Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions Ministers or officials from his Department have met representatives of the WASPI Campaign since September 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
During this time, the previous Minister for Pensions met with representatives, the first Minister to do so in eight years.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Department has considered participating in Alternative Dispute Resolution or mediation in relation to the ongoing legal proceedings brought by WASPI.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Women Against State Pension Inequality Ltd (WASPI) are seeking permission from the High Court to bring a Judicial Review on our response to the Ombudsman’s report. We are not able to comment on live litigation, but full details of our decision in this case are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-parliamentary-and-health-service-o29mbudsmans-investigation-into-womens-state-pension-age-communications-and-associated-issues.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 comparative cost to the public purse of (a) compensating women affected by maladministration in State Pension Age communications and (b) losses to the Department arising from fraud and error.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Women Against State Pension Inequality Ltd (WASPI) are seeking permission from the High Court to bring a Judicial Review on our response to the Ombudsman’s report. We are not able to comment on live litigation, but full details of our decision in this case are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-parliamentary-and-health-service-o29mbudsmans-investigation-into-womens-state-pension-age-communications-and-associated-issues
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the further legal costs that may be incurred by the Department in relation to ongoing litigation concerning compensation for women affected by maladministration in State Pension Age communications.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Women Against State Pension Inequality Ltd (WASPI) are seeking permission from the High Court to bring a Judicial Review on our response to the Ombudsman’s report. We do not comment on live litigation.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 adequacy of safeguarding measures for in-person work experience placements at i) outlets centrally owned by and ii) franchisee-owned stores operated by McDonald's UK in relation to the risk of sexual harassment of young people in the workplace.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is pleased to work with employers such as McDonald’s UK to provide work experience opportunities.
All employers hosting placements are required to comply with relevant legislation and are expected to provide a safe working environment including safeguards relating to health and safety, welfare, equality and protection from harassment. Participants undertaking work experience placements are covered by the same workplace protections as other workers.
The Department undertakes due diligence when establishing and maintaining partnerships with employers. This includes requiring employers to sign an employer agreement confirming their compliance with relevant workplace safety and safeguarding legislation and maintaining ongoing engagement through Jobcentre Employer and Partnership teams. Where concerns are raised, placements can be reviewed and appropriate action can be taken.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a list of organisations represented at his Department's conference on food poverty on 14 and 15 January 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The DWP Food Poverty Conference took place at the Abbey Centre on 15 January 2026.
Our aim was to bring together a range of local authorities, other government departments, charities and academics to share and discuss a range of good practice happening on the ground to respond to increasing need in relation to food poverty.
We received a high level of interest in the conference. Due to venue capacity, places were offered on a first come first served basis.
We saw over 30 local authorities represented from different regions across England. Examples include the Greater London Authority, Medway Council, Bristol City Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, North Yorkshire Council, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and East Lindsey District Council. Local government sat alongside over a dozen national third sector organisations – such as Trussell, Feeding Britain, Sustain and Community Shop – as well as officials from across five government departments, including DWP, DfE, Defra, DHSC and MHCLG.
We’ve been encouraged by the positive feedback on the conference and the strong engagement shown across sectors. As a result, we are exploring the possibility of hosting a second conference online later in the year to enable more organisations to participate. We will provide further details as plans materialise.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Poverty Strategy will end the two-child limit on Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
The Strategy will look at all available levers, including social security changes, across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years.
The commitments we have made at the 2025 Spending Review and since are a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, which will build on the expansion of free breakfast clubs, extension of free school meals to all households claiming Universal Credit, national minimum wage boost and the cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to include targets on reducing child poverty within the planned child poverty strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
The publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy from this year and in future years. Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change. More details will be set out in the strategy publication.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to allow for an adequate level of parliamentary scrutiny of the delivery of the planned child poverty strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
The Strategy publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate delivery of the strategy from this year and in future years.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which enforcement body is responsible for ensuring that employers are in compliance with Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; and what steps her Department has taken to assess the effectiveness of that body.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (alongside Local Authorities) is responsible for ensuring that employers are in compliance with Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) assesses the effectiveness of HSE by various means, including quarterly accountability reviews, at which HSE’s performance measures are considered. Furthermore, DWP has carried out a full review of each of its arm’s-length bodies, employing an independent reviewer. This review examines in detail how the body is performing across various areas, and is published on gov.uk. The last review was completed in 2023.