Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing maximum statutory workplace temperatures.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to PQ 3463.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Child Poverty Strategy in the absence of statutory targets for reducing child poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our Child Poverty Strategy sets out the steps we are taking to reduce child poverty this Parliament, lifting 550,000 children out of poverty in 2029/30. These interventions are set to lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK), published alongside the Strategy, sets out how progress will be assessed through a clear framework, including headline metrics on relative low income and deep material poverty, alongside a comprehensive programme of analysis and cross‑government working. Further details on our approach will follow in a baseline report this summer, alongside the latest statistics and evidence.
The Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually and we also hold ourselves to account on our progress through the monitoring and evaluation arrangements we have put in place. This means that from this year and in future years, the progress we make is transparent for all.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of older private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit whose rent exceeds the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate; and what assessment he has made of the impact the extended freeze of LHA rates has had on these households.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Information on the number of older private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit, and if it covers rent (after application of Local Housing Allowance, reductions and deductions), is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit official statistics. The information can be found in the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset and is currently available to February 2026. https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed LHA rates and confirmed in his written ministerial statement on 26 November 2025 that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27.
Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for discretionary support through the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Housing Payments from local authorities in England. In Wales and Scotland Discretionary Housing Payments apply.