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Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Energy
Tuesday 29th April 2025

Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve energy efficiency across her Department's estate.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have interpreted this to refer to measures undertaken across the Department’s estate in support of broader sustainability and decarbonisation objectives.

DWP is forecast to achieve the challenging energy efficiency related targets set out in the Greening Government Commitments (GGC), which finished in April 2025. While we await final clearance on the latest iteration GGC framework, we continue to prioritise energy efficiency across our operational estate.

The DWPs strategy for improving energy efficiency includes:

  • Strategic asset acquisition – Ensuring energy performance is a key consideration in the procurement and leasing of new assets.
  • Decarbonising existing estate – Through technologies such as solar PV, decarbonisation of heating systems, LED lighting upgrades, minimum design standards for all works undertaken and building management system (BMS) enhancements.
  • Operational optimisation – Including active monitoring, smart controls, management system development and behavioural interventions to reduce consumption and improve performance.

Looking ahead to this financial year, we intend to expand and accelerate these activities, subject to available resources, building on successful projects and continuing to embed energy efficiency as a core principle of our estate strategy

Written Question
Access to Work Programme
Monday 16th March 2020

Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to promote the Access to Work scheme to disabled people.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

Access to Work continues to undertake targeted marketing and awareness raising activities. For example, the scheme is promoted to benefit claimants through Jobcentre Plus and to a range of business leaders through the Disability Confident scheme. We have also worked with a variety of stakeholder organisations to market Access to Work to their clients, including sharing information about how individuals can apply for support.

The 2018/19 AtW statistics illustrate the increase in support provided by Access to Work, with over 36,000, the highest ever number of people with disabilities and health conditions receiving tailored and flexible support to do their job.