Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service is able to identify hidden earnings.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a paying parent changes jobs, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses real-time information from HMRC where available, to quickly identify new employment and adjust maintenance calculations accordingly.
People who are self-employed are required to keep accurate records of their business income and expenses for tax purposes. HMRC can charge penalties for inaccurate reporting where it results in tax being unpaid.
Where the information available from HMRC does not give rise to a liability which accurately reflects what a customer believes a paying parent should be paying, the customer can seek a Variation. Variations allow the CMS to look at some circumstances which are not covered by the basic maintenance calculation. A variation can be requested on grounds of diversion of income. This is when the paying parent may be able to control the amount of income they receive. This includes diverting income to another person or for another purpose (including excessive pension contributions).
Cases involving complex income can be investigated by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the Child Maintenance Service is given.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assurances and risk warnings were provided to members of the Atomic Energy Authority public sector pension scheme in 1996, before they transferred their accrued public sector pension benefits into the Atomic Energy Authority Technology private sector scheme.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on how much funding was transferred to the Atomic Energy Authority Technology private sector pension scheme in 1996 and does not hold all the communications that were provided to members of the Atomic Energy Authority Technology pension scheme in 1996.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a company that has entered the Pension Protection Fund can be extracted from the Pension Protection Fund, on payment of sufficient funds to cover the future Pension Protection Fund liabilities, if a new sponsoring employer is willing to underwrite the scheme and pay benefits above Pension Protection Fund level.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) does not permit transfers out because the PPF does not work as a segregated fund, where individual schemes contributions are ringfenced.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Sherlock on 3 February (HL Deb col 1428), what are the terms of reference for the consultation on the relationship between residence requirements and the benefits system; when that consultation will open; and who can contribute to that consultation.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Full details about the consultation including timelines, how long the consultation will last, and how to be involved, will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (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 30 January (HL13334), of the 344 civil servants employed in the Department for Work and Pensions, what grades they are comprised.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not disclose a breakdown of the grades for data privacy reasons as some of the grades may have fewer than five staff members on Skilled Worker visas.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent the risk of self-diagnosed mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, leading to a rise in sickness benefit claims.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to health and disability benefits is determined by the eligibility criteria for the respective benefits. Each case is assessed individually based on the evidence provided.
We have also launched the Timms Review to ensure Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is fair and fit for the future. It is the ever first full review of PIP and will include consideration of whether the assessment effectively captures the impact of long-term health conditions and disability in the modern world.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money was transferred to the Atomic Energy Authority Technology pension scheme in 1996, when staff were transferred from their Atomic Energy Authority public sector pension scheme into the Atomic Energy Authority Technology scheme.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on how much funding was transferred to the Atomic Energy Authority Technology private sector pension scheme in 1996 and does not hold all the communications that were provided to members of the Atomic Energy Authority Technology pension scheme in 1996.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 help support people with endometriosis in the workplace in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including women with endometriosis, with their employment journey.
We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. WorkWell is part of Pathways to Work and will be rolled out across all of England backed by up to £259 million investment over three years. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
In November 2025, Sir Charlie Mayfield reported his Keep Britain Working Review, setting out recommendations to support employers to create healthier and more inclusive workplaces and radically reshape the way Government works with employers to improve outcomes. Following publication we have entered the Vanguard phase and, as part of this, we are partnering with Vanguard employers to test how we can better support good health in work, with a focus on women's health as part of this. Women’s health directly impacts economic participation, with health issues being the leading cause of lost working time for women. We have been inputting into the Women’s Health Strategy renewal to ensure women being in work is a positive health outcome. This includes a commitment to adopting a women’s health across the life course lens as part of the partnership with Vanguard employers in the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Individuals unable to work due to endometriosis may be eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay from their employer which, from April becomes payable from the first full day of sickness absence.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the criteria for foodbanks to be included within official foodbank statistics.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department’s official statistics on food bank use are published via the annual Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics, Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK using data from the Family Resources Survey (FRS), Family Resources Survey - GOV.UK. They measure whether a household has used a food bank in the past 30 days or 12 months.
Respondents are asked whether they have used a food bank in the past 30 days/12 months. The questionnaire instructions make it clear that informal support with food supplies via family and friends and vouchers provided by local authorities and other organisations that are not food banks should not be counted as food bank use.
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, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who leave higher education having completed their course and subsequently claim out-of-work benefits within (a) three months, (b) six months and (c) one year of leaving university.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is not held.