Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Redditch are in receipt of cost of living support payments.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no further Cost-of-Living payments since those issued in the financial year 2023/24. The Cost-of-Living Payments were intended to relieve the immediate financial pressures caused by the rapid rise in cost of living. There are no plans to reintroduce these payments.
The Department for Work and Pensions has published an Impact Assessment on the Cost-of-Living Payments. Further information can be found here.
The Government is working to address cost-of-living pressures facing families across the country through targeted measures including raising the minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over, which increased by 4.1 per cent to £12.71 an hour.
The removal of the two-child limit introduced as part of the Child Poverty Strategy will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in the Strategy.
These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began. We have also confirmed over £600 million for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for the next three financial years.
On 1 April 2026, we introduced a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities including support with food, as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking through the Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service to identify AI-generated employment scams.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department takes the risk posed by increasingly sophisticated scams enabled by artificial intelligence very seriously. DWP works closely with partners such as Action Fraud to prevent fraudulent activity online and suspected fraud and scams can also be reported via their Action Fraud website.
Within Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service, emerging fraud risks are identified through our intelligence functions and supported by data and analytics to help detect and respond to those risks. We do not disclose detailed operational methods, as this could undermine the Department’s ability to prevent and detect fraud.
Outside of this, fraud and error rates within the department are at the lowest since the pandemic. We’re determined to continue to drive down fraud and since Autumn Budget 2024, the Department has committed to deliver £14.6bn in gross savings by 2030‑31 through strengthened fraud, error and debt measures. This includes bolstering our fraud controls, including periodic redeclarations and targeted case reviews in Universal Credit, expanded Pension Credit checks, increased staffing and the introduction of the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of levels of child poverty linked to the cost of living crisis in Redditch.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working to address cost-of-living pressures facing families across the country through targeted measures including raising the minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over, which increased by 4.1 per cent to £12.71 an hour.
The removal of the two-child limit introduced as part of the Child Poverty Strategy will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in the Strategy.
These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began. We have also confirmed over £600 million for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for the next three financial years.
On 1 April 2026, we introduced a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities including support with food, as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of food insecurity levels among households in Redditch.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the number of households experiencing food insecurity by constituency is not availa-ble due to sample sizes.
Statistics on the number of individuals living in households that are food insecure by region in the UK are published annually in the “Family Resources Survey” publication in “table 9_2” of “Household food security tables” at Family Resources Survey: financial year 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK.
The latest statistics published in March 2026 are for the financial period 2024/25. The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
We are committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels. Food poverty is a complex issue which will be best addressed through activity right across Government and, in contributing to that, DWP is developing its policy and analytical work and is making those links.
DEFRA published the Good Food Cycle in July which identified ten priority outcomes needed to build a thriving food sector while tackling a range of food related challenges. Improving food price affordability and access, in particular targeting costs that lead to food price inflation and supporting those who most need access to healthy affordable nutrition, is a key priority.
On 1 April 2026, we introduced a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities including support with food, as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of trends in household energy debt in Redditch over the last two years.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has not made such an assessment and does not hold this specific data.
The independent industry regulator Ofgem monitors and reports on levels of energy debt in Great Britain, and their latest statistical release can be found here: Debt and arrears indicators | Ofgem.
Ofgem is considering a range of options to reduce energy debt in the system, and we are working closely with them to understand the impacts of different approaches on consumers.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the affordability of private rented housing in Redditch.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
According to the latest Office for National Statistics data, private renters in Redditch spent on average 29.1% of their income on rent. This compares to 29.2% in the West Midlands and 36.3% for England overall.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of people in Redditch using credit to pay for essential household bills.
Answered by Rachel Blake
The Government recognises that, where household finances are stretched, some people may use credit to cover essential costs. That is why the Government has taken action to ease pressure on household finances, including by taking £150 off energy bills this year, freezing NHS prescription charges, raising the National Living Wage, and removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit. As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, the Government has also encouraged lenders to integrate income maximisation tools into customer journeys which can help consumers check the benefits for which they are eligible.
More broadly, the Government is acting to reduce everyday costs and bear down on prices. This includes extending the £3 national bus fare cap until at least March 2027, making bus travel across England free for children aged 5 to 15 throughout August, suspending tariffs on a range of agri-food products, and equipping the Competition and Markets Authority and other regulators with stronger powers to tackle price gouging where it occurs.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of rising living costs on mental health outcomes in Redditch.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
We recognise the effect that financial pressures, such as those caused by rising living costs, can have on some people’s mental health, including in Redditch. The cross-Government, cross-sector suicide prevention strategy for England includes financial difficulty as a priority area for action and sets out work Government departments are doing to address this.
We have also worked with colleagues at HM Treasury and the Money and Pensions Service to promote the mental health Breathing Space scheme, which gives those with mental ill health facing financial difficulties space to receive debt advice, without pressure from creditors or mounting debts.
This is in addition to the mental health support available through general practitioners, NHS Talking Therapies, and NHS 111. Through the 10-Year Health Plan we are expanding NHS Talking Therapies so that 915,000 people complete a course of treatment by March 2029. We are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 impact of the cost of living crisis on low-income households in Redditch.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working to address cost-of-living pressures facing families across the country through targeted measures including raising the minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over, which increased by 4.1 per cent to £12.71 an hour.
The removal of the two-child limit introduced as part of the Child Poverty Strategy will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in the Strategy.
These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began. We have also confirmed over £600 million for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for the next three financial years.
On 1 April 2026, we introduced a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities including support with food, as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of inflationary pressures on household finances in Redditch.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Higher inflation in recent years has added to pressures on household finances, especially through the price of everyday essentials such as food and energy.
The Office for National Statistics does not produce inflationary data at the constituency level. At the national level headline CPI inflation decreased from 3.3% in March to 2.8% in April. This was mainly driven by lower household energy bills and a fall in services inflation. Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation fell from 3.7% in March to 3.0% in April.
Cost of living pressures are still felt by many families. Thanks to decisions made at the Budget, the Government took an average of £150 off energy bills from April, froze rail fares and NHS prescription fees for this year, and put more money in people’s pockets by removing the two-child limit and increasing the national living wage.
To tackle the most acute cost pressures arising from the Middle East conflict, the Government announced emergency support for heating oil customers and an extension to the fuel duty cut until the end of the year. To tackle food prices, the Government is consulting businesses on suspending agri-food tariffs on 125 types of products, which will bring down the cost of staple goods that families across the UK buy every week.