Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he has taken to get young people into work in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee.
We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee, including launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and launching an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.
At the budget we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people across Great Britain. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.
The Department works closely with local partners to ensure support for young people reflects local labour market needs. In Gloucestershire, this includes working with Gloucestershire County Council’s (GCC) Employment & Skills Hub, where the Department supported delivery of the 100 Futures initiative, targeting 100 young people for six‑week work placements to help young people build confidence, boost employability skills and move close to work.
Gloucester Jobcentre Plus also works with GCC’s Step Forward programme to provide enhanced employability support for Care Leavers. This includes regular engagement with the Care Leavers Team, Work Coach drop-in sessions at the Hideaway (Shire Hall) and a pilot offering flexible learning opportunities to help Care Leavers gain Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards, with training funded by DWP and delivered by local Care Leaver Team staff.
Gloucester Jobcentre Plus is also supporting young people through the Movement into Work placements and launched a mini–Youth Zone, bringing partner organisations directly into the 18–24-year-old workspace. This includes weekly engagement from local voluntary and community organisations (including SPEAR, Commercial Foundation, Young Gloucestershire, Healthy Lifestyles, Step Forward, Inclusion Gloucestershire), helping to provide a more holistic and accessible support for young people.
In addition, the Department is supporting the local Integrated Care Board’s Widening Access Demonstrator programme, targeting 100 young adults (16–30) from deprived communities to enter work experience, volunteering, education or employment.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps have been taken to reduce levels of youth unemployment in Slough.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
Growth and Skills Levy’s £725 million package of reforms includes a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25, and £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
We already provide support for young people in Slough through a dedicated Young Person team, including a Youth Employment Coach. This includes a young people’s job club at Slough Jobcentre, skills MOTs, employer led activity such as mock interviews, job fairs and matching events, and tailored support for care leavers and those with mental health conditions.
In addition, Slough is piloting three innovative programmes focused on employability, skills and entrepreneurship, delivered in partnership with local employers, the Football Association, higher education partners and the local authority.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department provides timely letters of clearance to bereaved families and the executors of the estates of the deceased.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
When someone dies, we understand this is a very difficult and distressing time for their family and those close to them. We aim to make our processes as clear, straightforward and supportive as possible and to minimise any unnecessary worry or effort for bereaved families.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is notified of a death through several routes, including the Tell Us Once service, telephone contact, written correspondence, or digital notifications following registration of the death with the General Register Office. Once we receive notification, we update all relevant benefit and pension records and ensure the appropriate teams contact the next of kin or executor as required.
For customers over State Pension age, we aim to complete our review within:
This includes updating the deceased person’s record, checking any changes to entitlement, and contacting the person responsible for the estate where needed.
Once the State Pension record has been closed and no pension arrears are due, we issue a Death Acknowledgement Letter to the person handling the estate. This may be a surviving spouse or civil partner, a next of kin, or an executor. These letters are issued regardless of how we were notified of the death and within the relevant processing timescales.
To avoid causing unnecessary distress, we do not issue a Death Acknowledgement Letter if more than eight weeks have passed since the date of death.
If pension arrears are due, a Death Acknowledgement Letter is not issued. Instead, where required, we issue an application form for death arrears. When an arrears payment is made, a remittance notice is generated automatically.
Where a survivor’s pension review is required, we issue a revised Pension Entitlement Notice in line with established processing standards.
Working age benefits are also notified through the Tell Us Once service.
For New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance and New Style Employment and Support Allowance, further correspondence addressed to the customer is stopped once a death is recorded. As these benefits are paid in arrears, payments are made directly to the person who applies for the arrears.
When Universal Credit (UC) is notified of the death of a claimant or a dependent child, UC staff record the death as a priority. For online claims, notifications are uploaded to the claimant’s UC digital account. For telephone claims, notifications are sent by post to the appropriate recipient.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of Magic Breakfast’s recent report entitled Root Causes of Child Morning Hunger.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department appreciates the publication of the report and look forward to giving it our full consideration. We agree that a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day sets children up ready to learn. This is why the department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered over seven million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Alongside the rollout of free breakfast clubs, we are going further in our mission to lift 100,000 children out of poverty by expanding free school meals to children in all households receiving Universal Credit from the 2026/27 school year.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of child morning hunger across early years, primary and secondary school settings in England and its impact on school readiness and attendance.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department appreciates the publication of the report and look forward to giving it our full consideration. We agree that a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day sets children up ready to learn. This is why the department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered over seven million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Alongside the rollout of free breakfast clubs, we are going further in our mission to lift 100,000 children out of poverty by expanding free school meals to children in all households receiving Universal Credit from the 2026/27 school year.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the foundation apprenticeships introduced in 2025 have been taken up by people from the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them, including those from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee. We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee through the launch of eight place-based Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England in Spring 2025. These trailblazers are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people aged 18-21 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET.
At the budget, we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.
The DWP Place‑based toolkit helps Jobcentre Plus Districts to understand their local populations, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and identify how best to support their needs. This includes bringing together information about local people, employers, partners, labour market trends, and available funding to help tailor support effectively.
Apprenticeship starts by the Gypsy or Irish traveller ethnicity group are published here (see attached): 'Learner Characteristics Ethnicity - Starts, Achievements, Participation by Age, Level, Ethnicity, Sex, LLDD' from 'Apprenticeships', Permanent data table - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.
2024/25 | ||||
Total | White | Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Total | 160 |
Under 19 | White | Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Total | 50 |
Under 19 | 50 | |||
19+ | White | Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Total | 120 |
19-24 | 40 | |||
25+ | 70 | |||
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Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to employability programmes for neurodivergent young people; and whether he has considered further adjustments to support their participation.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee, as we announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper. Specific additional support for young disabled people and young people with health conditions will be available through Pathways to Work.
We have already launched 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England which are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET. As part of their place-based approach, MSAs have developed their approaches with consideration to young people in their locality who need more support and several are offering targeted support for young people with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities.
We have also launched an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.
As part of the Youth Guarantee, we are breaking the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing paid work for every eligible 18–21-year-old who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months.
The Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment, for 25 hours a week, at the relevant minimum wage, with the government covering 100% of employment costs. It will also provide wraparound support for young people to further develop the required skills and experience needed for the move into sustained employment. Appropriate safeguards will be built into the scheme to ensure that opportunities are high quality, fair and deliver the intended outcomes for young people.
Alongside this, in Pathways to Work we are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions, regardless of age, on out of work benefits. This guarantee will be backed by £1 billion a year of funding by the end of the decade.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people from the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities have benefited from the Youth Guarantee and Growth and Skills Levy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them, including those from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee. We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee through the launch of eight place-based Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England in Spring 2025. These trailblazers are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people aged 18-21 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET.
At the budget, we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.
The DWP Place‑based toolkit helps Jobcentre Plus Districts to understand their local populations, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and identify how best to support their needs. This includes bringing together information about local people, employers, partners, labour market trends, and available funding to help tailor support effectively.
Apprenticeship starts by the Gypsy or Irish traveller ethnicity group are published here (see attached): 'Learner Characteristics Ethnicity - Starts, Achievements, Participation by Age, Level, Ethnicity, Sex, LLDD' from 'Apprenticeships', Permanent data table - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.
2024/25 | ||||
Total | White | Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Total | 160 |
Under 19 | White | Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Total | 50 |
Under 19 | 50 | |||
19+ | White | Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Total | 120 |
19-24 | 40 | |||
25+ | 70 | |||
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Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which the Timms Review steering group includes people with recent lived experience of disability and of claiming Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the composition of the group commands confidence among disabled people and stakeholders.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Almost all steering group members have lived experience of disability, and the group is diverse in terms of geography, ethnicity, and sexuality. However, no single group can be fully representative of the UK’s disabled community. This is why the steering group will not work alone and will design a broader programme of participation to bring together the full range of views and voices to contribute to the Review. We are committed to transparency and there will be regular updates on the Review’s work as it progresses.
In regard to type of disability, employment status, and benefit claimant status, it is for steering group members to decide whether they want to share their own sensitive personal information. Some of our steering group members have shared this information in their public facing biographies, and some have not. It is important their choice and privacy is respected. Further information on steering group members can be found here: The Timms Review: Co-Chair Update, February 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Bereavement Support Payment in the context of trends in the cost of living.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) is intended to provide support during the acute period following a bereavement when people may face sudden costs or disruption. Where longer-term income support is needed for everyday living costs, qualifying individuals can access Universal Credit, which is generally increased in line with inflation.
The rate of Bereavement Support Payment is reviewed on a discretionary basis each year as part of the annual uprating process.