Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) average and (b) total out of pocket costs incurred by patients and families accessing proton beam therapy, including travel, accommodation and subsistence, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect data on patients eligible for this treatment, associated out-of-pocket costs, and the number of individuals who have self-funded their therapy. However, NHS England and integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel.
The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. Patients who do not qualify for the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme and who are on a low income may be able to claim travel costs through the Department for Work and Pensions via Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consideration his Department makes of trends in the costs of essential goods and services when setting the basic rate of Universal Credit during the uprating process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) estimates how the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall and is used as an indication of inflation in Universal Credit uprating. Last year, The Secretary of State increased most working age benefits across Great Britain for 2026/27 by 3.8% in line with CPI in the year to September 2025.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
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 adequacy of the Minimum Income Floor for self‑employed Universal Credit claimants with caring responsibilities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit for self-employed individuals aims to encourage sustainable work choices and support self-employment where it is a realistic route to financial self-sufficiency.
The Minimum Income Floor is designed to encourage low-earning customers to increase their earnings and grow their business. The level of the Minimum Income Floor is calculated using the number of hours per week that a customer is expected to work, tailored specifically to customers individual circumstances, including for health conditions and caring responsibilities. It is set at a maximum of 35 hours for individuals with no limitations on their expected working hours.
To align with the offer of 30 hours of free childcare for working parents, self-employed individuals with children aged 3-12 typically have their Minimum Income Floor set using a maximum of 30 hours per week.
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 has been done as to the potential impact on employment prospects for under 22s who will no longer receive the health element of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 2 March 2026 in response to Question UIN 114204.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of carers who are in poverty because they have accrued National Insurance credits through caring responsibilities but are not eligible for contributory working-age benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Support for unpaid carers on low incomes is primarily provided through Universal Credit and Pension Credit, which include carer amounts in addition to the standard allowance or Standard Minimum Guarantee. These additions are worth up to £2,500 a year. In England and Wales, support is also available through Carer’s Allowance.
For those who are able to balance paid work with their caring responsibilities, this is also a means of increasing household income. It also contributes to the wellbeing of the carer, and to the skills available to employers. The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 gives employees a right to time off to provide care, and the Government will be consulting on further changes to care leave. The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains provisions to support improved work‑life balance, including measures to strengthen access to flexible working.
Unpaid carers receiving Carer’s Allowance receive a Class 1 National Insurance Credit which helps protect entitlement to the State Pension and contributory working-age benefits. Those receiving Universal Credit or a Carer’s Credit receive a Class 3 National Insurance Credit which helps protect entitlement to the State Pension. In all cases other contributions and entitlement conditions for the benefits or pension concerned would also need to be satisfied.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of when young people in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire will be able to benefit from the Youth Guarantee scheme.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 24 March 2026 to Question UIN 114579 which provides details of the Government’s recent announcements on the Youth Guarantee.
As part of the Youth Guarantee, the Government is expanding support for young people looking for work on Universal Credit. This includes tailored employment support and a structured path into a job, apprenticeship, work experience, a Sector‑based Work Academy Programme, learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre. Rollout of this support began this month on a phased basis and will be in place in all Jobcentres across Great Britain by the end of the year. Young people in Newcastle‑under‑Lyme and across Staffordshire will benefit through this national rollout.
Youth Guarantee also includes the Jobs Guarantee. This will provide every eligible 18–24-year-old who has been claiming Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months a guaranteed, fully subsidised six-month paid job, alongside a wraparound employability and in-work support to help them move into sustained employment. National roll out of the Jobs Guarantee will begin across Great Britain later in 2026, providing a total of 90,000 jobs over the next three years.
We are also introducing a new hiring grant of £2,000 for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October, as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months i.e. from July 2026.
Delivery of the Youth Guarantee is a partnership between central government, Jobcentres, employers, and local partners. Local DWP teams are responsible for delivery in their areas, working closely with employers and stakeholders. As a Member of Parliament, the Honourable Member can support young people locally by encouraging employers in Newcastle‑under‑Lyme and Staffordshire to engage with the Youth Guarantee. Your most useful contact will be your local DWP team – details of local DWP Service Leaders are published online.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
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 requirement to pay childcare costs in advance prior to reimbursement through Universal Credit on levels of employment; and what steps she is taking to support affected families.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Office for Budget Responsibility, in their Spring 2023 and October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, published their economic impacts of various policy measures, including childcare. These can be found here: The economic effects of policy measures - Office for Budget Responsibility, Monitoring and evaluating the supply-side effects of policy measures - Office for Budget Responsibility.
Parents who need help with their upfront childcare costs to move into work or increase their working hours may be eligible for support from the Flexible Support Fund.
The Flexible Support Fund’s Upfront Childcare Costs can be used to pay 100% of the upfront costs of up to one month of childcare. This is designed to ensure that any costs that the Universal Credit customer incurs in relation to childcare when starting work or increasing their hours is not a barrier to taking up this work.
We are streamlining the process and extending eligibility to parents returning from parental leave to improve access to upfront childcare support. We will also extend eligibility to parents returning from parental leave to ease the difficult transition back to work.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the interaction between Universal Credit and student finance results in appropriate support for eligible students.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Students are generally expected to access support for tuition fees and living costs through the student support system. This means most full‑time students are not usually eligible for Universal Credit, unless they fall into specified exception groups (e.g. disabled students, students with children, some young people without parental support).
Students who are eligible for Universal Credit have their maintenance loans treated as income for the purpose of Universal Credit. The student support system is designed to meet their living cost needs during study.
Tuition fee loans are disregarded in the calculation of a Universal Credit award, along with grants such as those recognising a disability or for childcare costs. Any Special Support Loan/Grant is also disregarded in these calculations.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's response times to correspondence.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is clear that timely responses to correspondence are important. Recent delays have arisen from increased volumes and complexity of cases, including as customers move onto Universal Credit as part of our planned migration from legacy benefits.
We are taking active steps to improve performance, including recruiting and training additional staff to handle correspondence and complaints. These measures are already helping to reduce backlogs and will continue to improve response times as capacity builds.
Asked by: Bayo Alaba (Labour - Southend East and Rochford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support young people into employment, education or training.
Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Too many young people are not in employment, education or training, something we are addressing and which the previous Government did nothing about.
We are investing £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support nearly one million 16–24-year-olds into work, education or training.
Over the next three years, this investment will unlock up to 300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training, along with 200,000 jobs through the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant, the £2,000 apprenticeship incentive, and guaranteeing jobs for long-term unemployed young people on Universal Credit.