Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming Carers Allowance to care for someone claiming (a) PIP and (b) other benefits in each region.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of August 2024, the number of individuals claiming Carer’s Allowance to care for someone in Wales and the regions of England is detailed in the table below. The data is categorised by Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and other benefits, which include Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA).
| PIP | Other benefits |
North East | 49,613 | 33,816 |
North West | 103,770 | 79,691 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 77,813 | 57,633 |
East Midlands | 58,508 | 46,019 |
West Midlands | 80,861 | 61,782 |
East of England | 54,677 | 55,146 |
London | 75,577 | 68,676 |
South East | 66,769 | 73,950 |
South West | 47,855 | 45,875 |
Wales | 50,648 | 34,350 |
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming Carers Allowance, by main disabling condition of the person they care for in each region.
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.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming PIP, by main disabling condition in each region.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’, by filtering for region using the ‘Geography’ filter to select ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’ and ‘DWP Policy ownership’.
For the primary health condition, the ‘Disability’ filter can be used.
You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming Personal Independence Payments in each region.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’, by filtering for region using the ‘Geography’ filter to select ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’ and ‘DWP Policy ownership’.
For the primary health condition, the ‘Disability’ filter can be used.
You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact. Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests. Defra currently operates 18 accounts across its policy areas and functions. To our knowledge, Defra does not have regular social media subscriptions. Departmental marketing spend for the last 3 years on social advertisements is detailed below:
DEFRA Social Investment by year (H1/H2) | |||||
2021 | META | Next Door | Total | ||
H1 Jan-Jun | £24,047 | £127,757 | £1,088 |
| £152,892 |
H2 Jul-Dec |
| £66,756 |
|
| £66,756 |
2022 | META | Next Door | Total | ||
H1 Jan-Jun | £7,045 | £176,713 |
|
| £183,758 |
H2 Jul-Dec |
| £44,114 |
|
| £44,114 |
2023 | META | Next Door | Total | ||
H1 Jan-Jun |
| £94,121 |
|
| £94,121 |
H2 Jul-Dec | £3,570 | £125,930 |
|
| £129,500 |
2024 | META | Next Door | Total | ||
H1 Jan-Jun |
| £174,872 |
| £11,785 | £186,657 |
H2 Jul-Dec |
| £60,320 |
|
| £60,320 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Spring Statement 2025 on the number of children in poverty.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Living standards, measured by Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI) per capita, are growing at their fastest quarterly rate in two years and are forecast to rise at more than twice the pace this Parliament compared to the last.
The Government’s ambition is to tackle child poverty over this Parliament.
The Ministerial Taskforce is developing a comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing child poverty and exploring the levers available to tackle the root causes of child poverty.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What steps he is taking with the Northern Ireland Executive to help tackle violence against women and girls.
Answered by Fleur Anderson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Northern Ireland Office)
Last year, seven women were killed in Northern Ireland and rates of violence against women are higher in Northern Ireland than anywhere else in the UK.
In January, I was pleased to welcome the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls to Northern Ireland to meet Executive Ministers and the Police Service, and to visit the excellent Foyle Family Justice Centre. We discussed ways we can work together and share best practice to tackle violence against women and girls.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the suspension of USAID funding on the UK's HIV and AIDS prevention programmes.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to ending AIDS as a public health threat. The US decision to suspend USAID, pending a review, is a matter for the US. Progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending HIV and AIDS by 2030, requires collective action. The UK will continue to work with all international partners toward that vision.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many social media accounts her Department operates; and how much her Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
a) MHCLG Communications operate four social media accounts for MHCLG. Comms do not hold any subscriptions for these accounts
b) The MHCLG Communications costs to date (excluding VAT) of advertising on each social media platform over the last 3 years:
2022/23:
Meta - £591,780.28
LinkedIn - £215,043.04
Twitter - £150,037.83
NextDoor - £35,132.37
2023/24:
Meta - £508,648.87
LinkedIn - £199,990.22
Reddit - £160,410.28
Nextdoor - £38,999.29
2024/25:
Meta: £220,533.63
LinkedIn - £493.83
Reddit - £92,056.91
NextDoor - £32,271.44
The total cost of the LinkedIn for recruitment for the years 2023-24 and 2024-25 was £42,034.80 (excluding VAT) per year. The cost includes a recruiter licence, 21 job slots, MHCLG LinkedIn Careers page and dashboard manager seats
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many social media accounts their Department operates; and how much their Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government communicates across a range of media channels to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.
Social media is an essential part of government communication and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) central communication team operates 15 active social media accounts for the department including foreign language and travel advice. We will spend £293.77 on subscription to X Premium+ in 2025. We report no spend on social media subscriptions in the preceding two years.
The below table captures social media advertising spend in support of key campaigns run by the FCDO central communication team from 2022 - 2025, broken down by platform.
Year | Meta | Snapchat | YouTube | Total | |||
2022 | £7,588.16 | £7,588.16 | |||||
2023 | £129,940.59 | £22,554.69 | £102,625.31 | £23,970.91 | £59,940.06 | £339,031.55 | |
2024 | £983,847.59 | £717,368.33 | £39,331.73 | £52,648.02 | £9,989.19 | £9,990.01 | £1,813,174.88 |
2025 | £123,000.00 | £111,999.76 | £234,999.76 | ||||
Total | £1,244,376.34 | £851,922.78 | £141,957.05 | £76,618.92 | £9,989.19 | £69,930.07 | £2,394,794.35 |
Our global network operates their own social media accounts, subscriptions and advertising locally to support bilateral relationships and international delivery of the Government's missions. Some FCDO policy teams also use social media to engage their audiences.