Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Disability Unit is taking to embed deaf awareness across Government services.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Disability Unit within Cabinet Office has responsibility for the British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022, which has created a greater recognition and understanding of BSL and deaf awareness.
The Act requires the government to report on what departments listed in the Act have done to promote or facilitate the use of British Sign Language in their communications with the public, and the third BSL report was published in July 2025.
In addition to overall reporting, each ministerial department has produced a 5 year BSL Plan, published alongside the third BSL report. Within these plans, many government departments have committed to including deaf awareness training for their staff and affiliated public bodies. The Cabinet Office has also committed to raise awareness of BSL and the BSL Act 2022 across the Civil Service to support other departments to deliver their BSL commitments.
Following the passage of the BSL Act, the BSL Advisory board was created to advise the Government on key issues impacting the Deaf community in their everyday life. The Board will continue to work with the BSL Advisory Board, Deaf people and their representative organisations, and with Ministers across government, including the Lead Ministers for Disability.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse of the Pensions Dashboards programme has been as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Pensions Dashboard Programme is principally funded by levy payers, through the Financial Services Levy, which is collected by the FCA from the financial services industry and the General Pensions Levy, which is a levy collected from pension schemes.
PDP has spent £52 million between 2019/20 and the end of November 2023 (with spend relating to 2023/24 subject to final audit).
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for pension credit were received in the financial years (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The number of applications for Pension Credit that were received for each of the financial years April 2020 to March 2023 is shown in the table below:
Financial Year | Pension Credit Applications Received |
2020/21 (CAM) | 144,125 |
2021/22 (CAM) | 149,055 |
2022/23 (CAM) | 269,835 |
2022/23 (AfPC) | 2,016 |
2022/23 Total (CAM & AfPC) | 271,851 |
Source of Data: Customer Account Management (CAM) System and Apply for Pension Credit (AfPC) System (introduced from January 2023).
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his planned timetable is for implementing the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The government has supported the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (No. 2) Act since its introduction and is delighted to see it receive Royal Assent.
We are committed to expanding the benefits of Automatic Enrolment (AE) to younger people and helping all workers save more for their retirement, consistent with our 2017 AE Review proposals. We will consult on the detailed implementation at the earliest opportunity and report to Parliament before using the powers in the Act.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people stopped receiving the Personal Independence Payment in each month between April 2022 and August 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) cases after April 2023 cannot be shared as the information is intended for publication at a future date. The department does not make any indication of the statistics public ahead of release.
Table (a) below shows the number of people who stopped receiving PIP in each given month from April 2022 to April 2023.
Table (a) – people who stopped receiving PIP by month
Month | Volume |
Apr-22 | 12,000 |
May-22 | 11,000 |
Jun-22 | 11,000 |
Jul-22 | 12,000 |
Aug-22 | 11,000 |
Sep-22 | 11,000 |
Oct-22 | 12,000 |
Nov-22 | 12,000 |
Dec-22 | 12,000 |
Jan-23 | 13,000 |
Feb-23 | 12,000 |
Mar-23 | 17,000 |
Apr-23 | 17,000 |
Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)
Notes:
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to lay before Parliament the draft Remedial Order extending (a) Bereavement Support Payment and (b) Widowed Parent’s Allowance to surviving cohabitees with dependent children.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
On 13 October 2022, we laid the draft Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2022 to extend Widows Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Support Payment to cohabitees with dependent children. It will lay in Parliament for a 60-day period. The draft Order will be debated, and voted upon, in both Houses of Parliament before the Order can become law.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of cost of living payments have been paid to people receiving Personal Independence Payment; and how many of those payments are outstanding.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
In line with the code of practice, the number of Cost of Living Payments made to recipients of a specific benefit is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.
The Department for Work and Pensions has published management information on the total number of Disability Cost of Living Payments made. As of 30 September 2022, 6,000,000 Disability Cost of Living Payments had been made.
The information which will be updated as new payments are made can be found here: Cost of Living Payment management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of extending the length of time those claiming legacy benefits can participate in a Skills Bootcamp in HGV driving to 16 weeks.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Through DWP Train and Progress Universal Credit claimants can access all full-time work-related training for up to 16 weeks. This includes Skills Bootcamps in the logistics sector and allows claimants to benefit from gaining key vocational skills, in all sectors where there is labour market demand.
We plan to review the impact of the 16-week extension on outcomes and will take a view as to whether we expand this flexibility to legacy benefit claimants.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2022 to Question 2599 on Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Training, what her timescale is for making a decision on whether to extend to 16 weeks the length of time people on legacy benefits can participate in full-time employment-focussed skills training; and if she will make a statement after she has made a decision.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Through DWP Train and Progress, we have already extended to 16 weeks the full-time training flexibility within Universal Credit. It was agreed, across Government, that this extension applied to the period April 2022 – March 2023.
We plan to review the impact of the 16-week extension on labour market outcomes later this year and will take a view as to whether we expand this flexibility to legacy benefit claimants.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing people claiming legacy benefits to complete a Skills Bootcamp in HGV driving that lasts longer than eight weeks.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Through Train and Progress, DWP seeks to assess the merits of extending the time Universal Credit (UC) claimants can participate in full-time employment-focussed skills training, and programmes such as skills bootcamps, up to 16 weeks and will be monitoring the impact of extending the time before considering whether to broaden to include those on legacy benefits.
By targeting this temporary expansion to our labour market offer at those eligible for UC, we can deliver a significant impact due to the higher ratio of UC claimants compared to those in receipt of legacy benefits. At present all other benefit claimants, can access longer periods of part-time skills training to improve their prospects of work, including Skills Bootcamps when delivery content is more flexible.