Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made on reducing the time taken to provide a substantive response to casework enquiries from Members of Parliament.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department recognises that response times to casework enquiries from Members of Parliament have been impacted by increased volumes and the complexity of cases requiring detailed investigation.
To address this, the Department has deployed additional resources to complaints and correspondence teams, prioritised the reduction of backlogs, strengthened performance monitoring, introduced enhanced senior oversight, and improved case management processes to support faster and more consistent responses.
As a result of these measures, the Department has begun to reduce outstanding backlogs and increase case-handling capacity, helping to improve response times for hon. Members.
Where a complaint requires formal investigation, the Department aims to provide a full response within 15 working days. More complex cases may take longer, but customers are kept informed of progress and expected timescales.
The Department is committed to ensuring that hon. Members receive timely and accurate information on behalf of their constituents and is taking urgent action to restore performance to expected standards.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help workplaces adapt to rising temperatures.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to ensuring workplaces are safe in the modern world, and in ‘Next Steps to Make Work Pay’ we committed to look at how to modernise health and safety guidance for extreme temperatures.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Great Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety and provides guidance for employers to manage the risk to workers, including from extreme heat. HSE issued a press release on Friday 19 June to raise awareness of the workplace risks to workers in the hot weather. This year, HSE will also be launching a public consultation on proposed changes to the Approved Code of Practice for the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, including those relating to workplace temperature.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of introducing routine audio recording of Work Capability Assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
As set out in Pathways to Work, we will be introducing audio recording as standard for all health assessments. If, for whatever reason, a customer does not want their assessment recorded, they are able to opt out at any time.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of claimants who have migrated from Employment and Support Allowance to Universal Credit under managed migration who have had the calculations on their claim overturned upon challenge or appeal.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 further education provision for people aged between 16 and 24 in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Autumn Budget 2025 made available more than £1.5 billion over the Spending Review period for investment in employment and skills support through the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.
This includes fully funding SME apprenticeships for eligible people under 25, alongside changes to make the apprenticeship system simpler and more efficient. £725 million of this total package will deliver the next phase of the Growth and Skills offer, invested through expanding foundation apprenticeships, launching a pilot to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities, and fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible 16–24-year-olds from the next academic year.
This investment will support people of all ages across the country, including in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 further education provision for people over the age of 24 in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Autumn Budget 2025 made available more than £1.5 billion over the Spending Review period for investment in employment and skills support through the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.
This includes fully funding SME apprenticeships for eligible people under 25, alongside changes to make the apprenticeship system simpler and more efficient. £725 million of this total package will deliver the next phase of the Growth and Skills offer, invested through expanding foundation apprenticeships, launching a pilot to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities, and fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible 16–24-year-olds from the next academic year.
This investment will support people of all ages across the country, including in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of people with Parkinson's in the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
As of May 2025, there were 2,000 claimants in the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group with the main disabling condition 'Parkinson’s disease or syndrome’. In the same month, there were 300 claimants in the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group with the main disabling condition ‘Parkinsonism’.
Data is based on primary medical condition as recorded on the ESA computer systems. Claimants may have multiple disabling conditions on which their entitlement is based but only the primary condition is available for statistical purposes and shown in these statistics.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 potential merits of having Jobcentre staff in supported housing sites to support young people into employment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
It remains our priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter and sustain employment.
We are working with eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers, led by Mayoral Strategic Authorities across England which are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET. This includes strengthening local coordination, through local leadership, and outreach to better connect young people with opportunities.
One of the Trailblazers in Central London is delivering targeted support to care leavers included those in supported accommodation to help them access suitable employment opportunities.
As part of our Youth Offer, we also have Youth Hubs which deliver a core offer of skills, training and employment-focused support. Alongside this, partner organisations deliver a range of services, based upon the needs of the local area that they service. This can include connecting young people to a wider range of services such as health, housing and wellbeing support, depending on local needs and partnerships.
To drive up quality in supported accommodation (including for young people), DWP is working alongside MHCLG to implement measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act in England, which include a proposed locally led licensing regime and new National Supported Housing Standards for providers. The proposed standards make it clear that residents should receive person-centred support including where appropriate being supported, encouraged, and enabled to take up learning, volunteering, training, and employment opportunities.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training on employment law do Access to Work case managers receive in order to determine whether a requested adjustment is reasonable.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Access to Work case managers do not receive training in employment law. Instead, they are trained to apply the Principles of Access to Work, which are designed to ensure that support provided:
Access to Work support is therefore not intended to determine legal obligations, but to provide additional assistance where appropriate, once an employer’s responsibilities have been met.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there has been a change in guidance for decision makers looking at Attendance Allowance applications in the last 12 months.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Attendance Allowance guidance is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure it reflects current policy and operational processes.