Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the child poverty strategy will cover provision for all children in the UK, including those in families with no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing the Child Poverty Strategy, the Taskforce has considered all children across the United Kingdom. To develop the strategy the Taskforce has engaged extensively with families, charities, campaigners and leading organisations across the UK to shape and inform our plans. We have engaged with organisations who have made representations on behalf of children subject to no recourse to public funds and will continue to do so.
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 assaults on staff working in Job Centres were reported for each region for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions take any form of abuse and harassment (including violence-at-work incidents) of its staff very seriously. Robust controls are in place to mitigate the risk of unsafe interactions and eliminate violence-at-work as far as reasonably practicable, including security presence, risk assessments and training for our staff.
We review outcomes of our most serious incidents and consider any lessons learned to make improvements to our processes and training when necessary to help prevent reoccurrence.
DWP define assault as intentional physical contact which is directed at DWP or Partner employees (including Security Officers) in connection with working for DWP. Assaults range from minor to most serious. Actual assaults may include reports that resulted in no injury to those that result in major cuts and bruises.
Prior to 2025, regional breakdowns are not held centrally, to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost, however we can provide the national annual breakdown of JC assaults from 2015 to 2024 and a breakdown of JC assaults by region for 2025.
The following table provides the information requested for DWP reported assaults.
Year | Number of Assaults |
Jan - Dec 2015 | 233 |
Jan - Dec 2016 | 137 |
Jan - Dec 2017 | 238 |
Jan - Dec 2018 | 257 |
Jan - Dec 2019 | 145 |
Jan - Dec 2020 | 65 |
Jan - Dec 2021 | 107 |
Jan - Dec 2022 | 183 |
Jan - Dec 2023 | 212 |
Jan - Dec 2024 | 314 |
Jan - Nov 2025 | 265 |
2025 assaults by region
Group Name |
|
Central & West Scotland | 9 |
Central Midlands | 13 |
East & North Scotland | 5 |
Eastern England | 17 |
London | 62 |
North East & Cumbria | 20 |
North West | 27 |
North York & Lincolnshire | 25 |
South East | 17 |
South West | 23 |
Wales & the Marches | 10 |
West Midlands | 35 |
Not recorded to a Group Name | 2 |
| 265 |
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP secured £1.0bn (2026/27), £0.8bn (2027/28), £0.6bn (2028/29) and £0.5bn (2029/30) in capital (CDEL) funding through the Spending Review.
The Department is currently undertaking its internal business planning process, through which it will set programme budgets ahead of the new financial year. Details on DWP budgets are to be published in the explanatory memo for the 2026/27 Main Estimate.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Manchester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Crisis and Resilience Fund will help local authorities to address the causes of financial crisis instead of the symptoms.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis. The Fund will support local interventions that prevent people from falling into crisis and improve their citizens’ long-term financial resilience, reducing the need for crisis support in the long-term.
My Department has engaged extensively with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of overpaid benefits they have recouped in each of the past 10 financial years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The recovery of overpayments cannot be attributed to the year in which the benefit was overpaid, as many of those overpayments will have occurred over more than one year.
Furthermore, many of the overpayments that occurred in previous years are still undergoing recovery or are likely to be identified and recovered some time in the future.
The annual National Statistics publication Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK compares the amount of money recovered in each financial year from overpayment debts with its estimate of the money that was overpaid in that financial year – with the understanding that much of that recovered money each year would have been from benefits that were overpaid in past years. Figures from the National Statistics publications are provided in the annex.
The overall amount that can be recovered by deduction from benefit is set by regulations, and priority is given to a number of other deductions above those for recovery of an overpayment of benefit.
We encourage anyone who is finding recovery difficult to get in touch with DWP Debt Management, who can consider a lower rate of recovery or temporary suspension.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 24 November (HL11931), whether the report into young people and work will also examine reasons for the increase in the number of young people with disabilities and health conditions, and if not, what plans they have to investigate the reasons for this increase.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The rising number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a crisis of opportunity that demands more action to give them the chance to learn or earn.
To truly address the root causes of youth inactivity, we need a deeper understanding of the barriers that disabled young people and those with health conditions face. The Report will examine the drivers behind the rise in NEET rates and economic inactivity among young disabled people and those with health conditions.
On the 4th of December my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Department for Health and Social Care launched an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism.
The review will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD and autism. It will look at prevalence, early intervention and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services.
The review will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the NHS, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new Crisis and Resilience Fund guidance will make furniture and appliance provision an integral part of the support offered by local authorities to those lacking essential furniture.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of furniture provision, through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, on the likelihood of low-income households entering unmanageable debt.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process including furniture provision. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what actions have been taken in response to recommendations made by the Independent Case Examiner in relation to Child Maintenance Service complaints in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) have implemented measures in line with the Independent Case Examiner's recommendations in each of the last five years.
Actions include strengthening enforcement processes, improving complaint handling procedures, enhancing staff training, updating guidance, and reviewing policies to ensure fairer outcomes for parents and children. These actions demonstrate CMS commitment to learning from ICE recommendations and improving the experience of CMS customers.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 reduce waiting times for child maintenance enforcement actions.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything it can to address the non-payment of child maintenance and ensure appropriate enforcement action is taken in a timely manner.
Enforcement action can include deductions from earnings orders, or from bank accounts. Where that is not effective, CMS can apply to Court for a liability order, which legally recognises the debt. That is currently required before other enforcement action can be taken, including removal of driving licenses, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison.
We are working to introduce administrative liability orders (ALO) which will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order. Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.
Once it is introduced, we expect the new liability order process in the majority of cases to take around 6 weeks. Changes will mean the CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly to go after those who wilfully avoid their financial obligations to their children.
We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament as soon as possible