Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
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 proportion of low income households in Northumberland impacted by changes to income- related thresholds outlined in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates are available for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit at constituency level here Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK.
The Department does not hold data on the number of children in the North East, Northumberland or the Hexham constituency who will become newly eligible for support measures introduced under the Child Poverty Strategy or hold data on the proportion of low-income households in the North East, Northumberland or the Hexham constituency impacted by changes to income-related thresholds outlined in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
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 proportion of low income households in Hexham constituency impacted by changes to income- related thresholds outlined in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates are available for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit at constituency level here Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK.
The Department does not hold data on the number of children in the North East, Northumberland or the Hexham constituency who will become newly eligible for support measures introduced under the Child Poverty Strategy or hold data on the proportion of low-income households in the North East, Northumberland or the Hexham constituency impacted by changes to income-related thresholds outlined in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local voluntary sector organisations expected to deliver services linked to the Child Poverty Strategy in Northumberland.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are strengthening our partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) with our Civil Society Covenant. We recognise that the VCSE sector has a strong record of supporting families and is the bedrock of our communities, showing what is possible.
To help realise the aims of the Covenant at the local level, we are launching a ‘Local Covenant Partnerships’ programme to help support partnership working and delivery between civil society organisations, local authorities and public service providers in selected areas that need it the most.
Moreover, we are stablishing the world's largest social outcomes fund. The UK wide Better Futures Fund will be backed by £500 million of government funding over ten years to support vulnerable children, young people and their families. The Fund has the potential to achieve up to £1 billion in total funding to enable collaboration between government, local communities, charities and social enterprises, social impact investors and philanthropists.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local voluntary sector organisations expected to deliver services linked to the Child Poverty Strategy in Hexham constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are strengthening our partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) with our Civil Society Covenant. We recognise that the VCSE sector has a strong record of supporting families and is the bedrock of our communities, showing what is possible.
To help realise the aims of the Covenant at the local level, we are launching a ‘Local Covenant Partnerships’ programme to help support partnership working and delivery between civil society organisations, local authorities and public service providers in selected areas that need it the most.
Moreover, we are stablishing the world's largest social outcomes fund. The UK wide Better Futures Fund will be backed by £500 million of government funding over ten years to support vulnerable children, young people and their families. The Fund has the potential to achieve up to £1 billion in total funding to enable collaboration between government, local communities, charities and social enterprises, social impact investors and philanthropists.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local voluntary sector organisations expected to deliver services linked to the Child Poverty Strategy in the North East.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are strengthening our partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) with our Civil Society Covenant. We recognise that the VCSE sector has a strong record of supporting families and is the bedrock of our communities, showing what is possible.
To help realise the aims of the Covenant at the local level, we are launching a ‘Local Covenant Partnerships’ programme to help support partnership working and delivery between civil society organisations, local authorities and public service providers in selected areas that need it the most.
Moreover, we are stablishing the world's largest social outcomes fund. The UK wide Better Futures Fund will be backed by £500 million of government funding over ten years to support vulnerable children, young people and their families. The Fund has the potential to achieve up to £1 billion in total funding to enable collaboration between government, local communities, charities and social enterprises, social impact investors and philanthropists.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of voluntary sector organisations in Northumberland expected to deliver services linked to the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are strengthening our partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) with our Civil Society Covenant. We recognise that the VCSE sector has a strong record of supporting families and is the bedrock of our communities, showing what is possible.
To help realise the aims of the Covenant at the local level, we are launching a ‘Local Covenant Partnerships’ programme to help support partnership working and delivery between civil society organisations, local authorities and public service providers in selected areas that need it the most.
Moreover, we are stablishing the world's largest social outcomes fund. The UK wide Better Futures Fund will be backed by £500 million of government funding over ten years to support vulnerable children, young people and their families. The Fund has the potential to achieve up to £1 billion in total funding to enable collaboration between government, local communities, charities and social enterprises, social impact investors and philanthropists.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of voluntary sector organisations in Hexham constituency expected to deliver services linked to the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are strengthening our partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) with our Civil Society Covenant. We recognise that the VCSE sector has a strong record of supporting families and is the bedrock of our communities, showing what is possible.
To help realise the aims of the Covenant at the local level, we are launching a ‘Local Covenant Partnerships’ programme to help support partnership working and delivery between civil society organisations, local authorities and public service providers in selected areas that need it the most.
Moreover, we are stablishing the world's largest social outcomes fund. The UK wide Better Futures Fund will be backed by £500 million of government funding over ten years to support vulnerable children, young people and their families. The Fund has the potential to achieve up to £1 billion in total funding to enable collaboration between government, local communities, charities and social enterprises, social impact investors and philanthropists.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on ensuring that vulnerable pensioners in the North East are protected from online benefit scams.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
DWP is taking a number of steps to protect our vulnerable customers from online benefit scams. This includes raising public awareness of benefit scam messages on the Gov.uk website. Our most recent press release relating to Winter Fuel Payment warned our customers to be alert to text message scams in advance of next month’s payments and urging them to forward any suspicious texts to 7726. This is free of charge and helps phone providers block the numbers involved. Customers are also encouraged to forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.
We are also working together with Action Fraud raising awareness on social media sites including Facebook and X formerly known as Twitter. This is alongside DWP’s continued work with trusted partners and charities such as Independent Age to ensure accurate and timely information is available. DWP has also developed a recorded message for our telephone lines to raise awareness of Winter Fuel Payment scams.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions his Department has had with stakeholders on the availability of apprenticeship schemes for 16-24 year olds in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government wants to rebalance the programme back towards young people beginning their careers.
In August we introduced new foundation apprenticeships, which are jobs with training that give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. This new offer will help more young people learn high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country, including in the North-East.
The department recently ran a workshop with the North-East Combined Authority, exploring how employers and providers in the region could access foundation apprenticeships.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
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 support SMEs to access skills funding in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government provides a range of financial support to help Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in England access apprenticeships. To support non-levy paying employers, which are likely to be SMEs, to access apprenticeships, the government pays the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16-21, and for apprentices aged 22-24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. For all other apprentices, employers that do not pay the levy are required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs. For all employers, government also pays £1,000 to both employers and training providers for apprentices aged 16-18, or apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 where they earn less than £967 a week (£50,270 a year).
In addition we are investing in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF). The ASF fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
As of August 2025, 68% of the ASF is devolved to 12 Strategic Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers. For learners in Hexham, Northumberland, and Newcastle, the North East Combined Authority (NECA) decides how to make best use of their ASF to meet their local needs beyond four statutory entitlements, including which courses are funded and the eligibility criteria. By honouring our commitments to combine and further devolve adult skills funding, we give those with local knowledge the power they need to make decisions that are best for their areas.