Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 migraine on levels of sickness absence, labour market participation and economic inactivity.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that 3.1 million days were lost due to headaches and migraines in 2024. This represents 2.1% of all days lost, the same percentage as in 2019.
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of migraine on labour market participation and economic inactivity. This information is not available because the Labour Force Survey - the primary source for data on labour market participation and economic inactivity - only reports figures by long‑term health condition. The category of “migraines and headaches” appears only as a reason for sickness absence, not as a separate long-term health condition.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people living with migraine will be considered in the delivery of policies to support people with long-term conditions to remain in or return to work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the substantial economic and NHS burden of migraine, which costs the economy roughly £8.8 billion to £12 billion annually, driven heavily by lost productivity. Three million workdays are lost annually due to migraine and there are approximately 16,500 emergency admissions a year, costing the NHS £11.5 million.
We know that 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. In our Pathways to Work Green Paper we set out our Pathways to Work offer, backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade.
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 people living with migraine, 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. Through Pathways to Work we are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and people with health conditions on out of work benefits, building on and bringing together initiatives such as Connect to Work, WorkWell and Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies.
In November 2025, Sir Charlie Mayfield published 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 started running a Vanguard phase, through which we are partnering with volunteer employers and regions to test how we can better support good health in work.
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.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Personal Independence Payment assessors receive specialist training on disabilities caused by sodium valproate.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities caused by sodium valproate receive high-quality, objective, and accurate assessments.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments are functional assessments designed to evaluate how an individual’s health conditions or impairments affect their ability to carry out daily living activities and mobility. Health professionals (HPs) conducting these assessments are trained specialists in disability analysis, focusing on understanding the functional impact of a claimant’s condition rather than its clinical diagnosis. DWP does not require HPs to be specialists in the specific medical conditions or impairments of those they assess.
Additionally, HPs have access to Condition Insight Reports and Continuing Professional Development guides. These resources offer detailed clinical and functional information on a range of conditions, including disabilities cause by sodium valproate such as, Fetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder (FVSD), to support HPs in delivering informed assessments.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to reduce the level of incorrect Personal Independence Payment decisions for people with disabilities resulting from sodium valproate.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is our aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. To support this, we have made improvements to our decision-making processes to help ensure people get the support they are entitled to without needing to appeal. This includes giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact customers if they think additional evidence may support the claim.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 adequacy of payments received by unpaid carers for people harmed by sodium valproate.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
People in Great Britain who provide unpaid care of 35 hours a week or more can receive financial support from the benefit system through Universal Credit (UC) or Pension Credit (PC). Carer’s Allowance (CA) is also available to those in England and Wales. UC and PC are means-tested and include additional amounts for carers worth around £2,400 a year. CA is not means-tested and is worth around £4,300 a year.
Payments to the unpaid carer are linked to the extra costs disability benefit received by the person with care needs. This is most commonly the Daily Living Component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the middle or highest rate Care Component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Attendance Allowance (AA), or the equivalent rates of Child Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance or Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland. Receipt of PIP, DLA or AA is based on functional ability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. Individuals can be affected in different ways by the same condition, and so the outcome of a PIP claim from somebody harmed by sodium valproate would depend on individual circumstances. The amount of the carer additions in UC and PC, and the rate of CA, do not depend on the reason that the extra costs disability benefit is in payment.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 implications for his policies of trends in the number of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit is primarily reserved for people settled in the UK, and the Government has announced plans to increase the standard time most migrants have to wait before they can achieve settlement, from five to 10 years.
This change will support the downward trend of Universal Credit claimants who are foreign nationals.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the role (a) pubs and (b) brewers play on the provision of (i) first jobs and (ii) early career opportunities for young people.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We recognise that the pub and brewery industry is an important part of the Hospitality sector, and that it provides good prospects for young people to start their career. DWP’s Strategic Relationship Team actively works with trade bodies, including the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), to promote opportunities to support individuals looking for work.
From April 2021 to March 2025 a fifth of all participants in DWP Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) were young people aged 16 to 24 years old. We know that SWAPs are successful at getting people into work, which is why as part of the expansion to 100,000 starts in 2025/26, we have been working with UK Hospitality on the roll-out of Hospitality SWAPs in 26 areas, including 13 coastal towns such as Scarborough and Blackpool. This will ensure young people have the best support to gain employment in the sector, as part of our wider reforms to get Britain working.
The Department understands the negative effects of unemployment are particularly pronounced for young people and can have longstanding implications on their future earnings and life chances. This is why DWP have a particular focus on ensuring young people are supported into employment.
DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. 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 working alongside partners
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent people will no longer be eligible to Personal Independence Payment following the proposed reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number will not be known until those affected have gone through their first award review after the reforms take effect, starting in November 2026.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming the standard level of the Personal Independence Payment who did not score four points in any of the 10 descriptors are (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In January 2025 (latest available data), there were 8,200 claimants of Personal Independence Payment in England and Wales receiving the Standard Daily Living component who did not score at least four points in any of the 10 descriptors and had autism as their primary condition. There were 21,600 such claimants whose primary condition was a neurodivergent condition, including the 8,200 with autism.
We have defined Neurodivergent claimants as those with the following primary conditions:
- Autism
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- ADHD / ADD
- Tourette’s Syndrome
There may be other claimants with neurodivergent conditions as a primary or secondary condition, but these are not identifiable from the readily available data. Behavioural responses on the part of claimants and assessors to the reforms planned to take effect from November 2026 will affect the outcomes of award reviews undertaken after that date.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's report entitled The Buckland review of autism employment: report and recommendations, published 28 February 2024, how many recommendations of that report have been implemented.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The independent Buckland Review of Autism Employment reported to the last Government with recommendations to employers, third sector organisations and government on addressing barriers autistic people face when seeking and remaining in employment.
This was a valuable piece of work. This Government is committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity (as a more inclusive concept including autism, ADHD and other conditions, recognising that these co-occur for many neurodivergent people) in workplaces. We have launched a review by an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to build on the Buckland Review and advise on how we improve experiences for all neurodivergent people, including in recruitment and day to day workplace practices. Recommendations are expected in the summer.
Although we have set a more ambitious and inclusive scope by expanding beyond the focus of the Buckland Review, several of the recommendations specifically to Government are already in progress. These include working with employers to reform Disability Confident to improve the scheme's outcomes and realise its full potential, promoting and enhancing the visibility of the Support with Employee Health and Disability Service (SEHD), and launching our new Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, to support disabled people, those with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment to get into and stay in work. We have also collaborated with ACAS to promote updated neurodiversity guidance for employers.