Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answers of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 5W, what the expenditure for the Work Choice programme was in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Expenditure for the Work Choice Programme for the years requested was £117.8m for 2014-15, of which £87.5m was paid to suppliers and £30.3m grant-in-aid to Remploy, and £124.4m for 2015-16.

We previously excluded the Remploy 2014-15 figure from Work Choice expenditure figures as they were then a public sector arm’s length body, funded by grant in aid rather than through a commercial contract. Since transferring to private ownership, Remploy was awarded a commercial Work Choice contract for which expenditure was £40.8m in 2015/16. This figure is included in the £124.4m of Work Choice spending for 2015-16.