Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) restricting eligibility for PIP, (b) reducing the health component of Universal Credit and (c) removing the health component of Universal Credit for 18-21 year olds on the unemployment rate.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the take up of benefits in households with children in poverty.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the time horizon, will be set out in the strategy publication.
We recognise the critical role Universal Credit has to play in tackling poverty and making work pay. The Department provides extensive information on Universal Credit on Gov.uk that supports claimants to identify what support may be available.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will include the removal of the (a) two-child limit and (b) benefit cap.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the time horizon, will be set out in the strategy publication.
We recognise the critical role Universal Credit has to play in tackling poverty and making work pay. The Department provides extensive information on Universal Credit on Gov.uk that supports claimants to identify what support may be available.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will set longer term goals beyond the next 10 years.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the time horizon, will be set out in the strategy publication.
We recognise the critical role Universal Credit has to play in tackling poverty and making work pay. The Department provides extensive information on Universal Credit on Gov.uk that supports claimants to identify what support may be available.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2025 to Question 38383 on G4S: Fines, what steps she is taking to (a) highlight and (b) report on steps taken by her Department to (i) monitor the performance of and (ii) impose financial penalties on G4S in relation to its key performance indicators.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has an established robust contractual performance management regime in place that reviews G4S achievement against KPIs monthly.
The top 3 KPIs achievement are published quarterly in line with Cabinet Office transparency guidelines.
In terms of fines, I refer the honourable member to PQ 38383.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people reliant on Personal Independence Payments to access employment opportunities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 March 2025 to Question UIN39344.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will publish an equality impact assessment on reforms set out in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will publish the equality analysis for measures included in the Spring Statement alongside the Spring Statement, with equality analysis for other reforms, where possible, following shortly after.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial penalties have been imposed on G4S for failing to meet key performance indicators on officer deployment or site availability in the last twelve months.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP have applied the full contract performance management regime across the last 12 months, including service credits (pre-determined costs associated with a supplier failing to deliver a service or missing a target). Over the last 12 months, strike activity on the contract has increased the amount of Service Credits applied. DWP have worked with G4S collaboratively to mitigate the impact on front line services while G4S sought a resolution to the dispute with their workforce.
The exact value of the service credits is commercially sensitive and I am therefore unable to set out exact amounts.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to lift the 2011 cap on the amount of Local Housing Allowance that can be reclaimed by local authorities to cover the cost of temporary accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We continue to keep the subsidy paid to local authorities under review and appreciate that local authorities are subject to many funding pressures. However, any increases to the subsidy paid to local authorities would require a Budget (rather than as part of a Spending Review) and would need to be taken in the context of the government’s missions, goals on housing and the broader fiscal position.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what disability rights organisations and campaigners her Department is consulting with on planned reforms the disability welfare system; and whether any user-led organisations have been consulted.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of all that we do. We have already started discussing the case for reform, including with representatives from the Disability Charities Consortium and the Disabled People’s Organisations Forum England. We intend to publish a Health and Disability Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement later this year. After publication, the proposals will be subject to a consultation involving disabled people and representative organisations, with the conclusions to be set out in a white paper later in the year.