Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 skills funding announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on the adequacy of engineering, advanced manufacturing, logistics, construction and health and social care skills in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency, Walsall and the West Midlands; and whether his Department plans to publish regional allocations for those programmes.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The budget announced over £1.5 billion of investment in employment and skills sup-port to fund the Youth Guarantee and reform the Growth and Skills Levy over the Spending Review period.
The Youth Guarantee means every young person can access support to earn or learn.
The Growth and Skills offer will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy. As part of the offer, new foundation apprentice-ships for young people were introduced in August 2025 alongside the ability to under-take shorter duration apprenticeships. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country, including in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency, Walsall and the West Midlands.
Further, providers nationwide are already funded to develop training aligned with local needs. In 2025/26, 67% of the £1.44 billion Adult Skills Fund was devolved to 13 Strategic Authorities for locally tailored provision, for example to support the delivery of Sector-Based Work Academies to meet the skilled workforce requirements of a wide range of sectors.
As set out in the Skills White Paper we are investing over £1 billion to support tens of thousands of jobs, in construction, defence, digital, engineering through skills pack-ages in key areas identified in the Industrial Strategy. This will help equip the work-force with the skills needed to drive innovation, fill industry shortages, and strengthen the UK’s economic and national resilience.
These measures will help to support provision in areas such as engineering, advanced manufacturing, logistics, construction and health and social care skills across the country.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 94070, when the independent investigation will be published.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
An independent investigation has been launched to tackle the persistently high numbers of young people out of work, education and training.
Led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the review will examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or education before their careers have begun.
The review will be taken forward in two distinct phases: a discovery phase; and a solution phase.
The discovery phase will conclude by Spring 2026, at which point the Author is expected to produce, and submit to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, an interim review.
The review will then continue into the solution phase, with the Chair providing a full and final review by Summer 2026.
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, how many (a) plumbers, (b) electricians, (c) joiners, (d) bricklayers and (e) plasterers are forecast to leave and join the labour market in each year to 2030.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold up to date data on the numbers of (a) plumbers, (b) electricians, (c) joiners, (d) bricklayers and (e) plasterers leaving and joining the labour market. The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) does produce the Construction Workforce Outlook for England which projects the growth in these occupations from 2024 to 2029 and is available here: https://www.citb.co.uk/cwo/reports/cwo_report_england.pdf.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to uprate the Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are reviewed each year at Autumn Budget.
In his Written Ministerial Statement following Autumn Budget, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions confirmed that LHA rates will remain at current levels in 2026/27. He considered a range of factors, such as rental levels across Great Britain and the challenging fiscal context.
Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
For those renters who require additional support to meet a shortfall in rent costs, Discretionary Housing Payments are available from local authorities.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 financial and emotional impact of current waiting times for mandatory reconsideration on individuals; and what his Department is doing to ensure that mandatory reconsiderations are carried out in a timely manner.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) offers claimants the opportunity to challenge decisions and provide additional information which may be relevant to their claim.
Entitlement is usually from the date of claim, so if a decision is changed at MR, the amount awarded will be the same as if it were awarded at the initial decision stage. Arrears are paid as a lump sum.
We are allocating more decision makers to MRs to ensure decisions are made in as timely manner as possible.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 mandatory reconsiderations on the (a) finances and (b) emotions of affected people; and how the Department is ensuring those reconsiderations are completed in a timely manner.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) offers claimants the opportunity to challenge decisions and provide additional information which may be relevant to their claim.
Entitlement is usually from the date of claim, so if a decision is changed at MR, the amount awarded will be the same as if it were awarded at the initial decision stage. Arrears are paid as a lump sum.
We are allocating more decision makers to MRs to ensure decisions are made in as timely manner as possible.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was receiving Universal Credit with limited capability for work and work-related activity during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.
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 August 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.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was PIP during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.
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 August 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.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.
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 August 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.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data he collects on employment retention for claimants supported by Jobcentre Plus.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to Parliamentary Question 99406.