Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken to (a) obtain and (b) renew black powder licenses.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under the Explosives Regulations 2014, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) sets the legal framework for the safe acquisition and possession of explosives, including black powder. However, the responsibility for issuing and renewing explosives certificates rests with individual police forces, who act as licensing authorities under those Regulations.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made with the policing sector on supporting the effective implementation of the McCloud remedy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the police pension regulations, the police pension scheme is locally administered by individual police forces. The Home Office is working with the policing sector to support the effective implementation of the McCloud remedy for all affected individuals.
It is for each Chief Constable, in their role as scheme manager for their force, to determine their administrative timetable, in accordance with the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022, including when remedy payments will be distributed.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department has to provide additional financial support for the widows of police officers who completed the majority of their service under the 1987 Pension Scheme even if they have remarried or cohabit after losing a spouse.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 1987 Police Pension Scheme provides survivor benefits to widows, widowers, and civil partners of police officers who die. In line with most public service pension schemes of that era, these benefits cease upon remarriage or cohabitation.
With the introduction of the 2006 and 2015 Police Pension Schemes, all eligible officers were able to join a pension scheme that provides life-long survivor benefits for spouses, civil partners and unmarried partners, including for those who remarry or cohabit after losing a spouse.
The 1987 police pension scheme is a closed scheme and there are no plans at this time to make any further improvements to benefits accrued in it.
Asked by: Markus Campbell-Savours (Labour - Penrith and Solway)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an estimate of the financial impact of amending the 1987 Police Pension Scheme to allow widowers of police officers to retain survivor’s pension entitlement if they (a) remarry and (b) cohabit regardless of how the officer died.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 1987 Police Pension Scheme provides survivor benefits to widows, widowers, and civil partners of police officers who die. In line with most public service pension schemes of that era, these benefits cease upon remarriage or cohabitation.
With the introduction of the 2006 and 2015 Police Pension Schemes, all eligible officers were able to join a pension scheme that provides life-long survivor benefits for spouses, civil partners and unmarried partners, including for those who remarry or cohabit after losing a spouse.
The 1987 police pension scheme is a closed scheme and there are no plans at this time to make any further improvements to benefits accrued in it.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of data surveillance on recipients of Universal Credit.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made as the DWP does not currently or have any plans to use data surveillance to regulate, police or monitor the actions of individuals or groups in receipt of benefits.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential role of data surveillance in welfare policy.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made as the DWP does not currently or have any plans to use data surveillance to regulate, police or monitor the actions of individuals or groups in receipt of benefits.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government’s response to the consultation entitled Child Maintenance: Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, published on 23 June 2025, what the eligibility criteria will be for the most complex domestic abuse cases under the specialist domestic abuse named caseworker service; and how she will assess the impact of those eligibility criteria on victim-survivors requiring access to that service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring that victims and survivors of domestic abuse get the help and support they need to use the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) safely.
The CMS has a Specialist Case team delivering targeted support to parents subject to the most challenging or complex domestic abuse. All caseworkers are trained to identify and refer appropriate cases within the Collect and Pay service to the team.
Customers who are potential victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be identified, and referred to the Specialist Case team in the following ways:
These steps ensure the safety and well-being of customers, addressing any indications of domestic abuse effectively. Eligibility criteria will be reviewed as intake increases and following awareness sessions due to take place over the next few months.
Cases remain with the Specialist Case team until closure. In cases where the victim-survivor advises that there is no longer ongoing domestic abuse, the case can be referred for removal with the guiding principle is that if there is any doubt about a customer’s safety, the case must remain in the Specialist Case team.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to extend the full disregard of military compensation payments applied in Universal Credit to the assessment of Pension Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit (UC).
The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support – which are being replaced by UC – as well as in Pension Credit. Armed Forces Independence Payments are also fully disregarded in these benefits and can allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.
By default, the first £10 of a War Pension or AFCS award is also disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to fully disregard them if they so wish.
Additionally, War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.
The treatment of military compensation payments contrasts with other schemes with a disablement element. For example, the Firefighters Compensation Scheme and the Police Pension Scheme have no income disregards applied at all, as any disablement elements form part of their occupational pension and so these are taken fully into account.
The treatment of military compensation payments also contrasts with Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard.
The £10 weekly disregard for War Pension or AFCS awards in legacy income-related benefits was introduced in recognition of the sacrifices made by service personnel in active service for the country.
There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of different approaches to the treatment of military compensation payments across welfare benefits means tests on claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit (UC).
The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support – which are being replaced by UC – as well as in Pension Credit. Armed Forces Independence Payments are also fully disregarded in these benefits and can allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.
By default, the first £10 of a War Pension or AFCS award is also disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to fully disregard them if they so wish.
Additionally, War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.
The treatment of military compensation payments contrasts with other schemes with a disablement element. For example, the Firefighters Compensation Scheme and the Police Pension Scheme have no income disregards applied at all, as any disablement elements form part of their occupational pension and so these are taken fully into account.
The treatment of military compensation payments also contrasts with Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard.
The £10 weekly disregard for War Pension or AFCS awards in legacy income-related benefits was introduced in recognition of the sacrifices made by service personnel in active service for the country.
There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the disregard of (a) War Pensions and (b) Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments is limited to £10 per week when calculating Pension Credit awards.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit (UC).
The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support – which are being replaced by UC – as well as in Pension Credit. Armed Forces Independence Payments are also fully disregarded in these benefits and can allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.
By default, the first £10 of a War Pension or AFCS award is also disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to fully disregard them if they so wish.
Additionally, War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.
The treatment of military compensation payments contrasts with other schemes with a disablement element. For example, the Firefighters Compensation Scheme and the Police Pension Scheme have no income disregards applied at all, as any disablement elements form part of their occupational pension and so these are taken fully into account.
The treatment of military compensation payments also contrasts with Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard.
The £10 weekly disregard for War Pension or AFCS awards in legacy income-related benefits was introduced in recognition of the sacrifices made by service personnel in active service for the country.
There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits.