Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of training provider capacity for the Fishmonger Apprenticeship Standard in meeting employer demand.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department actively monitors all registered apprenticeship training providers through compliance checks, performance reviews, and inspections to ensure quality standards are met. Where providers fail to meet these requirements, we take appropriate action, which can include applying conditions such as restricting delivery and even termination of agreements and removal from the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR).
There are currently 4 registered training providers offering the Fishmonger Level 2 apprenticeship standard.
The Department manages entry to the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register to ensure that new providers meet a gap in apprenticeship training provision or meet our strategic priorities in areas where we want to grow apprenticeships.
Where an employer has provided evidence of a gap in the current apprenticeship training provision through the employer-led gap in provision policy, new training providers may enter the market.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls the Child Maintenance Service MP hotline has received in 2025.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) MP hotline is available for MP offices or constituency staff who need to contact CMS regarding a general enquiry or a constituency case. This service is in addition to written correspondence routes.
The hotline operates Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and is staffed by Complaint Resolution Managers. We aim to provide an immediate response to enquiries wherever possible. For more complex cases, we will arrange follow-up contact with the caller to provide additional information.
For 2025, the CMS Parliamentary Line has received 1801 calls. Information is up to and including Tuesday 25th November 2025.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of preparations made by Maximus for processing Personal Independence Payment claims.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under the Functional Assessment Service (FAS) contracts which went live on 9 September 2024, assessment suppliers will deliver the Health Assessment Advisory Service on behalf of the department. These FAS contracts are central to the improvements we are making to health assessments.
Individuals now only need to deal with one supplier for the assessment of their health condition or disability, providing a simpler and more straightforward service. Each supplier including Maximus, will be held accountable to the same service delivery performance standards set by the department. Over the longer term, this will enable us to introduce a new integrated Health Assessment Service, which is being developed and built by the DWP Health Transformation Programme.
The department conducted an open and transparent procurement under the Public Contract Regulations in line with Government policies and considered the quality of assessments, the experience for individuals, as well as the value for money offered by each of the bids.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people affected by the potential closure of the Novartis plant in North East Lincolnshire.
Answered by Lord Sharma
DWP offer a Rapid Response Service (RRS). This is a redundancy service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with the prospect of redundancy. It is coordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Each Jobcentre Plus district deploy resources according to the situation and the requirements of the workforce. This service is available to be deployed in Grimsby and surrounding area should Novartis require support from Jobcentre Plus. The RRS is delivered in partnership with a range of national and local partners, including National Careers Service and local service providers.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the trends in the level of unemployment in Great Grimsby constituency.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits in Great Grimsby has fallen by 45% in the last six years and stands at 3,406 as at February 2019.
Across the local authority of North East Lincolnshire, and the unemployment rate for North East Lincolnshire has fallen from 11.5% in 2010 to 6.4% in 2018.
The rate of unemployment across the UK is at its lowest since 1974.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of unemployment in Great Grimsby constituency.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Since 2010, the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey data shows that the level and rate of unemployment has fallen in every region and country of the UK.
This Government is committed to providing targeted support for people so that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance of getting into work.
Jobcentre Plus is geared-up to offer advice to those claiming welfare benefits. Through Jobcentre Plus, individuals can get advice on finding a job; help with retraining or skills advice, CV and job applications; and access to thousands of new vacancies we record every day. They can also access a range of tailored opportunities to improve their likelihood of entering or re-entering the labour market, including demand-led training for higher skilled jobs in specific sectors.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of universal credit in assisting claimants into sustainable employment in Great Grimsby constituency.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey shows that 9 months into a Universal Credit claim, 40% of claimants are working for an employer in a paid role, as opposed to only 23% at the start of their claim. People on Universal Credit spend around 50% more time looking for a job than they did under JSA and 86% of people on Universal Credit were actively looking to increase their hours, compared to just 38% of people on JSA. This is because they can take on more hours without losing their benefit. We cannot break this information down to constituency level.