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 streamline the process for parents on Universal Credit to claim upfront childcare costs through the Flexible Support Fund.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP is committed to improving its services continuously. The Department is strengthening delivery of Upfront Childcare Costs (UFCCC), so that eligible parents receive timely support when moving into work. As part of this, guidance has been streamlined to ensure agents provide consistent UFCCC support to all eligible claimants.

The application process is being streamlined to make it simpler for work coaches and customers. The service will continue to be reviewed to identify further opportunities for improvement.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claims from single parents with (a) Work preparation and (b) All work-related activity Claimant Commitment requirements have been closed since 2023 due to non-acceptance of the Commitment.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The requested information is not held. A claimant must accept their claimant commitment to be assigned a conditionality group. Failure to do so will result in their claim being closed.

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 merits of a) making Universal Credit and other benefits data available to Electoral Registration Officers for the purposes of Automatic Voter Registration, and b) allowing people who update their address with his Department to update their voter registration automatically at the same time.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP promotes a culture of encouraging data sharing for public good whilst ensuring this is done in a secure, legal and ethical way. DWP require both a lawful basis and legal power to share personal data.

DWP has been supporting Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) with since 2014 when Individual Electoral Registration (IER) was introduced in England and Wales. You can now register to vote online in as little as 3 minutes. All you need is your name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number. DWP data is used within this process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will set out how his Department monitors whether Universal Credit claimant commitments for single-parent claimants are appropriately tailored to individual circumstances.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Lead carers within Universal Credit have different conditionality requirements that reflect their childcare responsibilities. These expectations are set according to the age of their youngest child: where the youngest child is under 1, there are no work preparation or work search requirements; where the youngest child is aged 1 or 2, the lead carer is expected to undertake work preparation activities only; and where the youngest child is aged 3 to 12, they may be asked to undertake work-related activities for up to 30 hours per week.

Work Coaches ensure that claimant commitments for single parents are appropriately tailored through a personalised discussion with each customer. This enables the Work Coach to take into account the individual’s circumstances, including childcare availability, school hours, travel time, and wider caring responsibilities, to ensure that support remains flexible and appropriate to the customer’s needs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making HM Passport Office data available to Electoral Registration Officers for the purposes of Automatic Voter Registration.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

His Majesty’s Passport Office shares data with other government departments, law enforcement agencies and local authorities to help fulfil their aims and objectives when it is legal to do so.

The merits of potential data sources to support voter registration is a matter for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a) making HMRC taxpayer data available to Electoral Registration Officers for the purposes of Automatic Voter Registration, and b) allowing people who update their address with HMRC to update their voter registration automatically at the same time.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The taxpayer information HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) holds is subject to a strict statutory duty of confidentiality. HMRC will share taxpayer information however, where there is a lawful basis to do so and to support wider government objectives. In July 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“MHCLG”) published its strategy for modern and secure elections with a focus on the effective and safe sharing of data to improve voter registration. HMRC has been working in collaboration with officials from MHCLG to identify data-enabled opportunities to support their objective of improving voter registration.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to develop a new national alcohol strategy for England.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for York Central on 23 January 2026 to Question 105860.

The Government is committed to shortening the amount of time spent in ill health and preventing premature deaths caused by alcohol. Action to prevent harms from alcohol feature in several current strategies and plans.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to manage conflicts of interest associated with alcohol industry involvement in public health policy.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The Department already has established arrangements in place to manage conflicts of interest for both ministers and civil servants, including where these relate to the alcohol industry.

Ministerial conduct is governed by the Ministerial Code, which sets out requirements on the declaration and handling of ministers’ interests. Civil servants are bound by the Civil Service Code, and by departmental policies that set out how actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest must be identified, declared, and managed.

The Department keeps its internal guidance under regular review to ensure it remains aligned with cross-Government standards and supports transparent and accountable decision-making.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing restrictions on alcohol in line with existing restrictions on the marketing of less healthy food and drink.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

Currently alcohol advertising and promotion in the United Kingdom is regulated primarily through the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which administers the mandatory Advertising Codes, written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, across media through self-regulation for non-broadcast advertising and co-regulation, with Ofcom as a statutory backstop, for broadcast advertising. The ASA’s Advertising Codes contain specific rules about how alcohol can be advertised, as they recognise the social imperative of ensuring that alcohol advertising is responsible.

The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, as the lead Government department responsible for advertising, to consider if additional statutory restrictions on marketing and advertising are needed to reduce alcohol related harms.

Found: Current membership Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat; Oxford West and Abingdon) (Chair) Danny Beales (Labour

Found: Q14 Danny Beales: Is that not the proposition?

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Layla Moran (Chair); Danny Beales; Ben Coleman; Dr Beccy Cooper;

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Layla Moran (Chair); Danny Beales; Ben Coleman; Dr Beccy Cooper;

Found: Danny Beales: What was the effect that you saw?