Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to conduct a public inquiry into (a) deaths and (b) serious harm linked to the social security system.

The department is fully supportive of the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s ‘safeguarding vulnerable claimants’ inquiry, which is examining how the department supports vulnerable benefit claimants and whether its approach to safeguarding needs to change. The Committee has had valuable and constructive discussions with a diverse range of groups and specialist organisations representing people with lived experience, DWP customers, policy makers and legal experts. DWP Officials and Ministers have also given vital evidence, fully supporting the areas the Committee wish to explore, and I look forward to reading the Committee’s report and recommendations when this inquiry concludes.