Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number of people who have newly claimed Universal Credit in each of the last 5 years, broken down by (a) health-related reasons for claiming and (b) the searching-for-work conditionality group.

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

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

However, monthly statistics for the number of People on Universal Credit in Great Britain are published regularly on Stat-Xplore. This data is available by conditionality regime and claim duration.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract information and can refer to the Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of Universal Credit starts in each of the last 5 years were (a) new benefit claimants and (b) claimants transitioning from legacy benefits through managed migration.

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

This information is not readily available however, as detailed in the DWP Statistical Work Programme and the Universal Credit statistics release strategy, the Department is developing a method to denote UC claimants given a migration notice from the Move to Universal Credit programme, and updates on this will be shared in the DWP Statistical Work Programme.

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 removing the two-child benefit cap on incentives to work.

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

The Child Poverty Strategy will set out the decisive action this Government is taking to tackle child poverty and make sure children are given the best start in life.

The commitments we’ve made at the 2025 spending review and beyond are just the latest step of our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in people’s pockets – a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, building on our expansion of free breakfast clubs, our national minimum wage boost and our reduction in the cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with (a) the Prime Minister, (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (c) other Cabinet colleagues on lifting the two-child benefit cap.

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

The Child Poverty Strategy will set out the decisive action this Government is taking to tackle child poverty and make sure children are given the best start in life.

The commitments we’ve made at the 2025 spending review and beyond are just the latest step of our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in people’s pockets – a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, building on our expansion of free breakfast clubs, our national minimum wage boost and our reduction in the cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of changing the two-child benefit cap to a) three, b) four and c) five children.

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

The Child Poverty Strategy will set out the decisive action this Government is taking to tackle child poverty and make sure children are given the best start in life.

The commitments we’ve made at the 2025 spending review and beyond are just the latest step of our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in people’s pockets – a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, building on our expansion of free breakfast clubs, our national minimum wage boost and our reduction in the cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of lifting the two-child benefit cap.

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

The Child Poverty Strategy will set out the decisive action this Government is taking to tackle child poverty and make sure children are given the best start in life.

The commitments we’ve made at the 2025 spending review and beyond are just the latest step of our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in people’s pockets – a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, building on our expansion of free breakfast clubs, our national minimum wage boost and our reduction in the cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.