Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by Maternity Action, entitled Pushed into Poverty, published in May 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the recommendation on £7.99 million model costing for maternity allowance to be treated as earned income by Universal Credit on women in low income jobs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of treating Maternity Allowance as earned income for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what long-term plans her Department has to increase levels of (a) maternity, (b) paternity and (c) parental pay in line with the National Living Wage.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. When considering calls to increase the level of maternity benefits generally, those must be balanced against limited resources as well as being mindful of the burden on employers, the needs of parents and could not be made without consultation with businesses and other stakeholders. Further, any changes would need to take account of economic circumstances and affordability for taxpayers.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.
From April 2025, the rate for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.
Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings.
We know that the parental leave system needs improvement. In the Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government.
The review provides us with an opportunity to consider the current framework of parental leave entitlements and how they should operate as a holistic system to improve the support available for working families.
We will also take the opportunity to establish a set of objectives for the parental leave system, which reflect the needs of GB’s modern economy. This has been lacking in recent years as the framework of entitlements has evolved over time.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 merits of increasing (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Maternity Allowance and (c) Shared Parental Pay to 62.5 per cent of the weekly National Living Wage by 2028.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. When considering calls to increase the level of maternity benefits generally, those must be balanced against limited resources as well as being mindful of the burden on employers, the needs of parents and could not be made without consultation with businesses and other stakeholders. Further, any changes would need to take account of economic circumstances and affordability for taxpayers.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.
From April 2025, the rate for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.
Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings.
We know that the parental leave system needs improvement. In the Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government.
The review provides us with an opportunity to consider the current framework of parental leave entitlements and how they should operate as a holistic system to improve the support available for working families.
We will also take the opportunity to establish a set of objectives for the parental leave system, which reflect the needs of GB’s modern economy. This has been lacking in recent years as the framework of entitlements has evolved over time.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families subject to no recourse to public funds in Northern Ireland (a) are in receipt of Healthy Start and (b) have had their application for Healthy Start rejected.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department transferred the Healthy Start Extension Scheme to the NHS Business Services Authority at the beginning of April 2025.
Since April 2025, and as of the 11 June 2025, there are no families in Northern Ireland subject to no recourse to public funds who are in receipt of the Healthy Start Extension Scheme, or who have had an application rejected.
The Department does not hold data on the number of rejected applications prior to the NHS Business Services Authority taking over the running of the extension scheme in April 2025.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) British and (b) Irish citizens emigrated from Northern Ireland in 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office does not hold this information.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish the Shawcross report into compensation for UK victims of Gaddafi-sponsored IRA terrorism.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has profound sympathy for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored Irish Republican Army terrorism and indeed for all victims of the Troubles. The Shawcross Report was commissioned by the previous government as an internal report drawing on a series of private and confidential conversations. We will keep decisions on publication regarding the Shawcross Report under review.