Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential impact of her Department's welfare reforms on people in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department works closely with all the Devolved Governments, including the Northern Ireland Executive, on a range of policy matters.

Proposals for reform to the system of health and disability benefits were set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025. The consultation will run for a full 12 weeks, once all accessible versions are published. Social security and employment support are transferred in Northern Ireland, although the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive work closely together to maintain parity between their respective social security systems, to the extent agreed between them. We welcome comments on the consultation from individuals and organisations in Northern Ireland, which will then be shared with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

The Government published the OBR-certified costings of individual measures on the day of the Spring Statement on 26 March.

We will work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure we are helping people in Northern Ireland into work and off benefits, and on the interactions between reserved and devolved areas of responsibility as a result of these proposals.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Extender Producer Responsibility fee structure on the glass packaging industry; and whether he has considered adopting a units-based metric.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (EPR) will move the cost of dealing with household packaging waste away from taxpayers and onto the packaging producers (applying the ‘polluter pays principle’). This will give producers responsibility for the costs of the packaging they use throughout its life cycle, encouraging businesses to reduce their use of packaging and use packaging which is easier to recycle and reuse.

The Government is not currently considering the adoption of a units-based metric for EPR fees. Extender Producer Responsibility disposal fees for packaging are calculated in £ per tonne of household packaging placed on the market in accordance with the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. Whilst producers report the packaging they supply on a weight basis, the costs for managing different material types, such as glass, are apportioned according to relevant cost drivers for their collection and management, including the volume of the container in bins and collection vehicles. This ensures the fair apportionment of costs between material types in line with the regulations.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of her Department's proposed welfare reforms on the Northern Ireland block grant.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

For any funding implications of these welfare reforms, the arrangements set out in the Statement of Funding Policy will apply in the usual way.

Where UK Government programmes are in Annually Managed Expenditure (AME), such as welfare, the UK Government provides AME funding to the Northern Ireland Executive. Where the Northern Ireland Executive offers broadly comparable terms, the UK Government funds the costs of the programme.

If the Northern Ireland Executive offers more generous terms, the higher costs must be met by the Northern Ireland Executive.

As set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive on the proposals, in line with the general principle of parity in matters of social security between DWP and its counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities.

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