Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the funding settlement and timetable for spending will be for Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for the new Youth Hub provision announced as Tranche 3 of new Youth Hubs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The government is committed to ensuring every young person aged 16 – 24 has support and opportunities to enter work or education. We are investing over £2.5bn to help young people build skills, gain experience and progress into earning or learning through the Youth Guarantee and additional investment in apprenticeships via the Growth and Skills Levy over the next three years. This will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn or learn.
Youth Hubs are a core component of the Youth Guarantee. We are expanding Youth Hubs to over 360 areas across Great Britain, underpinned by a core blueprint for minimum service standards. This will make support more accessible and better integrated with other local services in line with local needs and partnerships, ensuring young people can access joined-up employment, skills, housing and wellbeing support in their communities. As part of this, the Tonbridge and Malling borough is included in year 3 2028/2029 of the rollout.
Youth Hubs are not funded solely by DWP and rely on local authorities and other external partners to provide premises and the supporting infrastructure. DWP can fund partner staff salaries, IT and administrative support to help ensure effective delivery of services for young people. DWP will also provide work coaches to work in Youth Hubs for a minimum of three days per week.
Local engagement will form an important part of establishing a Youth Hub in Tonbridge and Malling. Members with an interest may wish to engage with their local jobcentre Service Leader to understand local plans. Collaboration between Jobcentres, local authorities and community organisations will help ensure young people can access joined-up employment, skills and wider support.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 ensure that the Access to Work scheme supports people with multiple sclerosis in employment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. All assessments are done on an individual basis with all conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis where applicable, considered as part of an individual’s application.
We continue to engage disabled people’s organisations and individuals with lived experience, drawing on their insights alongside the National Audit Office’s recommendations as we take forward improvements to the scheme.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether apprentices who commenced a Level 7 apprenticeship before 1 January 2026 will continue to have government funding protected through to completion under the apprenticeship funding rules; what guidance he has issued to providers and employers to ensure this protection is applied; and what arrangements exist where a provider discontinues a programme or must transfer apprentices to an alternative provider.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Level 7 apprentices, that started prior to 1 January 2026, will be funded through to completion. As with funding for all apprenticeships, this is subject to employer and training provider compliance with the apprenticeship funding rules and the apprenticeship employer and provider agreements.
Apprentices concerned about ongoing training provision should contact [email protected].
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Department is aware of (a) any loss and (b) compromise of personal data held by the Pension Protection Fund affecting pension scheme members; and whether communications requesting updates to beneficiary information are part of routine administration rather than a response to any such incident.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pension Protection Fund’s recent communications to members about nominating beneficiaries relates to the introduction of its new online beneficiary nomination service, which allows members to nominate or update their beneficiary details directly via the member website. It is a service that’s designed to make the bereavement process faster and more efficient and is not in response to any loss or compromise of members’ personal data.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of 30 hours free childcare on (a) Job Centre operations and (b) levels of returns to employment.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department for Education 30 hours free childcare is one of several government childcare offers, including the Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit childcare.
DWP has not made an assessment of the impact of the Department for Education’s 30 hours free childcare on job centre operations or returns to employment. In March 2023, when the government announced the extension of 30 hours of free childcare for working age parents of nine-month to two-year-olds, the OBR assessed as a result they would expect around 60,000 parents of young children to enter employment by 2027/28.
Economic and fiscal outlook - March 2023
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 the early release of prisoners on Job Centre operations.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To date, Jobcentres have been supporting customers through the early release schemes. We will continue to monitor, liaising closely with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and the Ministry of Justice.
The Department deploys specialist resources to support individuals both in custody and upon release into employment. This includes around 200 Prison Work Coaches based in prisons, as well as additional specialist Work Coaches located in Jobcentres.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the revised Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment criteria accounts for (a) fluctuating and (b) hidden symptoms of multiple sclerosis; and if she will make an assessment of the accuracy of the PIP assessment process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
We have committed to introduce 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 Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The PIP assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. Therefore, the impact in each case will depend on an individual’s circumstances. For those already on PIP, the changes will only apply from November 2026 at their next award review, subject to parliamentary approval. People will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstance. More information on the impacts and equality analysis for these changes published on 26 March can be found: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK .
In the Green Paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, we have committed to exploring ways to improve the PIP assessment. We are exploring digitalising transfer of medical information, using evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for people with very severe health conditions to undergo functional assessments, and improving communication with people receiving awards who are expected to remain on disability benefits for life. We have also committed to a full review of the PIP assessment.
Alongside this, the Green Paper also includes plans to improve trust in the process. These plans include reviewing our approach to safeguarding, recording assessments to increase transparency, and moving back to having more face-to-face assessments while continuing to meet the needs of people who may require different methods of assessment.