Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the government has held discussions with Motability following the revision of vehicle brands supported by the scheme to prioritise British made vehicles and to report accurate data on the number of British and non-British made vehicles procured.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals are waiting for their Access to Work application to be processed, and how does this compare to each month since June 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
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 Motability Scheme on supporting disabled people into employment and training.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Foundation report that 27% of Scheme users have improved access to education and 21% have improved access to employment opportunities. Scheme customers in employment report working an extra 14 hours a week, on average.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
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 timely chid maintenance payments for single parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Children in separated and single-parent families are statistically more likely to experience poverty compared to those in non-separated families. Through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements, Child Maintenance payments currently help keep around 120,000 children out of poverty each year.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring that parents meet their financial responsibilities in full and on time. Recent system changes enable us to identify at-risk cases earlier, allowing caseworkers to intervene promptly where partial payments are made and before payments stop altogether.
Where parents fail to meet their obligations, the CMS will not hesitate to use the full range of enforcement powers available. These powers are applied fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.
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, how many households will be affected by the lifting of the two child benefit cap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is published in ‘Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit’ (page 66-67) and is available at EFOs - Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by his Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Due to the way this information is stored in our systems, it would be difficult and incur disproportionate costs to extract subscriptions to LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average payment per customer for each primary medical condition, as defined in the Access to Work statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information across all Access to Work provision can be found in tables AVG03a (nominal terms expenditure) and AVG03a-R (real terms expenditure) in the published official statistics. Tables AVG03b through AVG03d-R provide further average expenditure breakdowns by any element, any assessment and non-contracted provision. Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2025 - GOV.UK
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, with reference to the Budget 2025, what measures his Department will take to reduce error and fraud in the welfare system by £4.6 billion by 2030-31.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government has committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in GB. These activities include:
Figures may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: Lincoln Jopp (Conservative - Spelthorne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2025 to Question 94068 on Universal Credit: Veterans, if he will set out the reasons for differences in how Armed Forces Pensions and service attributable pensions are taken into account for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit payments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In common with the legacy benefits it replaces, Universal Credit takes into account money available from other sources which allow a claimant to support themselves, allowing a fair balance to be struck between those in the greatest financial need and taxpayers who fund the welfare system. The general principle is that income, other than earnings, which is provided to meet everyday living costs is fully taken into account in the calculation of Universal Credit
As occupational and private pensions are paid to provide support to help people meet their living costs, they are taken fully into account in the assessment of entitlement to Universal Credit. This includes regular Armed Forces pensions, which are treated the same as any other occupational pension.
However, income which is provided to meet additional costs relating to disability is not taken into account. Therefore, payments relating to special schemes for compensation, and those relating to personal injury, are not taken into account as unearned income. Consequently, War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Payments are not taken into account in Universal Credit. Guaranteed Income Payments, Service Attributable Pensions and service-attributable, non-taxable Service Invalidity Pensions are also not taken into account.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households who flowed off the household benefit cap because of an exempting benefit had the off-flow outcome due to receiving (a) Employment Support Allowance support group, (b) Disability Living Allowance, (c) Industrial Injuries and (d) Personal Independence Payment in the quarter to May 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025.
Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.