Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made on the design of the PIP review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, carers, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, to ensure that expertise from a wide range of perspectives is drawn upon.
On 30 October, I announced that the Review will be co-chaired by myself alongside Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. We will oversee a steering group responsible for leading the co-production process, setting the Review’s strategic direction, priorities and workplan. The group will be made up of a majority of disabled people or representatives of disabled people’s organisations and will be recruited through an open and transparent Expression of Interest (EOI) process. The EOI is now live and will run until 30 November.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with small businesses on the apprenticeship system.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Small businesses are a vital part of our economy and apprenticeship system. They provide valuable opportunities in priority sectors for young people and apprentices from disadvantaged areas.
The government engages with small employers regularly to promote apprenticeships. During National Apprenticeship Week 2025, we held a round table with small and medium employers and other key partners to better understand the challenges they are facing in recruiting apprentices. This insight allows us to better target engagement activities with small businesses.
The government pays the full training costs for young apprentices under 22 and eligible apprentices aged 22-24 undertaking apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers, also paying £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for eligible apprentices aged 19-24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of fully funding apprenticeships for under-22s in SMEs on apprenticeship starts.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Small businesses are a vital part of our economy and apprenticeship system. They provide valuable opportunities in priority sectors for young people and apprentices from disadvantaged areas.
The government engages with small employers regularly to promote apprenticeships. During National Apprenticeship Week 2025, we held a round table with small and medium employers and other key partners to better understand the challenges they are facing in recruiting apprentices. This insight allows us to better target engagement activities with small businesses.
The government pays the full training costs for young apprentices under 22 and eligible apprentices aged 22-24 undertaking apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers, also paying £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for eligible apprentices aged 19-24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its targeted support to help SMEs offer apprenticeships.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Small businesses are a vital part of our economy and apprenticeship system. They provide valuable opportunities in priority sectors for young people and apprentices from disadvantaged areas.
The government engages with small employers regularly to promote apprenticeships. During National Apprenticeship Week 2025, we held a round table with small and medium employers and other key partners to better understand the challenges they are facing in recruiting apprentices. This insight allows us to better target engagement activities with small businesses.
The government pays the full training costs for young apprentices under 22 and eligible apprentices aged 22-24 undertaking apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers, also paying £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for eligible apprentices aged 19-24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish details on (a) the process for the work of the PIP review and (b) how (i) individuals and (ii) groups can participate in that review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To ensure lived experience is at the heart of its work, the Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, carers, experts, MPs and others. We have also confirmed that a majority of the Review’s leadership group will be disabled.
This group will not work alone: it will shape a programme of participation and engagement that brings together the full range of views and voices.
Over the summer, I met with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, disability, welfare and carers’ charities, think tanks and other experts to discuss and listen to how we should approach co-production in the Timms Review.
We are working through this feedback and will provide an update shortly.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) people and (b) groups have been consulted during summer 2025 as part of the PIP review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To date, I have met with representatives from more than 50 organisations including representatives of disabled people’s organisations, disability, welfare and carers’ charities, think tanks, co-production experts and more.
I am grateful to all of those who I have engaged with to discuss and listen to how we should approach co-production of the Timms Review. As the Review progresses, I am committed to ensuring it offers a broad spectrum of opportunities for engagement and involvement and hears from a diverse range of perspectives.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which groups he has consulted during summer 2025 as part of the PIP review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To date, I have met with representatives from more than 50 organisations including representatives of disabled people’s organisations, disability, welfare and carers’ charities, think tanks, co-production experts and more.
I am grateful to all of those who I have engaged with to discuss and listen to how we should approach co-production of the Timms Review. As the Review progresses, I am committed to ensuring it offers a broad spectrum of opportunities for engagement and involvement and hears from a diverse range of perspectives.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued to work coaches on (a) tailoring (i) work and (ii) work search requirements for a (A) single parent and (B) lead carer down from a maximum of 30 hours a week to reflect their circumstances and (b) temporarily removing the requirement to (1) work and (2) search for work because of (a) bereavement, (b) fleeing domestic abuse and (c) other circumstances; and if he will publish that guidance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Work coaches have access to up-to-date guidance which includes information on tailoring work and work search categories for single parents and lead carers in a way that takes account of their circumstances. In certain circumstances the requirement to undertake work and work search activities can be eased, these include bereavement, fleeing domestic abuse and other circumstances as listed in the guidance below.
Universal Credit guidance is deposited in the House of Commons Library twice yearly. https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2287171/files
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Education on the potential impact of changes to the level of funding for the Adult Skills Fund on the number of people entering employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Adult Skills Funding (ASF) supports people with access to local skills training and provision, helping remove skills barriers to work, which in turn both secures and helps people progress in work. Work Coaches are able to help people access a broad range of local skills provision funded via the Adult Skills funding including; Skills Bootcamps, vocational and essential English, maths, digital skills training, ESOL, as well as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). Jobcentres also work closely with local stakeholders.
The Department for Work and Pensions works closely with the Department for Education given our collective ambition to better align delivery of skills and employment support with both individual need and national and local labour market demand.
As the majority of ASF is devolved to strategic authorities they are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she is taking steps to improve staffing levels in the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), demand for the service increases. To allow us to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take the appropriate steps to ensure that the CMS staffing levels meets the current demand.
CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign; this will continue into 2025. This will ensure that CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand. Additionally, through extensive modernisation to both telephony and digital channels, and by promoting self-service online, we are ensuring customers use the most appropriate and efficient contact method to quickly resolve their queries and reduce demand on our services. Furthermore, we have taken timely action to further train, support and redeploy resources within CMS to where it is needed most.
Every change and improvement made to our processes, systems, and resourcing are all part of modernising our service. This will be an ongoing process of regular review and improvement to ensure CMS has the capability to deliver a service which is accessible to all parents.