Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to encourage more smaller businesses to take on apprentices.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Apprenticeships are a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
To encourage smaller businesses to take on apprentices, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially small and medium sized enterprises) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the next academic year. This change will make it easier for those employers to engage with apprenticeships by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care.
We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care.
Additionally, the department engages with small employers regularly to promote apprenticeships. During National Apprenticeship Week 2025, we held a round table with small and medium employers and other key partners to better understand the challenges they are facing in recruiting apprentices. This insight allows us to better target engagement activities with small businesses.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England through nine regional networks. These networks provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of high rate mobility PIP.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml). An account is not required to use Stat-Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.
The relevant information can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. Under ‘Geography’, select ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, and then choose ‘DWP policy ownership’. For claimants with an enhanced rate of Mobility award, expand ‘Mobility Award Status’ and select ‘Mobility Award – Enhanced’. You may also use the ‘Month’ filter to select any periods of interest; by default, it is set to the most recently available month.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will accept the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s compensation recommendations in regards to the WASPI women.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out on 11 November 2025, we are retaking the decision made in December 2024 as it relates to the communications on State Pension age. The process to retake the decision is underway.
We will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the independent review of Carer's Allowance overpayments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Independent Review into overpayments of Carer’s Allowance linked to earnings covered England and Wales. In view of the principle of parity with DWP in matters of social security, I informed the Minister for Communities of the Review’s findings and the Government’s response to them, and officials from the two Departments are in discussion on the issues raised. Since social security is transferred in Northern Ireland, questions 99735 and 99736 are matters for the Executive.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 number of unpaid carers in Northern Ireland affected by Carer's Allowance overpayments in relation to a) earnings and b) fluctuating earnings from 2015 to 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Independent Review into overpayments of Carer’s Allowance linked to earnings covered England and Wales. In view of the principle of parity with DWP in matters of social security, I informed the Minister for Communities of the Review’s findings and the Government’s response to them, and officials from the two Departments are in discussion on the issues raised. Since social security is transferred in Northern Ireland, questions 99735 and 99736 are matters for the Executive.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had made an assessment of the potential impact of the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review of Carer's Allowance payments on carers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Independent Review into overpayments of Carer’s Allowance linked to earnings covered England and Wales. In view of the principle of parity with DWP in matters of social security, I informed the Minister for Communities of the Review’s findings and the Government’s response to them, and officials from the two Departments are in discussion on the issues raised. Since social security is transferred in Northern Ireland, questions 99735 and 99736 are matters for the Executive.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish a further equalities impact assessment of the Child Poverty Strategy, which will include the potential impact of the strategy on groups at highest risk of poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.
The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter.
As set out in our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, we will continue to work closely with the devolved governments to complement existing monitoring and evaluation activity, and consider how best to feed in their own findings to track progress at both the local and national level, particularly where powers are devolved.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 merits of including targets and milestones for reducing child poverty in legislation.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026 with annual reporting on progress thereafter and Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually. We have put these clear reporting arrangements in place so that the progress we make is transparent for all.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with cabinet colleagues to support young disabled people with complex needs into work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is taking action to help young disabled people and young people with complex health needs move towards work. This is a diverse group, so it is key that the individual gets access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, for them.
The Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will guarantee specialist support for young people with long-term health conditions and disabled young people.
We have announced an £820 million funding package for the Youth Guarantee to overhaul support and give a generation of young people a brighter future. Over the next three years:
Through Pathways to Work we are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. This will be the biggest investment in support for disabled people and those with health conditions in at least a generation. We anticipate that, once fully rolled out, the Pathways to Work Guarantee will offer a comprehensive range of support including: a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.
Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will build on the range of support available to disabled people and people with health conditions, regardless of their benefit status or Work Group. For example, Connect to Work a supported employment programme that joins up work skills and health support, and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, which combine the expertise of therapists and employment advisers to give those with mental health conditions the support they need to find work tailored to them. Additionally, disabled people and people with health conditions might be able to access WorkWell, which is our new way to deliver integrated work and health support through local partnerships.
Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn will lead on an investigation of the rise in youth inactivity with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability. Reporting in Summer 2026.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support more young people into work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
Growth and Skills Levy’s £725 million package of reforms includes a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25, and £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
In Northern Ireland, all DWP policy areas are transferred (apart from the private pensions regulatory regime), including employment support. This is the responsibility of the Department for Communities.