Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, with which organisations she has held discussions on the proposed changes in rate of Universal Credit components.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We urgently need reform to stop people from falling into inactivity, restore trust and fairness in the system and promote the interests of disabled people. Therefore, there are some measures announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the 18 March 2025 that we will not be consulting on.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out our wider plan to reform the system by rebalancing the levels of the UC standard allowance and the UC health element. Our objective is a social security system which is pro-work but provides adequate financial support for people when they are not working, regardless of the reason. The changes to UC payment rates will be introduced in primary legislation, and so will be fully debated in Parliament, and are not subject to consultation.

No additional engagement on the changes to UC payment rates was sought before the publication of the Green Paper. We are, however, consulting on a number of other measures in the Paper. We would like to hear views from disabled people and representative organisations, and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to e-petition 701064.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

A response was sent to the Petitions Committee (Commons Select Committee) on 3 April 2025 for consideration for publication.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times her Department has used (a) section 71 and (b) section 71ZE of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to recover assets from people found to have committed fraud in each of the last five years.

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

The Department has not recovered assets from the debtor, such as through a writ of possession or charging order, under either section 71 or section 71ZE of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 in the last five years. Debts under section 71 are currently recovered by deduction from benefit or a Direct Earnings Attachment. However, the Department does use The Proceeds Of Crime Act to recover assets following criminal prosecutions.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Public Sector Fraud Authority has applied to the county court for a recovery order for the assets of people found to have committed fraud in each of the last five years.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) works with government departments and public bodies to understand and reduce the impact of fraud and error against the public sector. The PSFA is expected to surpass its 2024-25 target of recovering and preventing £250m of fraud - ensuring public money is out of the hands of fraudsters.

Since the Authority’s launch in 2022, the PSFA has started the pilot of the new Enforcement Unit for government, which began fraud investigations in May 2024.The Enforcement Unit is actively investigating cases of fraud, and will seek to use relevant civil powers to recover funds stolen by fraudsters. To date, the PSFA has not applied to any county court for a recovery order regarding the assets of people found to have committed fraud.

This government is taking tough action to reduce public sector fraud. In January, we introduced the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, giving us more tools to combat fraud, allowing government to investigate fraud, recover public money and sending fraudsters a clear message: you won’t get away with stealing public money.

Found: The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Helen Whately, said that in principle the Conservative Party