Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the total (a) expenditure on and (b) number of benefit claimants receiving Employment Support Allowance in each of the last five years, in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales, (iv) Northern Ireland, (v) each local authority and (vi) each constituency.

The information to answer parts (a) i)-iii), v) and vi) of the question can be found in the benefit expenditure and caseload tables (Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Data for 2021/22 will be published in due course.

Information on the number of claimants who received Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in the last five years, broken down by various geographies in Great Britain, is published and can be found on Stat-Xplore.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat-Xplore; the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

The Department for Communities is responsible for Employment and Support Allowance in Northern Ireland.