Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission research into the effect of benefit sanctions on the (a) mental and (b) physical health of people on jobseeker's allowance or the work-related activity group of employment and support allowance.

As with all of our policies, we will keep the operation of the sanctions system under review to ensure that it continues to operate effectively and as fairly as possible.

We continue to make improvements to the sanctions system as committed to in the Oakley Review. The Government has gone further than the scope of the Review, for example, we are reviewing all claimant communications and sanctions processes, not only for those Jobseekers Allowance claimants who come under the remit of the Review, but all Jobseekers Allowance claimants and also all Employment Support Allowance claimants.

We will continue to publish sanctions statistics on a quarterly basis.