Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her policy is on whether people receiving Personal Independence Payment would stay within the existing system in instances where their case is reviewed or renewed.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I set out in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, this Government has listened to the concerns raised by Members from across the House regarding the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Clause 5 of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would have amended the legal framework underpinning PIP assessments, specifically by changing the eligibility criteria through adjustments to the activities and descriptors used to determine entitlement.
In light of the concerns raised, I confirmed during the debate that we are going to remove clause 5 from the Bill in Committee.
(Hansard, 1 July, col 219)
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
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 the announcement of 60% office-based attendance on staff wellbeing in her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Civil Service Heads of Departments across government have agreed that the Civil Service is best able to deliver for the people it serves by taking a consistent approach to in office working. Heads of Departments agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.
The approach allows teams and departments to maximise the benefits of hybrid working and to get the best from being together. This also reflects the view of Civil Service leaders that there remain clear benefits to spending time working together face-to-face as the government delivers on the Missions commitments. The Civil Service approach is comparable to other large private and public sector employers.
In DWP around 35% of colleagues spend 100% of their time working in the office delivering face-to-face services to customers. Other colleagues are able to work in a hybrid way spending part of their time in the office and part of their time working from home. Senior Civil Service colleagues are expected to work from the office (which includes face to face time with colleagues or partners on official business elsewhere) for more than 60% of their contracted hours and the Department has now announced that colleagues at all other grades will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their contracted hours in the office from 1 September 2025. We have undertaken an Equality Analysis in respect of the increase to in office attendance to 60%.
Our revised hybrid offer, which for most hybrid working colleagues will mean them working, on average, from home two days per week, will still retain significant flexibility in line with the rest of the Civil Service. We are committed to supporting colleagues with workplace adjustments to thrive in DWP and line managers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 for employees with disabilities.
There is a wide range of wellbeing support available within the Department from physical to mental health as well as financial wellbeing. Colleagues have been signposted to this support through communications and advice. Colleagues have also been advised to speak to their line manager if they have any concerns regarding the change to 60% office attendance. The Department conducts regular colleague surveys to understand how colleagues are feeling about their wellbeing.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make assessment of the potential merits of flexible working in her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP recognises the potential merits of flexible working and has experience over decades of offering and allowing a variety of flexibilities. Flexible working hours, compressed hours, part-time hours, part-year working and partial retirement are firmly established practices across DWP, enjoyed at any time by thousands of our employees. Latterly, our flexible working offer has been added to with appropriate hybrid and home working. We will continue to keep our flexible working offer under review to ensure it reflects good employment practices, is legally compliant and appropriate for DWP’s public service function, and attractive for current and future employees we wish to recruit and retain in a competitive jobs market.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many alcohol industry representatives Ministers in his Department have met since July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Details of ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Data for the period of July to September 2024 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have deferred their State Pension.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is not possible to estimate the overall number of people who have deferred their State Pension, because we do not know who has deferred until they make their claim for it.
In May 2023, there were 138,872 people who had made a deferred claim for their New State Pension and are now in receipt of extra State Pension.
Data is not available on deferred claims from those reaching State Pension age prior to 2016, as the statistics were suspended following the introduction of a new DWP computer system. The most recently published statistics showing the total number of pensioners receiving extra State Pension are from May 2021 and are available here (Extra State Pension is referred to as “increments” in this document.): DWP benefits statistics: May 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish her Department's response to the consultation entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published in April 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The consultation on the Modernising Support Green Paper closed on Monday 22 July. Over 16,000 responses have been received and we will review these responses.
The proposals in this Green Paper were developed by the previous government. We will be considering our own approach to social security in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the (a) effectiveness of systems and (b) potential pressures on his Department's phonelines during summer 2023 of requirements to notify his Department of trips abroad by claimants of the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Claimants are expected to contact the DWP if their circumstances change, including notification of periods abroad. Periods abroad may affect a claimant’s entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), so we need to know the date a claimant is leaving the country, how long they are planning to be out of the country, which country they are going to, and the purpose of the visit.
We have record levels of demand for PIP, and in turn this has increased pressure on the PIP Helpline. To meet this additional demand, significant recruitment activity has been taking place which is having a positive impact on calls answered and wait times.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to help support people to find suitable work, in the context of changes to thresholds for Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The government is committed to supporting people both into work and to progress in work. The changes to the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) ensure that more Universal Credit claimants on low incomes are provided with regular Work Coach support to help them grow their earnings. This could be by accessing provision to improve their skills, identifying opportunities to work more hours or progress with their current employer, or finding a role that better suits their careers aspirations with another employer or sector.
We have also introduced a new In Work Progression Offer, which provides Work Coach engagement to UC claimants earning above the AET. This is supported by 37 new District Progression Leads who are working with key partners, including local government, employers, and skills providers to identify and develop local progression opportunities, and to overcome barriers that limit progression, such as childcare and transport.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much he plans to spend on improving musculoskeletal health to reduce worklessness in the next five year]; and what aspects of musculoskeletal health he plans to spend that funding on.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
In the spring budget the government set out a package of measures to provide an extra £406 million over the next five years to tackle the leading health-related causes keeping people out of work, which includes investment targeted at services for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.
The government will pilot integrating vocational advice within MSK services to ensure people can access holistic support locally, scale up MSK Hubs in the community and ensure digital resources, such as apps for management of MSK conditions, are readily available so that more people can easily and quickly access the support that is right for them.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to help ensure that people with arthritis can stay in work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
A range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis, to start, stay, and succeed in work.
These include:
To tackle rising economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, we announced a wide-reaching package at the Spring Budget to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work. New investment will provide faster access to joined-up work and health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions; the two leading causes of economic inactivity due to long term sickness.