Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) plumbers, (b) electricians, (c) joiners, (d) bricklayers and (e) plasterers are forecast to leave and join the labour market in each year to 2030.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold up to date data on the numbers of (a) plumbers, (b) electricians, (c) joiners, (d) bricklayers and (e) plasterers leaving and joining the labour market. The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) does produce the Construction Workforce Outlook for England which projects the growth in these occupations from 2024 to 2029 and is available here: https://www.citb.co.uk/cwo/reports/cwo_report_england.pdf.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the local housing allowance was last updated; and what estimate he has made of the difference between average rents at the time of the last update compared with the most recent available data.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates were last updated in April 2024. The Office for National Statistics ‘Price Index of Private Rents’ (PIPR) provides monthly estimates for average rents in the whole private rental sector. PIPR data is available on the ONS website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/priceindexofprivaterentsukmonthlypricestatistics
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the government has held discussions with Motability following the revision of vehicle brands supported by the scheme to prioritise British made vehicles and to report accurate data on the number of British and non-British made vehicles procured.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Motability Scheme, has announced plans to support the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The number of British made vehicles purchased by the scheme will reach 25% by 2030, with an ambition of 50% of vehicles registered on the Scheme being made in the UK by 2035.
The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to meet regularly with Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, to discuss the Schemes operation.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many assaults on staff working in Job Centres were reported for each region for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions take any form of abuse and harassment (including violence-at-work incidents) of its staff very seriously. Robust controls are in place to mitigate the risk of unsafe interactions and eliminate violence-at-work as far as reasonably practicable, including security presence, risk assessments and training for our staff.
We review outcomes of our most serious incidents and consider any lessons learned to make improvements to our processes and training when necessary to help prevent reoccurrence.
DWP define assault as intentional physical contact which is directed at DWP or Partner employees (including Security Officers) in connection with working for DWP. Assaults range from minor to most serious. Actual assaults may include reports that resulted in no injury to those that result in major cuts and bruises.
Prior to 2025, regional breakdowns are not held centrally, to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost, however we can provide the national annual breakdown of JC assaults from 2015 to 2024 and a breakdown of JC assaults by region for 2025.
The following table provides the information requested for DWP reported assaults.
Year | Number of Assaults |
Jan - Dec 2015 | 233 |
Jan - Dec 2016 | 137 |
Jan - Dec 2017 | 238 |
Jan - Dec 2018 | 257 |
Jan - Dec 2019 | 145 |
Jan - Dec 2020 | 65 |
Jan - Dec 2021 | 107 |
Jan - Dec 2022 | 183 |
Jan - Dec 2023 | 212 |
Jan - Dec 2024 | 314 |
Jan - Nov 2025 | 265 |
2025 assaults by region
Group Name |
|
Central & West Scotland | 9 |
Central Midlands | 13 |
East & North Scotland | 5 |
Eastern England | 17 |
London | 62 |
North East & Cumbria | 20 |
North West | 27 |
North York & Lincolnshire | 25 |
South East | 17 |
South West | 23 |
Wales & the Marches | 10 |
West Midlands | 35 |
Not recorded to a Group Name | 2 |
| 265 |
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional apprenticeships will be created from funding to provide free placements for employers taking on apprentices under 25 years old.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
From the next academic year, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for eligible people aged under 25 at non-levy paying employers. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. This change will make it easier for those employers to engage with apprenticeships by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers.
This is an important step in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people and £140 million to pilot new approaches to better connect young people aged 16–24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 11 November 2025 to question 87366, if his Department will take measures to ensure that the mobility scheme prioritises British made vehicles.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Motability Scheme, has announced plans to support the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The number of British made vehicles purchased by the scheme will reach 25% by 2030, with an ambition of 50% of vehicles registered on the Scheme being made in the UK by 2035.
The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to meet regularly with Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, to discuss the Schemes operation.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 number of (a) clothes banks and (b) clothes bank users in each year since 2015.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold official statistics on the number of registered food banks. Food banks are independent organisations, often run by charities, faith groups, or community organisations, and are not regulated or registered centrally by the Government.
Statistics on food bank use are published annually in the Households below average income statistics report and are only available from 2021/22 onwards. The most recent publication is available here: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK
The Government is committed to tackling poverty. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of families falling into poverty. Our Get Britain Working White Paper sets out our reforms to the system to enable greater participation, progression and productivity in the labour market.
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have already introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, reducing the Universal Credit overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance, giving 1.2m households an average of £420 per year. In addition, we will increase the Universal Credit Standard Allowance from April 2026, estimated to be worth £725 annually by 2029/30 in cash terms.
To further support struggling families, we provided £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England until 31 March 2026. Enabling local authorities to continue to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. The Devolved Governments receive consequential funding through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 number of (a) food banks and (b) food bank users in each year since 2015.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold official statistics on the number of registered food banks. Food banks are independent organisations, often run by charities, faith groups, or community organisations, and are not regulated or registered centrally by the Government.
Statistics on food bank use are published annually in the Households below average income statistics report and are only available from 2021/22 onwards. The most recent publication is available here: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK
The Government is committed to tackling poverty. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of families falling into poverty. Our Get Britain Working White Paper sets out our reforms to the system to enable greater participation, progression and productivity in the labour market.
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have already introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, reducing the Universal Credit overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance, giving 1.2m households an average of £420 per year. In addition, we will increase the Universal Credit Standard Allowance from April 2026, estimated to be worth £725 annually by 2029/30 in cash terms.
To further support struggling families, we provided £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England until 31 March 2026. Enabling local authorities to continue to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. The Devolved Governments receive consequential funding through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total number of calls (a) answered (b) abandoned was for each public helpline number provided by his Department and its executive agencies for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally. To provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 value of unclaimed benefits by each benefit in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Oldham.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 30 October 2025 the Department published Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2024, covering Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners in Great Britain. As these estimates are based on survey data, they are not available for lower-level geographies.
On the same day the Department also published Households potentially eligible for Pension Credit, 2023 to 2024, a sub-national analysis of eligible households in receipt of Pension Credit and potentially eligible households not claiming Pension Credit.
Estimates are not currently available for other DWP benefits, however on 15 May 2025 the Department published Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates, providing estimates of how much extra money benefit claimants in Great Britain could be getting if they told us accurately about their circumstances. It does not cover take-up of benefits, which is where people could have claimed certain benefits based on their current circumstances but have not done so. As these estimates are based on sample data, they are not available for lower-level geographies.