Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

2. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of job opportunities in rural areas.

[The Minister for Employment (Dame Diana Johnson)]

The employment rate is 78.4% in rural areas, compared with 74.8% in urban areas, with job opportunities in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and scientific and technical sectors. Under this Government, economic inactivity among people aged 16 and over in rural areas has fallen by 0.8%, and through the new jobs and careers service we are providing more outreach in rural areas, including jobcentre vans, bringing employment support directly into rural communities.

[Bradley Thomas]

The picture that the Minister paints is not one that I recognise, and it is not one recognised by businesses in my constituency. Rural job opportunities have gone down, rural unemployment is up, and businesses routinely tell me that the increased cost of employment under this Government has directly contributed to their inability to continue recruiting. Does the Minister recognise that? Will she impart on the next Prime Minister the importance of a change of course?

[Dame Diana Johnson]

The question was about rural areas. It might be interesting and helpful for the hon. Member to reflect how under the last Government the number of jobs in agriculture—a key sector in rural areas—fell by 50,000 while under this Government it has risen by 5,000.

[Paula Barker (Liverpool Wavertree) (Lab)]

4. What steps he is taking to ensure that people affected by the benefit cap are not in poverty.

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[Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby) (Lab)]

8. What assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of people in employment claiming universal credit.

[The Minister for Employment (Dame Diana Johnson)]

The Department publishes data on universal credit and keeps labour market trends under review. In January 2026, 3.1 million people were on universal credit in employment, representing 37.8% of all claimants. Universal credit is designed to support people into and in work, allowing individuals to move into employment while continuing to receive support as their earnings increase.

[Ian Byrne]

As the proud parliamentary lead for the Right To Food UK Commission, I have heard powerful testimony from workers employed by large, profitable companies across the UK who are paid so little that they are driven to hardship, hunger and dependence on universal credit just to put food on the table. The DWP assesses that 1.2 million people on universal credit are working to their capacity, with their income topped up by the state because their wages are so low. That figure has increased threefold in six years. Does the Minister agree that the taxpayer should not be left to subsidise poverty pay paid by companies that employ more than 250 people? Will the Government require those companies to report on how many of their workers rely on universal credit because their wages are so low?

[Dame Diana Johnson]

I acknowledge what my hon. Friend says and I commend him for his work on the Right to Food UK Commission. I know that many people who work very hard doing important work in sectors like retail and care do not earn enough, so at the end of the week there is insufficient money and they rely on foodbanks. I invite my hon. Friend to come and talk to me about this so that we can discuss what we might be able to do about it.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The University of Cumbria has shown that average hill farm incomes are less than the national minimum wage in our communities and beyond. Despite their poverty, farmers of all kinds and small businesses often cannot claim universal credit at all because of the way that universal credit is assessed on the basis of monthly income, when they might have fluctuating annual income. Will the Minister meet me and farmers’ representatives to ensure that farmers in poverty get the support that they deserve?

[Dame Diana Johnson]

Yes, I am very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman.

[John Whitby (Derbyshire Dales) (Lab)]

10. Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that all care leavers are entitled to the same standard universal credit allowance.

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[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

11. What progress he has made on reducing levels of child poverty.

[The Minister for Employment (Dame Diana Johnson)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her interest in this area. Through our child poverty strategy, we are already taking substantial action, including the expansion of free school meals eligibility, the removal of the two-child limit and the introduction of the £1 billion crisis and resilience fund. Actions in the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty in ’29-30, and the removal of the two-child limit could benefit around 1,650 children in York Central.

[Rachael Maskell]

Lifting children out of poverty will be this Government’s greatest legacy. However, we know that around 4 million children will remain in poverty, so it is really important to go further. Last year, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested a levy on the gambling and betting industry to raise £3 billion and lift another 500,000 children out of poverty. Will the Minister ensure we do even more so that we have a greater legacy and ensure that the lives of those young people are changed forever because of the decisions of this Government?

[Dame Diana Johnson]

Like my hon. Friend, I am very proud of what the child poverty strategy will deliver. It may be worth reflecting on what the Chancellor said about child poverty at the end of last year in the Budget. She said that

“because I am tackling fraud and error in our welfare system, cracking down on tax avoidance and reforming gambling taxation, I can announce today, fully costed and fully funded, the removal of the two-child limit in full from April.”—[Official Report, 26 November 2025; Vol. 776, c. 397.]

I hope that reassures my hon. Friend that that was taken into account in the decisions taken by the Chancellor.

[Zöe Franklin (Guildford) (LD)]

It was interesting to hear the Minister’s comments in relation to the last question. In assessing progress on reducing levels of child poverty, what assessment has been made of hidden pockets of deprivation in places such as my own constituency? Overall child poverty in Guildford after housing costs is 13.2%, but in some of the neighbourhoods in my constituency, including the one where I was previously a councillor, that number rises to 50%. I continue to find that deeply shocking, and it presents very specific challenges in areas such as mine. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that children living in these pockets are not overlooked by their own policy?

[Dame Diana Johnson]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point. The child poverty strategy is a 10-year strategy. We are very clear that, as Ministers across Government, we need to be looking at all areas of what Government can do to address child poverty, and there is a key measure around deep material poverty that we need to look at. It is really important that we work with local councils, combined authorities and mayors, because there is some really good work going on in local areas to address those pockets, which might be missed in the overall picture. Local areas are very well aware of where more work needs to happen.

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[Martin Vickers (Brigg and Immingham) (Con)]

I recently visited Grimsby jobcentre and met Nick Gregory and Jo Corney, two excellent officials. One piece of information they gave me was about the opening of a youth hub in Scunthorpe, which will serve many parts of my constituency, but many of the young people who go will be from rural areas. What new initiatives are the Government planning to help provide work for young people in rural areas?

[The Minister for Employment (Dame Diana Johnson)]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s comments about the excellent DWP officials in our area. Youth hubs will be in areas where we are working with, say, sports clubs and other organisations. We are also looking at whether we can use buses to get mobile youth hubs out to rural areas in particular, so perhaps that is a conversation we can carry on outside to see what we can do.

[Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

Before being elected to this place, I spent many years looking at how we can tackle the NEET crisis. Does the Secretary of State agree that we should be ambitious for our young people and aim to have 0% NEETs?