Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Officials within the Department for Work and Pensions have access to artificial intelligence tools that may be used to support efficiency in their day‑to‑day work. However, responsibility for developing policy and legislative proposals remains with officials and all final decisions on substantive policy or legal issues continue to be taken by Ministers.
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: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 2 June 2025 on Question 56485 on the limited capability for work and work-related activity element of Universal Credit, what progress has been made in reviewing the Child Maintenance calculation.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and ensuring it is fair for both parents and encourages willing and able compliance.
The outcome of the review and next steps will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people with special educational needs and disabilities into employment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our Pathways to Work guarantee will ensure an offer of personalised work, health and skills support to disabled people and people with health conditions. Access to Work can support workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer to enable work. Young people will also be eligible for additional support through the Youth Guarantee.
Through Pathways to Work, young people with special educational needs have access to tailored support, including help into supported employment through Connect to Work. Our local economic inactivity and youth guarantee trailblazers include testing approaches to targeted support for young people with SEND.
We've also launched a review into Young People Work and Health led by Alan Milburn to understand the reasons behind young people becoming NEET, with a particular focus on mental health and disability.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing levels of welfare spending on foreign nationals by benefit type.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department remains focussed on ensuring we provide robust, transparent data where this is available.
That is why we regularly publish quarterly official statistics on the number of Universal Credit claimants broken down by immigration status type and nationality group, as well as whether claimants are in work. We have no plans to change this approach.
In benefits other than Universal Credit, nationality and immigration status is not held or collected on digital systems in a way that allows it to be extracted for the publication as official statistics.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment has made on its programme of work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Review has established its themes and launched a Call for Evidence, the first step in a wider programme of engagement. Recognising no single method will capture every perspective, the Review’s steering group has agreed a mix of approaches to engage with and gather evidence from individuals and organisations. A varied approach will ensure the Review is informed by lived experience. An update will be shared later this week.
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.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What steps he 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.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing the Child Maintenance Service to issue a deduction from earnings order rather than a deduction of earnings request to HM Paymaster General when the paying parent is a member of the armed forces.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Deduction from Earnings Orders (DEO) are applied as a method of payment where the Child Maintenance Service deducts maintenance directly from the Paying Parent’s wages. The DEO is primarily used to enforce payments but can be set up voluntarily. Deduction from Earnings Requests are similar to a Deduction from Earnings Order but used for Paying Parents who are serving members of the Armed Forces. The Child Maintenance Service can only request a deduction to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and, unlike with civilian employers, they cannot order or enforce payments. MOD policy aims to comply with requests; however, if the Paying Parent is committed to operational duties MOD may suspend the collection of debt.
The Child Maintenance Service takes action to ensure the correct method of payment is applied by identifying whether a Paying Parent is in the Armed Forces through its use of Real Team Information (RTI) Data taken from HMRC. This provides up to date information about Pay As You Earn income as the information submitted by employers online is displayed in RTI immediately. To ensure that the correct method of payment is used for a Paying Parent who is serving in the Armed Forces, caseworkers are provided with step-by-step procedural instructions and training.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Minister for Child Maintenance has declined requests to meet with STOPSuicides UK.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The minister regularly meets with key stakeholders and undertakes extensive engagement via correspondence with organisations who have an interest in the Child Maintenance Service, including with STOPSuicide UK and will continue to do so.