Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Budget Statement on 26 November 2025, what estimate her Department has made of how many retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in Poole will benefit from lower business rates.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.
The Government is doing this by introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties, including around 104,600 in the South West of England.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to contributory ESA on recipients with long-term health conditions unable to return to work after the one-year limit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced that we would be establishing a new, simple and clear Unemployment Insurance benefit through the reform of contributory working age benefits. Following recent consultation, officials are considering the responses and developing the policy for this new benefit, including the duration of entitlement.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to Motability on access to cars with (a) reversing cameras, (b) driver assist technologies and (c) other safety features.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles, including models with reversing cameras, driver assist technologies and other safety features, to meet a range of accessibility needs. The changes announced at the budget will not apply to current leases or wheelchair adapted vehicles, and the Scheme will continue to offer vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit.
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Scheme, will continue to prioritise customer needs, ensuring vehicles remain affordable and that support for specialist adaptations remain at the heart of the Scheme.
Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford specialist adaptations for a vehicle leased through the Scheme.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact on recipients of contributory Employment and Support Allowance once the one-year limit under the proposed new system passes; and on what evidential basis he determined that a one-year limit would be applied to this cohort.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced that we would be establishing a new, simple and clear Unemployment Insurance benefit through the reform of contributory working age benefits. Following recent consultation, officials are considering the responses and developing the policy for this new benefit, including the duration of entitlement.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the geographic distribution of contributory Employment and Support Allowance recipients affected by the proposed changes; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the merger on regional equality.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced that we would be establishing a new, simple and clear Unemployment Insurance benefit through the reform of contributory working age benefits. Following recent consultation, officials are considering the responses and developing the policy for this new benefit, including the duration of entitlement.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact on levels of poverty of the proposed merger of contributory Employment and Support Allowance into Universal Credit health-related payments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced that we would be establishing a new, simple and clear Unemployment Insurance benefit through the reform of contributory working age benefits. Following recent consultation, officials are considering the responses and developing the policy for this new benefit, including the duration of entitlement.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled Guarantee our Essentials: reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard time, published on 4 March 2025, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an essentials guarantee for welfare recipients.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A Universal Credit award is made up of a standard allowance rate to provide towards basic living costs, paid according to age and household unit. Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs.
We’ve taken important steps to support people with their living costs. The Universal Credit Act legislates to rebalance Universal Credit by bringing in, for the first time ever, a sustained above inflation increase to the standard allowance for all claimants. This will benefit around 4 million households and is estimated to be worth around £760 annually in cash terms by 2029/30 for a single household aged 25 or over (£250 above inflation) or over £1195 (£400 above inflation) for a couple where one is aged 25 or over with children by 2029/30.
We will also be uprating most working age benefits, across Great Britain in 2026/27, subject to parliamentary approval, in line with the Consumer Prices Index for the year to September 2025 – an increase of 3.8%.
The Government is also taking action to reduce child poverty through the removal of the two child limit. Removing the two child limit is the fastest and most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty over this Parliament and estimated to alone lift 450,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to Budget reference 4.167 on State Pension and Simple Assessment, whether the Government conducted an impact assessment of delivering the measure on an opt-in basis rather than through universal provision.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The State Pension is taxable income along with other pension income. The Budget confirmed that the basic and new State Pension will be uprated by 4.8% in 2026-27, in line with our commitment to the Triple Lock. This means pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not pay income tax in 2026-27.
The Budget announced that the Government will ease the administrative burden for pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027-28.
The Government will set out more detail next year.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the vehicles available within the Motability scheme on the cost of wheelchair accessible and adapted vehicles.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for disabled people in the UK, leasing cars, wheelchair accessible vehicles, scooters and powered wheelchairs in exchange for part or all of their qualifying mobility allowance. The Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and the Motability Foundation will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Scheme. The changes announced at Budget about VAT relief do not apply to wheelchair adapted vehicles.
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Scheme, will continue to prioritise customer needs, ensuring vehicles remain affordable and that support for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) and specialist adaptations remain at the heart of the Scheme.
Eligibility for enhanced mobility Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which provides the main gateway to the Scheme, assesses the mobility needs arising from a health condition or disability rather than the disability or health condition itself.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of changing the vehicles eligible for Motability on people with Multiple Sclerosis.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for disabled people in the UK, leasing cars, wheelchair accessible vehicles, scooters and powered wheelchairs in exchange for part or all of their qualifying mobility allowance. The Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and the Motability Foundation will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Scheme. The changes announced at Budget about VAT relief do not apply to wheelchair adapted vehicles.
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Scheme, will continue to prioritise customer needs, ensuring vehicles remain affordable and that support for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) and specialist adaptations remain at the heart of the Scheme.
Eligibility for enhanced mobility Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which provides the main gateway to the Scheme, assesses the mobility needs arising from a health condition or disability rather than the disability or health condition itself.