Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access by disabled people to cancer screening; and what information his Department holds on such access.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving the accessibility of the three cancer screening programmes which it commissions under the Public Health Services (S7a) agreement, particularly for under-served groups in society.
Contractually, providers of National Health Service screening services are required to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their services are accessible to disabled people. This includes health providers ensuring that their premises are suitable for the delivery of services and are sufficient to meet the needs of their patients, including those with disabilities. If a patient requires specialist equipment, providers must ensure that their patients have access to its use in a safe environment.
Regionally and nationally, several initiatives have been implemented to ensure that information is available in 10 languages, easy read, and British Sign Language, and people can also request braille versions to ensure they have information in a format appropriate to them.
Information on access by disabled people to cancer screening is not held centrally.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of the PIP daily living component are (a) in work and (b) self-employed at (i) regional, (ii) constituency and (iii) local authority level; and what proportion of those recipients were awarded fewer than four points in all daily living activities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is provided in the excel workbook attached. A content of the tables provided in the attached workbook is below:
ai | Volume of employees in receipt of PIP Daily Living by region and maximum point score (March 2024) |
aii | Volume of employees in receipt of PIP Daily Living by Parliamentary Constituency and maximum point score (March 2024) |
aiii | Volume of employees in receipt of PIP Daily Living by Local Authority and maximum point score (March 2024) |
bi | Volume of self-employed PIP Daily Living claimants by region and maximum point score (March 2024) |
bii | Volume of self-employed PIP Daily Living claimants by Parliamentary Constituency and maximum point score (March 2024) |
biii | Volume of self-employed PIP Daily Living claimants by Local Authority and maximum point score (March 2024) |
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to lose PIP in future. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the two, not least because we don’t want constituents to be unnecessarily fearful about their situation, when we understand many are already anxious. Someone who did not score 4 points in an activity in a previous assessment may well score 4 points in a future assessment as conditions change over time.
No one will lose access to PIP immediately - and most people will not lose access at all. Our intention is that changes will start to come into effect from November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval and will only apply at a claimant’s next scheduled award review, which on average occurs every three years. At that point, a claimant will be reassessed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional based on their individual needs and circumstances.
After accounting for behavioural changes, the OBR predicts that 9 out of 10 PIP recipients at the time of policy implementation are expected to be unaffected by the PIP 4-point change in 2029/30. Despite the reforms, the overall number of people on PIP and DLA is expected to increase by 750,000 by the end of this Parliament and spending is projected to rise from £23 billion in 2024/25 to £31 billion in 2029/30.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including ensuring health and care needs are met. We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.
Notes:
- The volumes provided have been rounded to the nearest 10.
- HMRC data is used to determine whether a claimant was in employment. HMRC data covers up to the end of the tax year 2023/24, therefore March 2024 has been provided as the latest data available.
- Self-employment data from the financial year 2023/24 is not available until the end of the 2024/25 financial year, so self-employment data for the financial year 2022/23 has been used as a proxy for 2023/24 instead.
- People without any employment or self-employment record in the HMRC data, as well as those who have been confirmed to not be in employment or self-employment in the data, have been considered not employed or not self-employed respectively.
- The data provided excludes special rules for end of life claimants and claimants over state pension age.
- The data provided excludes Scottish and Northern Irish claimants, as these claimants do not fall under DWP policy ownership.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost for (a) universities and (b) students of implementing the Equality and Human Rights Commission's revised code of practice for services, public functions and associations.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is updating its code of practice for services, public functions and associations and seeking views from affected stakeholders through their consultation which closes on 30 June. We would encourage all interested parties, including universities and students, to ensure their views are heard by submitting a response to the consultation.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of exempting British National (Overseas) visa holders from the proposed extension of the settlement qualifying period from five to ten years on levels of net migration.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.
Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the White Paper entitled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May 12025, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting British National (Overseas) visa holders from the proposed extension of the settlement qualifying period from five to ten years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.
Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help support employees facing redundancy at Moog Reading.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper focuses on building a thriving labour market, reducing economic inactivity and increasing the number of people in work, which is central to growing the economy.
DWP provides Rapid Redundancy Support (RRS) to both Employers and Individuals following notification from the National RRS team or via the DWP Strategic Relationship Team and Insolvency Service.
Local Employer Advisors will make contact with the Employers/Individuals to offer support as a matter of urgency. Support is tailored and can vary depending on the scale of the redundancy and the level of support required. This can include:
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2025 to Question 45355 on Personal Independence Payment, if she will make an assessment of the (a) causes of the increase in claims for PIP to include (i) health related and (ii) behaviour related factors and (b) the rate of increase in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness and disability over the same period.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of new claims registered for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) increased from around 41,000 a month in 2019 to 74,000 a month in 2024.
The number of economically inactive people who cite long-term sickness or disability as their main reason for inactivity increased from around 2.1 million in the last quarter (October to December) of 2019 to 2.8 million in the last quarter of 2024.
It is not possible to assess the relative contribution of each of the potential causes of the increase in PIP claims because it is likely that many different drivers are interacting with each other, both in aggregate and for individual claimants.
However, we will continue to monitor potential drivers of new claims demand for PIP. These include higher prevalence and recognition of health conditions, whether that’s driven by the direct health impacts of the COVID-19 virus; indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on physical health (through reduced activity) and mental health (through reduced social interaction and increased anxiety); impacts of subsequent labour market changes and cost of living pressures on health; or increases in NHS waiting times. These potential causes in turn may interact with behavioural factors including: cost of living pressures; greater awareness of disability benefits (in part due to cost of living); longer waits for NHS treatment; economically inactive people being more likely to report long-term illness or disability as their main reason for inactivity; and incentives in the benefit system that can encourage people to claim health-related benefits.
Sources:
(a) PIP new claim registrations taken from Stat-Xplore (Stat-Xplore - Log in), excluding Reassessments from Disability Living Allowance and excluding claims from people living in Scotland, because policy ownership was devolved to Scotland during this period.
(b) Estimates of economically inactive people by main reason are published by the Office for National Statistics in Table INAC01 SA of their Labour Market Overview (Labour market overview, UK - Office for National Statistics). Estimates are seasonally adjusted and relate to people aged 16-64 in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has conducted quantitative analysis into the potential causes of increases in claims for Personal Independence Payment into shares attributable to (a) underlying ill health, (b) financial incentives and (c) other personal or behavioural factors; and whether such analysis includes a comparison with the rate of increase in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness or disability over the same period.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not conducted quantitative analysis exactly as described; however, we do regularly monitor potential drivers of new claims demand for PIP and how this compares with changes in disability prevalence in the population. It is likely that both health-related and behaviour-related factors have been important contributory factors in the rising number of claims for PIP, as well as changes in the population, with demand for PIP accelerating since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of health-related factors may have contributed to these increases, including: higher prevalence and recognition of health conditions, particularly mental health and neurodiverse conditions; the direct health impacts of the COVID-19 virus; indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on physical health (through reduced activity) and mental health (through reduced social interaction and increased anxiety); impacts of subsequent labour market changes and cost of living pressures on health; and increases in NHS waiting times.
In addition, a number of behavioural factors are also likely to have contributed to higher numbers claiming incapacity and disability benefits, including: cost of living pressures; greater awareness of disability benefits (in part due to cost of living); longer waits for NHS treatment; economically inactive people being more likely to report long-term illness or disability as their main reason for inactivity; and incentives in the benefit system that can encourage people to claim health-related benefits.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the recovery of the film and TV industry since the strikes in 2023.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The current market is very challenging for the film and TV sector, including broadcasters and independent producers, but we have high ambitions for the industry and are already taking steps to incentivise production activity.
We have brought in a 5% tax relief uplift for UK visual effects costs in film and high-end TV, confirmed the 40% business rates relief for film studios until 2034, and brought in the 53% independent film tax relief to support British filmmakers. This is in addition to our existing audio-visual tax reliefs; our investment in infrastructure; and investing £7 million to continue the UK Global Screen Fund for 2025/26.
Film and High End TV production spend in the UK reached £5.6 billion in 2024. Whilst this was down on the peak of £6.3bn in 2022 when post-Covid demand was surging, it shows a promising level of recovery following the US Guild strikes of 2023 when spend dipped to £4.3bn. https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/official-bfi-statistics-2024
As part of the government’s Industrial Strategy, eight ‘growth-driving’ sectors have been identified, including the Creative Industries. DCMS will produce a Creative Industries Sector Plan, which will be published in late spring alongside the Industrial Strategy and aligned to the Spending Review. Film and TV are sub-sectors of the Creative Industries with strong growth potential and therefore will be a focus in the forthcoming Sector Plan which will inform next steps for the sector and its sustainability for the coming years.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timeframe is for the chronic fatigue syndrome delivery plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have listened to key myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), stakeholders to allow for more time to develop the plan, to help ensure we can be as ambitious as possible and make the most impact for those living with ME/CFS. As such, we aim to publish the plan by the end of June 2025.