Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants were deemed LCWRA via the substantial risk provisions in each of the last 15 financial years expressed in (a) numerical terms and (b) as a proportion of the caseload.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The available requested information for Universal Credit (UC) limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) decisions where claimants qualified for LCWRA due to 'substantial risk arising from work-related activity' is provided in the table below.
Financial Year | Volume of UC LCWRA Substantial Risk decisions | Total volume of UC LCWRA decisions | Proportion |
2019/20 | 81,240 | 246,040 | 33% |
2020/21 | 52,990 | 186,250 | 28% |
2021/22 | 55,780 | 273,180 | 20% |
2022/23 | 48,870 | 327,230 | 15% |
2023/24 | 56,130 | 357,190 | 16% |
2024/25 | 53,670 | 397,370 | 14% |
2025/26 (to Nov 25) | 26,280 | 229,020 | 11% |
Information prior to April 2019 is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on UC WCA decisions and on UC LWCRA caseload is published and can be found on Stat-Xplore.
For time periods prior to the introduction of UC, information on ESA WCA decisions broken down by reason for allocation (including substantial risk) can also be found on Stat-Xplore.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Oral Statement of 21 May 2026 on Middle East: Economic Response, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of each of the policy measures on the level of tax receipts to the Exchequer.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor set out a package of measures on 21 May to support families and businesses. Final costings for all measures will be published at the next Budget following certification from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in the usual way.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
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 impact of the decision to reduce the maximum UC deduction rate on a) public sector net borrowing, b) public sector net debt, c) public sector net cash requirement, d) annually managed expenditure and e) total managed expenditure in each financial year for which data are available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has considered the potential fiscal impacts of the decision to reduce the maximum Universal Credit deduction rate.
(a) No separate assessment has identified an impact on public sector net borrowing, as any effects are already reflected in the Government’s existing fiscal forecasts.
(b) and c) Please see paragraph 5.134 on page 138 in this link for published information:
(d) No additional impact has been quantified on Annually Managed Expenditure.
(e) No additional impact has been quantified on Total Managed Expenditure.
The Fair Repayment Rate was announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget, and reduced deductions from Universal Credit from 25% to 15%. This measure helped around 1.2 million Universal Credit households with deductions retain more of their Universal Credit award, on average £420 a year, supporting the Government’s wider objectives to raise living standards, reduce poverty, and respond to ongoing cost‑of‑living pressures.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average estimated cost is of providing a PIP assessment (a) by telephone, (b) by video call and (c) face to face.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
PIP assessment costs are managed and recorded at an overall Functional Assessment Service level rather than by specific assessment types or benefits, and as such the department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
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 impact of the decision to reduce the maximum UC deduction rate on a) public sector net borrowing, b) public sector net debt, c) public sector net cash requirement, d) annually managed expenditure and e) total managed expenditure in each financial year for which data are available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what number of universal credit households in the most recent quarter for which data is available were subject to a deduction; and what proportion of these households were subject to the maximum percentage reduction of 15%.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information can be found in the published Universal Credit deductions statistics, December 2024 to November 2025, supplementary data Table1 and Table2, available here: Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 8 January 2026 - GOV.UK.
The next release of these statistics is on Tuesday 12 May 2026, Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 12 February 2026 - Official statistics announcement - GOV.UK
Further release dates are published here: universal credit - Research and statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Interest rate cap introduced to protect Plan 2 borrowers, published on 7 April 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of capping interest on Plan 2 and 3 student loans at 6%.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is capping maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and Plan 3 (postgraduate) student loans at 6%, instead of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus 3%, for the 2026/27 academic year.
This short-term protective measure will apply from the 1 September 2026 to the 31 August 2027 and removes the risk of a temporary increase in inflation causing loan balances to compound at an unsustainable rate.
Student loan interest rates are ordinarily set for each academic year by reference to the RPI value for the year to the preceding March. On that basis, interest rates for the 2026/27 academic year would normally be determined using the RPI figure for March 2026, due to be published on 22 April 2026.
The impact of the interest rate cap on the public purse will depend on the March RPI value.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what were tax receipts from Carbon Price Support in each of the last five financial years for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Carbon Price Support (CPS) tax receipts can be found in the Environmental Taxes Bulletin: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/environmental-taxes-bulletin.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Written Statement of 16 April 2026 on Carbon Price Support, HCWS1519, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to tax revenues of abolishing Carbon Price Support in each financial year for which estimates are available; and what steps her Department is taking to fund this policy change.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the grid continues to decarbonise, the Carbon Price Support (CPS) tax base will become smaller and CPS revenue is forecast to significantly decline.
Final costings will be confirmed at a fiscal event in the usual way. The Chancellor will set out details on how this, and any other decisions, are funded such that the fiscal rules are met at the Budget in the usual way.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much VAT revenue was raised from the sale of petrol and diesel in the last financial year for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services, including VAT on petrol and diesel.
This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.