Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Department will provide a projection of how many people will gain (a) full-time and (b) part-time employment after their placement on the Youth Guarantee scheme.

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

As part of the Youth Guarantee we are breaking the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing paid work for every eligible 18-21 year old who has been on Universal Credit, looking for work, for 18 months. This will give young people their first step on the ladder, with wraparound support to develop skills and gain experience needed for the move in to sustained jobs.

Wherever possible we want the young person to be able to secure a sustained job and continue in employment, either with the same employer or a new employer. That’s why we are providing funding for wraparound support to ensure that young people are supported into work, in their job and as they transition off the scheme.

Young people will also benefit from the c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training we’re funding through the Youth Guarantee. We will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers, known as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.

The Department has commissioned an evaluation of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers to build evidence on how the program improves employment outcomes, economic inactivity, participation in education and training, and systems integration. The Department will continue to monitor the outcomes of young people participating in the Youth Guarantee nationally, and a full process evaluation of the Jobs Guarantee is planned.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has been made of the potential impact of the (a) the Youth Guarantee and (b) the Government’s new scheme for under-25s on the workload of employers.

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

Nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 – around one in eight - are currently Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET). To tackle this crisis of opportunity, the government has expanded the Youth Guarantee.

The Government is investing £820 million over the Spending Review period in the Youth Guarantee, to reach almost 900,000 young people, including through Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24 –year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training and provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

The Department has commissioned an evaluation of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers to build evidence on how the program improves employment outcomes, economic inactivity, participation in education and training, and systems integration.

The Department will continue to monitor the outcomes of young people participating in the Youth Guarantee nationally, and a full process evaluation of the Jobs Guarantee is planned.

Employers are integral to the success of the Youth Guarantee, and we will be working closely with Youth Guarantee supporters and partners who choose to access DWP’s employer commitment. Employers will benefit from a tailored support service to help fill vacancies with Jobcentre candidates, including job description support, faster recruitment, vacancy promotion, use of Jobcentre space for interviews, access to the free Find a Job site, and expert advice from a dedicated Recruitment Manager.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded as non-UK nationals in each month since 1 July 2024.

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

The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. ‘Table 1’ in the latest Universal Credit immigration status and nationality data tables provides information on the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each month from April 2022 to October 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many LinkedIn Learning licences were provided to Department for Work and Pensions staff; and what the total cost of those licences was, in each calendar quarter from Q1 2023 to the most recent quarter for which data is available.

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

The table below shows the number of licenses purchased and costs associated since Q1 2023.

These are annual subscriptions and have not been renewed since 2024.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals have received the State Pension for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of State Pension paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Department does not hold data on the nationality of individuals in receipt of the State Pension, as nationality is not recorded as part of the State Pension claim process, as was the case under the last Conservative Government. Eligibility for the State Pension is based on an individual's National Insurance record over their working life.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people brought to the United Kingdom under the Gaza scholarship students route claim (a) Universal Credit, (b) PIP and (c) other benefits.

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

The majority of migrants on temporary, time-limited visas (such as for work or study) are subject to a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition for at least 5 years. This restricts them from accessing certain public funded benefits and services. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits (such as Universal Credit) to individuals where the Home Office has applied an NRPF condition to their immigration status.

Students who are supported to exit Gaza are still required to meet all of the requirements of the student route, and are subject to the same No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) conditions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many adults accompanying children that have been brought to the United Kingdom under the HMG Gaza Medevac scheme are claiming (a) Universal Credit, (b) PIP and (c) other benefits.

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

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals have had their No Recourse to Public Funds status withdrawn since July 2024, broken down by month.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on changes of conditions on GOV.UK within the Immigration and protection data: July to September 2025, available in tabs CoC_01 to CoC_07 of the Migration Transparency Data dataset.

When an individual is considered for assessment of Change of Conditions, various No Recourse to Public Funds conditions are checked, with ‘destitution’ being one of these conditions.

The specific information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals have received Pension Credit for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of Pension Credit paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The requested statistics are not held by the Department.

Entitlement to Pension Credit depends on a person’s residence or immigration status, including the requirement to have the right to reside and to be able to be treated as factually habitually resident in Great Britain. Foreign nationals must also have an immigration status that gives access to public funds, which most will not have until they have lived in the UK for at least 5 years.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the total amount of Child Benefit paid to non-UK nationals since July 2024, broken down by month; and what proportion of that amount was paid for children who don’t reside in the UK.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC no longer produce a breakdown of Child benefit claimed by nationality.

This release was discontinued following user consultation.

The latest publication was in August 2022. Income Tax, National Insurance contributions, Tax Credits and Child Benefit Statistics for Non-UK Nationals: 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals who entered in the United Kingdom without leave since July 2024 are in receipt of payments from his Department; and what is the (a) total and (b) per person sum of those payments.

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

Those in the UK without lawful status are persons subject to immigration control and have no recourse to public funds. This means that those in the UK without a valid immigration status are not able to access public funds benefits including Universal Credit.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals have received Winter Fuel Payments for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of Winter Fuel Payments paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The requested statistics are not held by the Department.

The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2025 changed the entitlement conditions so that payments are only made to people living in England or Wales. As a result, from Winter 2025/26, Winter Fuel Payments are no longer paid outside the UK.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many a) UK nationals and b) non-UK nationals are in receipt of Universal Credit, who are currently abroad for a period of more than six 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.

A customer who is claiming Universal Credit (UC) can go abroad for up to one calendar month. If the claimant exceeds the period abroad and the reason for the trip abroad does not fall under circumstances that allow exemption, a temporary absence decision will be made and assessment periods that exceed the month can be reduced to nil entitlement. If there is a doubt on whether the claimant is habitually resident, a Habitual Residence Test will take place and a decision made on whether the claim should be disallowed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many a) UK nationals and b) non-UK nationals are in receipt of Universal Credit, who are currently abroad for a period of up to six 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.

A customer who is claiming Universal Credit (UC) can go abroad for up to one calendar month. If the claimant exceeds the period abroad and the reason for the trip abroad does not fall under circumstances that allow exemption, a temporary absence decision will be made and assessment periods that exceed the month can be reduced to nil entitlement. If there is a doubt on whether the claimant is habitually resident, a Habitual Residence Test will take place and a decision made on whether the claim should be disallowed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what career coaching, career transition, and redeployment support services are available to staff in his Department through centrally provided civil service programmes.

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

The table below shows the career and redeployment support options available to DWP employees.

The information is based on DWP’s use of the centrally provided Civil Service Learning Frameworks service. The data covers the period from January 2023 to December 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to verify the ongoing residency of non-UK national claimants who have been absent from the UK for more than a month.

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

The Department uses the Habitual Residence Test (HRT) for income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit, to assess whether someone has a legal right to be here and whether they are factually resident in the UK. For an individual to be factually habitually resident they must have been present in the UK for an appreciable period, usually between one and three months, and have a settled intention to remain.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the expenditure on the Milburn Review into youth inactivity has been.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the expenditure on the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment is, including payments to external contractors and panel members.

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

Members of the Timms Review steering group will be paid at a rate of £300 a day, with an expected time commitment of up to 5 days a month. The Review’s two external co-chairs, who were appointed in October 2025, are paid at a rate of £400 a day, with the same expected time commitment. In addition to their fees, members of the steering group and the co-chairs will be reimbursed for any reasonable expenses, including travel, accommodation and the costs of any accessibility requirements required in the course of their work on the Review.

This approach is to remove financial barriers to participation, ensuring no one is excluded due to cost, and is based on strong feedback from disabled people and other experts.

The Department also put in a contract with The Public Service Consultants (PSC) to support the Review. This is the first time that the Government has undertaken co-production on this scale, and we want to ensure we have the expertise to get it right. The contract was signed by the Department on 29th December 2025. To date, there have been no payments through this contract to them as external contractors.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid in fees and expenses to external members appointed to the Timms Review.

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

Members of the Timms Review steering group will be paid at a rate of £300 a day, with an expected time commitment of up to 5 days a month. The Review’s two external co-chairs, who were appointed in October 2025, are paid at a rate of £400 a day, with the same expected time commitment. In addition to their fees, members of the steering group and the co-chairs will be reimbursed for any reasonable expenses, including travel, accommodation and the costs of any accessibility requirements required in the course of their work on the Review.

This approach is to remove financial barriers to participation, ensuring no one is excluded due to cost, and is based on strong feedback from disabled people and other experts.

The Department also put in a contract with The Public Service Consultants (PSC) to support the Review. This is the first time that the Government has undertaken co-production on this scale, and we want to ensure we have the expertise to get it right. The contract was signed by the Department on 29th December 2025. To date, there have been no payments through this contract to them as external contractors.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Youth Hubs there were in January (a) 2025 and (b) 2026.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to increasing opportunities for young people. That is why the Department for Work & Pensions is expanding Youth Hubs for 16–24 year olds to increase coverage to more than 360 locations across Great Britain, ensuring that every young person - including those not receiving benefits - can access opportunities and comprehensive support in their local area.

In January 2026, there were 114 fully opened Youth Hubs. For new and existing Youth Hubs, we have introduced a core blueprint for minimum service standards, marking a major step forward in making employment support more accessible and seamlessly integrated with other essential services—such as health, housing, and wellbeing—tailored to local needs and partnerships. In January 2025 there were 97 fully opened Youth Hubs.

The number of open Youth Hubs is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal department use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the value of expanding the number of JobsPlus sites across the UK, following the ten current pilot sites across England.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Jobs Plus is a community-based model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The department is testing the model in ten social housing communities across England to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of place-based employment support programmes such as JobsPlus in addressing levels of economic inactivity and unemployment.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Jobs Plus is a community-based model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The department is testing the model in ten social housing communities across England to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to help support the national rollout of community-led employment programmes such as JobsPlus following the conclusion of the current pilot phase.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Jobs Plus is a community-based model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The department is testing the model in ten social housing communities across England to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the JobsPlus programme which is being delivered through ten pilot sites across England.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Jobs Plus is a community-based model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The department is testing the model in ten social housing communities across England to generate evidence on place-based support. The pilots will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.

We will carefully consider what we have learnt from these pilots as we develop our future employment support offer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals granted Indefinite Leave to Remain since January 2025 had previously claimed means-tested benefits during their qualifying period of residency.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require a manual trawl of case records to retrieve.