Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department have made on the potential impact of place-based employment support programmes such as JobsPlus in addressing levels of economic inactivity and unemployment.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobs Plus is a community-based model with strong potential to tackle inactivity and unemployment. The department is testing the model in ten social housing communities across England. Jobs Plus and other place-based programmes such as the Get Britain Working Trailblazers, Work Well and Connect to Work will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in helping people enter and remain in work.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of couples who received support through the Reducing Parental Conflict Local Grant programme (2022–25) were (1) still together, and (2) separated or separating at the point of first engagement; and whether this information was routinely collected as part of programme monitoring.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government wants to ensure that every child has the best start in life. We know that healthy parental relationships are an important part of this ambition, and the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme continues to deliver effective relationship support for parents, working closely with local authorities (LAs).
Our 2022-25 evaluation has recognised the value that Local Authority staffing, particularly the role of coordinators as drivers of change, bring to the integration and delivery of RPC within their local areas. That is why we have continued to fund and support the coordinator posts. LAs can vary their staffing levels depending on local priorities and decisions on how to use their individual Local Grant funding, however knowledge and expertise remain due to wider workforce training funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The government is keenly aware of the importance of communicating decisions on future funding to LAs, and the impact this has on workforce and delivery of parental support. We appreciate the importance of timely information for the organisations and individuals involved, and we will share updates at the earliest opportunity.
Relationship status is not an outcome measured by the RPC programme. DWP therefore does not routinely collect this information. The programme focuses on reducing the frequency, intensity and impact of parental conflict on children, rather than whether parents remain together or separate.
Wider evaluations of the RPC programme, such as our 2018-2022 evaluation, demonstrated the clear impact of improved parental relationships – whether together or apart – on children’s mental health and wellbeing. The evaluation of the RPC Local Grant (2022–25) showed the importance of embedding relationship support alongside family help services, and within the places and spaces where families access support. This is at the heart of the Government’s approach to supporting families, as creating a more integrated system of support is a central ambition of the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme, and the roll out of Best Start Family Hubs to every Local Authority in England.
Ensuring families have access to the effective support that they need remains an important shared endeavour across government. DWP are committed to working closely with the Department for Education, and across government, to ensure that families continue to benefit from approaches that improve relationships and support better outcomes for children.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to announce funding allocations for the Reducing Parental Conflict programme following the 2025 Spending Review; and how they are mitigating the impact of any delay on local authority planning and workforce retention.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government wants to ensure that every child has the best start in life. We know that healthy parental relationships are an important part of this ambition, and the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme continues to deliver effective relationship support for parents, working closely with local authorities (LAs).
Our 2022-25 evaluation has recognised the value that Local Authority staffing, particularly the role of coordinators as drivers of change, bring to the integration and delivery of RPC within their local areas. That is why we have continued to fund and support the coordinator posts. LAs can vary their staffing levels depending on local priorities and decisions on how to use their individual Local Grant funding, however knowledge and expertise remain due to wider workforce training funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The government is keenly aware of the importance of communicating decisions on future funding to LAs, and the impact this has on workforce and delivery of parental support. We appreciate the importance of timely information for the organisations and individuals involved, and we will share updates at the earliest opportunity.
Relationship status is not an outcome measured by the RPC programme. DWP therefore does not routinely collect this information. The programme focuses on reducing the frequency, intensity and impact of parental conflict on children, rather than whether parents remain together or separate.
Wider evaluations of the RPC programme, such as our 2018-2022 evaluation, demonstrated the clear impact of improved parental relationships – whether together or apart – on children’s mental health and wellbeing. The evaluation of the RPC Local Grant (2022–25) showed the importance of embedding relationship support alongside family help services, and within the places and spaces where families access support. This is at the heart of the Government’s approach to supporting families, as creating a more integrated system of support is a central ambition of the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme, and the roll out of Best Start Family Hubs to every Local Authority in England.
Ensuring families have access to the effective support that they need remains an important shared endeavour across government. DWP are committed to working closely with the Department for Education, and across government, to ensure that families continue to benefit from approaches that improve relationships and support better outcomes for children.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the rate of benefit sanctions varied by (1) region, and (2) ethnicity, in the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department regularly publishes monthly Universal Credit sanction rate statistics for Great Britain as part of the benefit sanction statistics. The latest statistics to August 2025 are available in table 2.1 of the latest benefit sanction statistics tables, with sanction rates by ethnic group provided in table 7.6.
The UC Sanction Rates dataset on Stat-Xplore can be used to produce the same information in table 2.1 for lower-level geographical breakdowns, such as region.
Monthly sanction rates by region, extracted from Stat-Xplore, and by ethnic group, from table 7.6 of the published tables, for September 2024 to August 2025 are provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who are offered a work placement through the Youth Guarantee scheme will have a choice over the sector, location, or type of role.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Guarantee is backed by an £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit to get them into employment or training. 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.
With over 350,000 opportunities, there will be flexibility for young people to find roles in different sectors, locations, and professions. To achieve this, we will work with national and local employers and training providers to create a range of high-quality job and training opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how long they will remove the right to claim benefits from 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who do not accept the offer of a work placement through the Youth Guarantee scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Guarantee is part of a new social contract with young people – opportunity matched by responsibility. Young people who can work will be expected to engage with the support offered. If the support is declined without good reasons, existing benefit sanction rules will apply. The Jobs Guarantee is no exception and the full conditionality regime will apply.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 training provider capacity for the Fishmonger Apprenticeship Standard in meeting employer demand.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department actively monitors all registered apprenticeship training providers through compliance checks, performance reviews, and inspections to ensure quality standards are met. Where providers fail to meet these requirements, we take appropriate action, which can include applying conditions such as restricting delivery and even termination of agreements and removal from the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR).
There are currently 4 registered training providers offering the Fishmonger Level 2 apprenticeship standard.
The Department manages entry to the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register to ensure that new providers meet a gap in apprenticeship training provision or meet our strategic priorities in areas where we want to grow apprenticeships.
Where an employer has provided evidence of a gap in the current apprenticeship training provision through the employer-led gap in provision policy, new training providers may enter the market.
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, how many and what proportion of asylum seekers who have received a positive asylum decision have been granted access to Universal Credit during the current Parliament.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. ‘Table 1’ in the latest Universal Credit immigration status and nationality data tables provides information on the number of people with refugee status on Universal Credit for each month from April 2022 to October 2025.
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 people brought to the United Kingdom under the Gaza scholarship students route claim (a) Universal Credit, (b) PIP and (c) other benefits.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The majority of migrants on temporary, time-limited visas (such as for work or study) are subject to a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition for at least 5 years. This restricts them from accessing certain public funded benefits and services. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits (such as Universal Credit) to individuals where the Home Office has applied an NRPF condition to their immigration status.
Students who are supported to exit Gaza are still required to meet all of the requirements of the student route, and are subject to the same No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) conditions.
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 estimate his Department has made of the amount paid in Universal Credit to claimants recorded as non-UK nationals by month since 1 July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Non-British and Irish nationals typically cannot access Universal Credit until they have been granted settlement after 5 years of lawful residence in the UK. The Home Office are consulting on doubling the standard qualifying period for settlement from 5 to 10 years. Exceptionally, some groups can access sooner, including people protected by the Withdrawal Agreement and Afghans and Ukrainians who have fled those countries.
Universal Credit awards are paid to households, so it is not possible to break payments down to individual members of a household.