Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals are waiting for their Access to Work application to be processed, and how does this compare to each month since June 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average payment per customer for each primary medical condition, as defined in the Access to Work statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information across all Access to Work provision can be found in tables AVG03a (nominal terms expenditure) and AVG03a-R (real terms expenditure) in the published official statistics. Tables AVG03b through AVG03d-R provide further average expenditure breakdowns by any element, any assessment and non-contracted provision. Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households who flowed off the household benefit cap because of an exempting benefit had the off-flow outcome due to receiving (a) Employment Support Allowance support group, (b) Disability Living Allowance, (c) Industrial Injuries and (d) Personal Independence Payment in the quarter to May 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025.
Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, of the households who flowed off the household benefit cap in the quarter to May 2025, how many had the off-flow outcome due to the (a) household’s benefit income being reduced to under the cap levels, (b) the household being in receipt of an exempting benefit, and (c) household no longer claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025.
Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many families there were in each region in England and Wales with (a) one child, (b) two children, (c) three children, (d) four children, (e) five children, (f) six to eight children, (g) eight to 10 children and (h) more than 10 children in each year since 2019.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate the Department has made of the level of change in the number of households exempt from the benefit cap following the Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, wow many employees in the United Kingdom take part in a salary sacrifice scheme in the (a) public and (b) private sectors.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Salary sacrifice arrangement can cover multiple non-cash benefits, including cars, pensions, bicycles and workplace nurseries.
HMRC does not hold administrative data on the number of employers offering and employees using salary sacrifice schemes. However, estimates based on other information are held.
Pension contributions
HMRC analysis of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) suggests that around 7.7 million employees made salary sacrifice pension contributions in 2024.
Cycle to Work scheme
HMRC’s non-structural tax relief statistics publication sets out the estimated number of participants in the cycle to work scheme (link below).
Non-structural tax reliefs - GOV.UK
It is assumed that most would use the scheme via salary sacrifice given the tax savings.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
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 the Autumn Budget 2025 on the number of NEET young people.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Budget made more than £1.5bn available over the next three years for investment inemployment and skills support. This funds £820m for the Youth Guarantee and provides£725m for the Growth and Skills Levy, ensuring young people have the support they need toearn or learn. The Youth Guarantee will include the Jobs Guarantee, which is guaranteeing six-months of paid work for every eligible 18-21 year old who has been on Universal Credit andlooking for work for 18 months. Under the Jobs Guarantee we will fund 100% of the wages forthe six months (up to 25hrs/week at the relevant minimum wage), as well as the additionalemployment costs.
An independent investigation has also been launched to identify how we can go further totackle the root causes of youth activity. Led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the probewill examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or educationbefore their careers have begun, with a particular focus on the impact of mental healthconditions and disability.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
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 (a) removing the two-child limit of UC child benefit and (b) adding that benefit to the exemptions for the household benefit cap on the (i) cost to the public purse and (ii) number of households exempt from that cap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information related to removing the two child limit policy is published in ‘Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit’ (page 66-67) and is available at EFOs - Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will he provide projections for the number of face-to-face assessments on a national basis for each month of 2026.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we plan to increase the number of face-to-face health assessments while maintaining our commitment to providing alternative assessment channels where necessary.