Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much has been spent on mental health support as part of the Access to Work scheme in each of the past five years, broken down by mental health condition.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Although the Department holds information on the mental health conditions of Access to Work customers and the specific types of support they receive, information on specific mental health conditions and how much has been spent on mental health support is not readily accessible. The required information is recorded as descriptive free-text information and extracting it would require manual review of individual records.
While we cannot provide total expenditure on mental health support, the Access to Work official statistics do report expenditure for customers whose primary medical condition is a mental health condition, as well as for the Mental Health Support Service, as seen in the table below.
£m, 2024/25 prices | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Mental Health Condition | 5.9 | 12.2 | 17.4 | 27.7 | 38.7 |
Mental Health Support Service | 7.1 | 7.7 | 9.4 | 11.5 | 11.9 |
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the extra costs incurred by disabled people, including for (1) equipment, (2) care, (3) transport, and (4) housing, are accounted for in poverty metrics and support provision.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A range of poverty measures are included in the annual Households Below Average Income Statistics including Relative Low Income (After Housing Costs) and Material Deprivation. Relative Low Income involves setting a threshold based on 60% of net household income after deducing taxes and housing costs. It does not take account of any additional costs incurred due to disability. Material Deprivation involves asking families whether they can afford a set of essential items so the impact of any additional costs due to disability could impact on a family’s ability to afford these items so Material Deprivation metric does take account of these costs.
The extra costs disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP), provide a contribution towards the extra costs (which includes equipment, care, transport and housing), that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of the Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 with UK commitments to dynamically align with EU pesticide standards as part of the future UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 makes amendments to assimilated law for three areas of chemical regulation: GB Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR), GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemical Substances and Mixtures Regulation (GB CLP); and the Export and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Regulation (GB PIC). The changes being made are set out in the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) response to its consultation that ran between 23 June 2025 and 18 August 2025. HSE is committed to minimising divergence with the EU across all regimes.
GB BPR is now included in the negotiations between UK and the EU on a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. Until the agreement is concluded, the changes to GB BPR made by this instrument are necessary to resolve critical issues in the GB biocides regime which could otherwise lead to a large group of biocidal products and active substances being removed from the GB market. The implications for GB BPR will be further analysed when the final shape of the Agreement is known.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the awards made under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 during the 2024–25 financial year were to (1) claimants suffering from pneumoconiosis, (2) claimants suffering from diffuse mesothelioma, and (3) other categories of claimants.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2024/25 there were 2,300 awards to sufferers under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979. The breakdown by medical condition is:
Medical Condition | Awards |
Diffuse mesothelioma | 1,250 |
Pneumoconiosis | 640 |
Other | 410 |
Total* | 2,290 |
*Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people who use the Access to Work scheme for mental health support have a diagnosed condition.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally and extracting this information would require manual examination of individual records and exceed the cost limit.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the awards under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 were made to claimants in Wales in the 2024–25 financial year.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Between April 2024 and March 2025, 90 awards were made to claimants in Wales under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP assessment officers left their role in each month since January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held in the format specified.
However, while data on the monthly totals for average health professional (HP) full‑time equivalents (FTEs) working on the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) contracts, and overall HP FTE leavers, is not currently published by the department, we will be sharing this information in a future statistical release.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP assessment officers there were in each month since January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held in the format specified.
However, while data on the monthly totals for average health professional (HP) full‑time equivalents (FTEs) working on the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) contracts, and overall HP FTE leavers, is not currently published by the department, we will be sharing this information in a future statistical release.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason Capita has been made the preferred bidder for the DWP Synergy Civil Service payroll contract.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Synergy programme has awarded its Business Processing Services contract after a robust process, conducted in line with Government procurement regulations. Its priority is to ensure continuity of service and value for public money.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what away days has his Department organised for locations outside departmental buildings since March 2025, and at what cost.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Cabinet Office guidance which was issued by the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is that government offices should not hold away days in non-government buildings and DWP complies with this guidance.
Government-branded merchandise and away days banned - GOV.UK