Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has (a) implemented a domestic abuse policy for staff and (b) trained line managers to effectively respond to staff who are experiencing domestic abuse.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP provides comprehensive guidance and information to raise awareness of domestic abuse and its impacts which is available specifically to line managers and employees to help identify and respond appropriately to employees who may be experiencing domestic abuse, including signposting to further support and advice. DWP also runs a national annual programme of activity to raise awareness and share guidance with line managers and employees – promoting the '16 days of action against domestic abuse campaign'.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to introduce new targeted measures to reduce long-term not in employment, education, or training rates among 18–24-year-olds.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s plan to Get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.
As a first step, we are working with eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers across England which are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET. This includes strengthening local coordination, through local leadership, and outreach to better connect young people with opportunities. We will use the learning from these Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee as it rolls out across the rest of Great Britain.
In addition, the Government is investing £25 million to expand Youth Hubs, which bring together employment support from a Jobcentre work coach and place-based support fromlocal partnerships to help young NEET people into work. This investment will almost double the number of Youth Hubs to over 200 across England, Scotland and Wales over the next three years, ensuring more young people can access personalised, wraparound support in their local communities.
The Chancellor has also announced that every eligible young person who has been on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning will be offered guaranteed paid work. Participants of the scheme will receive support to take advantage of available opportunities, with the aim of helping them transition into regular employment. The scheme forms part of the government’s aim to provide targeted support for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. Further details including eligibility criteria and the structure of placements, will be confirmed at Budget.
The above builds on existing DWP labour market support for 16-24-year-olds through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level as part of the Youth Offer. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 potential impact of trends in the number of young people not in employment, education, or training on economic growth in (a) Lancashire and (b) England.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
When this Government came to office there were almost 1 million young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) and this Government is determined to address this.
The Government understands the negative effects of unemployment can be particularly pronounced for young people and can have longstanding implications on their future earnings potential and life chances. This is why the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a particular focus on ensuring young people are supported into employment, whilst also recognising their needs will vary depending on where they live and their own individual circumstances.
In Lancashire, DWP currently operates seven Youth Hubs in partnership with local organisations. These hubs bring together employment support from a Jobcentre work coach and place-based support from local partnerships to help young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) into work. These are located in Pendle, Burnley, Hyndburn, Blackburn, Preston, Fleetwood, and Blackpool. Additionally, all Lancashire Jobcentres offer the Movement to Work programme, providing young people with valuable work experience placements designed to build confidence, develop skills, and improve job prospects.
Building on existing support the government’s is also developing a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. As a first step, we are working with eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers across England which are testing innovative approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people NEET or at risk of becoming NEET. This includes strengthening local coordination, through local leadership, and outreach to better connect young people with opportunities. We will use the learning from these Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee as it rolls out across the rest of Great Britain.
In addition, the Government is investing £25 million to expand Youth Hubs. This investment will almost double the number of Youth Hubs to over 200 across England, Scotland and Wales over the next three years, ensuring more young people can access personalised, wraparound support in their local communities.
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has also announced that every eligible young person who has been on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning will be offered guaranteed paid work. Participants of the scheme will receive support to take advantage of available opportunities, with the aim of helping them transition into regular employment. The scheme forms part of the government’s aim to provide targeted support for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. Further details including eligibility criteria and the structure of placements, will be confirmed at the Budget.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of people not in employment, education, or training who are claiming Universal Credit in the North West.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on young people claiming UC can be found on DWP Stat Xplore - Stat-Xplore - Log in
Statistics on young people who are NEET are produced by DfE and the ONS –
Statistics: NEET and participation - GOV.UK and Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK - Office for National Statistics
The Get Britain Working White Paper set plans to develop a Youth Guarantee which will ensure 18- to 21-year-olds are earning or learning.
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 probe will examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or education before their careers have begun — with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability.
The Terms of Reference can be found here.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75606 on Community Development: English Language, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of providing English language support in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information on actual spend is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
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 trends in the level of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit.
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. These statistics can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-9-october-2025.
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 her Department is taking to help support the development of (a) specialist training and (b) apprenticeship pathways in the (i) natural stone and (ii) heritage construction sectors, including (A) traditional craft and (B) masonry roles.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced in the Spending Review, the Government is investing over £1.2 billion annually in skills by 2028-29 to support technical routes and work-based training.
Employers and learners in the sector can benefit from a range of apprenticeship standards, such as Level 2 Stonemason, Leve 2 Thatcher and Level 5 Heritage Construction Specialist.
On 20 October 2025, we published the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, setting out a strategy to build a world-class skills system aligned with student and employer needs.
Central to these reforms is Skills England, which provides expert insight into current and future skills needs. It has published two key reports — Skills for Growth & Opportunity and Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030 — and will continue to assess national, regional, and sectoral demands. This evidence base will inform policy and funding decisions, helping employers close skills gaps all sectors, including the heritage sector.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure the adequate availability of apprenticeships for people leaving (a) secondary school and (b) college.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors of the economy, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills.
To support employers to offer apprenticeships, the government provides £1,000 payments to employers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19 to 24-year-old apprentices who have an education, health and care plan or have been, or are, in care.
Government also pays employers up to £2,000 for eligible foundation apprenticeships to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career.
In addition, employers benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies are taking to (i) develop and (ii) use artificial intelligence approaches to British Sign Language.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Providing British Sign Language (BSL) translations of pre-recorded audio and video content on public services is a legislative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AAA criterion. As outlined in the Government Service Standard, all digital government services must as a minimum meet Level AA. AAA is best practice.
Through the Service Standard and Service Assessments, the Government Digital Service encourages departments to incorporate BSL into service design. In May this year DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) launched the UK Government’s first British Sign Language (BSL) online translation service for candidates booking their theory test online. DVSA held a series of user research session with BSL users, with one participant calling the service ‘life-changing’.
There are opportunities to use AI to accelerate the creation of accessible content across public services. If public bodies trial the use of AI in approaches to BSL, they would be required to conform with both WCAG and the Service Standard, and must conduct research with disabled people, including Deaf users and where appropriate to the service provision, those who use sign language or a sign language interpreter to interact with the service.
Regardless of if AI generated, services must also make sure any BSL video is culturally appropriate by working with the BSL community, testing it, or getting feedback.
Asked by: Margaret Mullane (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
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 risks of silicosis among workers in the construction and engineered stone industries.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Great Britain has a well-established regulatory framework under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) (COSHH) that requires employers to control exposure to substances that can cause ill health, such as respirable crystalline silica (RCS) that can cause silicosis. The risk of exposure to RCS in workers in the construction and engineered stone industries can be managed using suitable control measures meeting well established standards.
Suitable control measures include the use of water suppression of dust containing RCS generated in construction and manufacturing processes, control of any mist generated and use of personal protective equipment such as respirators (masks). The effectiveness of controls must be maintained and workers must be trained to use such controls. Employers must also ensure that employees who are, or are liable to be, exposed to RCS are under suitable health surveillance.