Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications have been received by (i) English local authorities and (ii) Norfolk County Council for support through the Heating Oil Crisis Fund; and how much has been paid to date in (a) total and (b) Norfolk.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold information on the number of applications received by English local authorities, including Norfolk County Council, for support through the Heating Oil Crisis Fund, nor on the amounts paid to date at either the national or local level.
Funding was provided to local authorities to deliver support in line with their local schemes, and authorities are responsible for administering payments and holding data on applications and spend.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of the £53 million support package to be administered under the Crisis and Resilience Fund for off-gas grid households using heating oil will be allocated to Norfolk.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Of the £53 million of funding to support low-income households reliant on oil for heating, £27 million has been allocated to England and will be delivered via the Crisis and Resilience Fund. This is in addition to £842 million a year that has already been committed through the Crisis and Resilience Fund at Spending Review 2025, which all unitary and upper tier authorities in England will receive to support vulnerable and low-income households facing financial shocks, including rising essential costs such as energy.
Norfolk has been allocated £3,055,625 to distribute to households the local authority considers most in need. Allocations have been published on gov.uk (Crisis and Resilience fund to support low-income heating oil households).
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance has his department given to local authorities on making payments to households with Fuel Oil costs through the Crisis Resilience Fund.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Support for vulnerable households affected by rising oil-heating costs will be treated as Crisis Payments under the Crisis and Resilience Fund. In line with scheme guidance published on 13 January 2026, local authorities have flexibility to determine eligibility for these payments. Local authorities have been reminded of this through departmental communications and supplementary materials have been issued to local authorities to provide further support. The Department is also engaging directly with local authorities receiving the additional oil-heating funding through a dedicated call to clarify delivery expectations, reporting requirements, and approaches to providing assistance and we will review future engagement in line with local authority capacity and needs.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a full timeline for the roll out of the Crisis Resilience Fund and when Local Authorities can start making payments to households.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund will come into effect on 1 April in England. In most cases, local authorities will start making payments to households from 1 April. However, they can also provide payments now to specifically support households facing rising oil-heating costs.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to section 5.3: Tackling child poverty and reforming welfare of the Budget 2025, when he expects to bring forward legislative changes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our Autumn Budget emphasised our commitment to a fairer welfare system that is fit for the future and provides value for taxpayers. This includes removing the two child limit from April 2026. This will lead to a substantial reduction in child poverty, helping to break the cycle of disadvantage. Given the requirement for primary legislation, we are progressing this as quickly as possible.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61228 on Government Departments: Reviews, how many lines of activity in his Department were considered as part of the zero based review.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
At Spending Review 2025, the government conducted the first zero-based review (ZBR) of department budgets in 18 years, with every line of spending scrutinised to ensure value for money.
Through the zero-based review, the Department for Work and Pensions carried out a line by line review of its current budgets. The review involved differing levels of granularity depending on the type and size of expenditure under review.
To ensure consistency in approach, cross-government guidance set expectations for the level of granularity each review should consider, recommending that departments review all spending within individual programme expenditure – at a minimum reflecting any lines of spending in excess of £1m per annum.
Savings identified through this process will support delivery of the government's commitment for all departments to deliver at least 5% savings and efficiencies by 2028-29.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has recently made an assessment of the adequacy of the approach to child maintenance for parents without custody arrangements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. Issues relating to access and contact are managed by family courts.
Reductions can be made for the extra cost of care where it is shared by the paying parent. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent of 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced by a maximum of fifty per cent within bands based on the number of nights overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The bands are used to give greater stability to maintenance payments and as a result there is greater reliability of payments, which contributes towards the welfare of the children in the case.
If evidence shows that both parties are providing equal day-to-day care of a qualifying child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59412 on Government Departments: Reviews, if her Department will publish the line by line review of its spending conducted for the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is committed to meeting the 5% savings and efficiency target, with Spending Review funding allocations agreed on this basis.
These funding allocations – informed by the findings of the Zero Based Review – are the first steps in a wider plan to finalise budgets for different projects and programmes, with any necessary savings decided through that process. The savings taken forward will be subject to the normal rigorous business planning processes, and in-year financial management.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the DWP appointee scheme to cover Child Trust Funds with a value up to £5,000.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP will not be extending its appointeeship scheme to include Child Trust Funds. The scheme only applies to Government benefits which help with day-to-day living expenses, as opposed to a capital asset like a Child Trust Fund which matures overtime. Further, applying benefit rules to Child Trust Funds would not provide the protections currently delivered by the Mental Capacity Act and could expose vulnerable people to risk.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people waiting for elective treatment are claiming sickness benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held by the Department.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) plans to link NHS waiting times data to Census, DWP Benefits and HMRC PAYE records to analyse the relationship between waiting time duration (for various health conditions and procedures) and labour market outcomes (such as employment status, gross pay and benefit receipt) in England. This may shed light on the role of extended waiting times witnessed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic on benefit receipt, including sickness related benefit receipt. ONS currently has access to linked Census, DWP Benefits and HMRC PAYE data and is working with NHS England to acquire the waiting times dataset. Due to many dependencies and unknowns, ONS is not able to confirm when the analysis will be available.