the Standard Minimum Guarantee - which will also, subject to Parliamentary approval, increase by 4.8%, protecting the most vulnerable pensioners.
Crucially, receipt of Pension Credit also opens the door to other financial support, including Housing Benefit, Council Tax support and help with NHS costs as well as help with fuel bills and a free TV licence for those over 75. Maximising the take-up of Pension Credit remains a key priority. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign, promoting Pension Credit to eligible pensioners and their family and friends. The latest campaign burst started in September and activity is planned until the end of the financial year.
Our campaign features adverts on television and 'video on demand', radio (including Greatest Hits radio, Hits Radio Lincolnshire, Classic FM and Smooth), social media, digital screens in GP surgeries and Post Offices (13 locations in Lincolnshire), as well as press activity (including advertorials in the Lincolnshire Echo, Grantham Journal, Lincolnshire Free Press, Spalding Guardian and the Stamford Mercury).
For households facing financial hardship, the Household Support Fund remains available, with funding extended to March 2026.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people with mental health illnesses into work in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and supporting people into work.
Disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with mental health conditions, are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work including those that join up employment and health systems.
In Surrey, Work Coaches refer customers to Talking Therapies via the Healthy Surrey website, ensuring timely access to professional mental health support. Additionally, DWP has strong relationships with We Are With You (Talking Therapies), particularly through Woking Jobcentre Plus (JCP) and other Surrey sites, enabling seamless referrals.
Our Youth Hub in Surrey Heath plays a key role in supporting young people with mental health needs. Mental health services such as Mind Matters, Social Prescribing, and WorkWell feed into the hub, ensuring young people can access wraparound support for wellbeing alongside employment advice. WorkWell has a twice-weekly presence at Guildford JCP, offering mental health and employment support.
Connect to Work is opening across all of England and Wales throughout 2025 and early 2026 and the Surrey Connect to Work delivery area is open for referrals. This new voluntary, locally commissioned Supported Employment programme is suitable for individuals with mental health conditions to find and stay in work. Participants are given a dedicated specialist employment support adviser who works alongside them to understand their career goals and help them to address any specific barriers to employment. The employment adviser works with both the employer and the participant to ensure that the transition into work is smooth and that the workplace is inclusive.
Other measures to support people with mental health conditions into work include support from Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.
Our Health Work Coaches provide personalised support, including Pathways to Work and Additional Work Coach Time (AWCT) interventions, ensuring individuals receive consistent and empathetic guidance. The GP Outreach and GP Integrated Mental Health Service intersect many mental health referrals, providing holistic support and signposting.
In recognition of employers’ vital role in addressing health-related economic activity, we appointed Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead the Keep Britain Working independent review, which was published on 5 November. In partnership with DBT and DHSC we are launching Vanguards to test new employer-led approaches to support individuals to stay in work, putting his key recommendations into action from day one. In the review, Sir Charlie recommended that mental health in young people should be a priority area for the Vanguards to explore.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan also states the Government’s intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing the adequacy of support available to pensioners in schemes with differing indexation arrangements.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has no plans to retrospectively change defined benefit pension scheme rules to align what are highly variable indexation arrangements.
Our reforms will however introduce greater flexibility for more trustees to share surplus with employers, deliver better outcomes for members and benefit the wider economy. Trustees will be able to require that employers approve discretionary indexation for members as part of any agreement to release surplus funds to the employer.
The Pension Regulator already sets out that trustees should consider the situation of those members who would benefit from a discretionary increase and whether the scheme has a history of making such awards. The Regulator will be producing further guidance on surplus sharing once the legislation is in place.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 number of people using the Access to Work scheme in (a) Surrey Heath constituency and (b) Surrey.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not publish Access to Work data at constituency or county level. However, national statistics show that 61,670 people received Access to Work support across Great Britain in the financial year ending March 2025.
Further details are available in the official publication: Access to Work statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative data his Department holds on rates of (a) child poverty and (b) homelessness in (i) Surrey Heath constituency, (ii) Surrey, (iii) the South East and (iv) England.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, the latest available being: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty on a before housing costs basis at local level are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication, the latest available being: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
Homelessness statistics are published by MHCLG: Statutory homelessness in England: financial year 2024-25 - GOV.UK
Ahead of Child Poverty Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty. The removal of the two child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures announced this year, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of households experiencing food insecurity in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data on the number of households experiencing food insecurity by constituency is not available due to sample sizes.
Statistics on the number of individuals living in households that are food insecure by region in the UK are published annually in the “Family Resources Survey” publication in “table 9_2” of “Household food security tables” at Family Resources Survey: financial year 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
The latest statistics published on 27 March 2025 are for the financial period 2023/24. The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the level of demand for food support services in Surrey Heath constituency in winter 2025-26.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have not made a specific assessment of the potential implications for our policies of trends in the level of demand for food support services in Surrey Heath during winter 2025–26 but the Government is committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of families falling into poverty. Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by an initial £240 million investment in 2025/26, will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.
We have provided £742 million in England to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) until 31 March 2026. This enables Local Authorities to continue to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food, and develop their schemes to help prevent poverty locally and build local resilience.
The Government also recognises that greater certainty helps local authorities to design and deliver sustainable plans for local welfare. This is why from 1 April 2026, we are introducing a new £1 billion Crisis and Resilience fund package. This is the first ever multi-year settlement for locally delivered crisis support. This longer-term funding approach aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis.
Further, ahead of Child Poverty Strategy publication in the coming weeks, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty. The removal of the two child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures announced this year, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
Finally, we have committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have already introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, reducing the Universal Credit overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance, giving 1.2m households an average of £420 per year. In addition, we have also uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of unemployment for (a) younger and (b) older people in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is published and available at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users can be found at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
The estimated unemployment levels can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “annual population survey (Dec 2004 to Jun 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant Westminster constituency from the menu, and the Variable set to the desired age group from the “Unemployment rate” Category.