Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson's Disease are in receipt of the Universal Credit health element.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information is not readily available.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson's get contribution based Employment Support Allowance and are allocated to the Support Group.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of May 2025, there were 1,800 claimants in receipt of contributory Employment and Support Allowance in the Support Group with the main disabling condition ‘Parkinson’s disease or syndrome’. In the same month, there were 300 claimants in receipt of contributory Employment and Support Allowance in the Support Group with the main disabling condition ‘Parkinsonism’.
Data is based on primary medical condition as recorded on the ESA computer systems. Claimants may have multiple disabling conditions on which their entitlement is based but only the primary condition is available for statistical purposes and shown in these statistics.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson's Disease listed as their primary condition are in receipt of the Universal Credit health element.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held by the Department.
A defined ‘primary condition’ is not recorded at the Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment (WCA).
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued on whether people on Universal Credit are entitled to raise funds for the purpose of standing for election.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Funding received and managed by local and national political parties would not be taken into account in assessing an individual’s entitlement for Universal Credit (UC). Money received personally by an individual, including for their political purposes, is generally treated as capital in UC, and can affect eligibility and payment amounts if a customer’s total capital exceeds £6,000. There are no plans to review these rules.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure the compatibility of his Department's guidance on political crowdfunding for people on Universal Credit with Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Money received personally by an individual through crowdfunding, including for their political purposes, is generally treated as capital in Universal Credit, and can affect eligibility and payment amounts if a customer’s total capital exceeds £6,000. There are no plans to review these rules.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising Statutory Sick Pay for the parents and carers of children with severe health conditions.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statutory Sick Pay provides financial support to individual employees who are sick or incapable of work. It is not designed to provide financial support for parents or carers who are not able to work because their child is sick or has a health condition.
Parents who cannot work because their child is sick, rather than being directly incapable of work due to sickness themselves, have a number of options open to them such as asking their employer if they can work flexibly or requesting to take emergency leave. Parents may also be eligible to apply for welfare benefits, such as Carer's allowance or Universal Credit, depending on their circumstances.
The Department for Business and Trade is currently developing a consultation on employment rights for carers, including specific measures for the parents and carers of seriously ill children. This will consider what employment rights may help families in such distressing situations. The consultation will take place in 2026.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit health element applicants (a) had Parkinson's as their primary condition and (b) were found eligible in the last (i) three, (ii) six and (iii) twelve months.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
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 Secretary of State for Defence on the need for amputee veterans to undertake capability assessments every two years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has not proposed to introduce two year assessments for any specific group.
Currently, Work Capability Assessment re-assessments are prioritised for customers on Employment and Support Allowance and the health element of Universal Credit who report a change in their health condition. Routine department-led reassessments are scheduled according to expected prognosis length for recovery and subject to available assessment capacity.
Individuals who have Limited Capability for Work- and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA), with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function means that they will always have LCWRA and are unlikely ever to be able to move into work, are not routinely reassessed.
Our wide-ranging package of reforms to health and disability benefits, set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will improve experiences of the system for those who need it. The functional impact and severity of a condition can significantly vary across individuals, which is why we will continue to ensure that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will not need to be reassessed.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether amputee veterans will need to undertake capacity reassessments ever two years as part of proposed welfare reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has not proposed to introduce two year assessments for any specific group.
Currently, Work Capability Assessment re-assessments are prioritised for customers on Employment and Support Allowance and the health element of Universal Credit who report a change in their health condition. Routine department-led reassessments are scheduled according to expected prognosis length for recovery and subject to available assessment capacity.
Individuals who have Limited Capability for Work- and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA), with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function means that they will always have LCWRA and are unlikely ever to be able to move into work, are not routinely reassessed.
Our wide-ranging package of reforms to health and disability benefits, set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will improve experiences of the system for those who need it. The functional impact and severity of a condition can significantly vary across individuals, which is why we will continue to ensure that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will not need to be reassessed.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40715 on Universal Credit: Disability, what steps she is taking to ensure that savings reinvested into (a) work support and (b) training opportunities impact recipients of Universal Credit health top up in (i) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (ii) Scotland and (iii) other devolved administrations.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work. This is backed up by £1 billion of new funding across the United Kingdom, with the share of funding for devolved governments calculated in the usual way.
In Northern Ireland employment support is fully transferred. In Scotland and Wales, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Scottish and Welsh Governments have concurrent powers to deliver employment support, with some provision delivered and funded directly by DWP and some funding devolved through the block grant.
As outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are committed to working in partnership with the Scottish and Welsh Governments on shared employment ambitions across devolved and reserved provision, which includes employment support measures in the Health and Disability Green Paper.