Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reform the Child Support Agency to improve the speed and success of claims.

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

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for our service is increasing. To allow us to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands

My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC) online service offers customers the ability to access and update information held on their case and request changes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CMS has the ability to process simple changes through MCMC, automatically speeding up the time taken to make a change and greatly improving customer outcomes.

Through extensive modernisation to both telephony and digital channels, and by promoting self-service online, the CMS are ensuring customers have greater choice of how and when they contact us. Our service improvements allow customers to use the most appropriate and efficient contact method to quickly resolve their queries and reduce demand on our services.

Through efficient call routing, we have freed up resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. We have improved all forms of communication, including greater use of SMS and email as well as improving letter content. Furthermore, we have taken timely action to further train, support and redeploy resource within CMS to where it is needed most.

In the response to the consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS, the Government has set out plans to introduce a single service where all payments will be monitored, enabling the CMS to identify missed, late, or partial payments in real time. This will enable swift enforcement action to restore compliance and increase the amount of money reaching children.

We expect the reforms will make hidden non-compliance within Direct Pay visible, enabling the CMS to intervene earlier to ensure children receive the financial support they are entitled to. Families currently using Direct Pay can either move to a family-based arrangement (with additional support from CMS to do so) or opt into Collect and Pay if that is not appropriate or they require the added security of enforcement.

Where compliance cannot be achieved, the CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to speed up the sentencing of people found guilty of domestic violence.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

As part of our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, we are committed to strengthening the justice system’s response to domestic violence.

Most domestic abuse cases are heard in magistrates’ courts where cases move more swiftly than the Crown Court. Despite this, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system, particularly in more serious cases that reach the Crown Court.

This Government inherited a justice system in crisis. That is why we have asked Sir Brian Leveson to lead an Independent Review of the Crown Courts, which will propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims of serious crimes, including victims of domestic abuse.

In parallel, we are actively exploring the merits of specialist domestic abuse court models as recommended in the Sentencing Review. In November, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in pilot areas to improve victim safety, and we have committed to rolling out domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms to improve frontline responses.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of using Darlington as a pilot case study for the place based reforms to the Green Book.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Following the Green Book Review 2025, the government has committed to introducing place-based business cases. These will help to identify the right combination of long-term interventions needed to unlock growth in a particular area. The government will set out further details on place-based business cases in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the guidance on people who will be protected from reassessment of PIP due to their long term severe conditions will be published.

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

The Government is committed to providing security and dignity for those who will never be able to work, and removing unnecessary stress, anxiety and uncertainty from the Social Security System. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Welfare Bill legislates to formally protect those with the most severe, lifelong health conditions, who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria, from being called for reassessment for Universal Credit. The Severe Conditions Criteria applies to eligible customers in receipt of Universal Credit rather than those in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

If a customer’s condition changes, they will continue to have the ability to request a reassessment via the existing change of circumstances process.

Regarding PIP, we are launching a wider review of the PIP assessment to ensure that it is fair, fit for the future and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. There is no equivalent SCC in PIP, however we are considering how to protect those people who meet the SCC when the WCA is abolished and PIP becomes the passport to the new UC Health element.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to auto-enroll people who lose their PIP payments into suitable appropriate support programs within 13 weeks of the decision.

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

As I set out in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, this Government has listened to the concerns raised by Members from across the House regarding the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Clause 5 of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would have amended the legal framework underpinning PIP assessments, specifically by implementing a new requirement that claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of PIP.

In light of the concerns raised, I confirmed during the debate that we are going to remove clause 5 from the Bill in Committee. (Hansard, 1 July, col 219)

Any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, led by me and co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will list the number of people in receipt of the personal independence payment due to a psychological disorder by (a) psychological disorder and (b) constituency in (i) January 2020 and (ii) in the most recent period for which data is available.

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

Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants by psychiatric disorder and constituency for January 2020 and April 2025 can be found on Stat Xplore.

The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Month’ filter produce figures for January 2020 or April 2025. You can expand the ‘Disability’ filter to narrow to ‘Psychiatric disorders’. You can use the ‘Geography’ filter to produce a breakdown by parliamentary constituency.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress his Department is making on the rollout of 5G in Darlington.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

In their Connected Nations Spring update, published 8 May 2025, Ofcom reports that 5G (combined standalone and non-standalone 5G) is available outside almost 100% of premises in the Darlington constituency from at least one mobile operator, but this falls to 11% from all four operators.

Our ambition is for all populated areas, including Darlington, to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. Where mobile network operators rollout 5G is a commercial decision but I am working closely with the mobile operators to drive up improvements in mobile infrastructure and we are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework in place to support investment into mobile networks and competition in the market.

Found: present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; John Grady; Dame Siobhain McDonagh; Lola McEvoy

Found: present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; John Grady; Dame Siobhain McDonagh; Lola McEvoy

Found: Salisbury) John Grady (Labour; Glasgow East) Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Labour; Mitcham and Morden) Lola McEvoy

Found: Baldwin; Rachel Blake; Chris Coghlan; Bobby Dean; John Glen; John Grady; Dame Siobhain McDonagh; Lola McEvoy

Found: July 2025 Dear Chair, Following our discussion of the questions on activity surveys raised by Lola McEvoy

Found: Baldwin; Rachel Blake; Chris Coghlan; Bobby Dean; John Glen; John Grady; Dame Siobhain McDonagh; Lola McEvoy

Found: Salisbury) John Grady (Labour; Glasgow East) Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Labour; Mitcham and Morden) Lola McEvoy

Found: Salisbury) John Grady (Labour; Glasgow East) Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Labour; Mitcham and Morden) Lola McEvoy

Found: Q21 Lola McEvoy: Could I just follow up on that point?

Found: Lola McEvoy: If you have more, please feel free to be candid.

Found: Lola McEvoy: If you have more, please feel free to be candid.

Found: Presented by Liam Conlon supported by Claire Hanna, Colum Eastwood, Deirdre Costigan, Lola McEvoy,