Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of feasibility studies conducted by their Department for projects that did not proceed in the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of hospitality apprenticeship schemes in tackling labour shortages in the pub sector.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Apprenticeships are one of the ways in which employers in the hospitality sector can fill skills gaps and address labour shortages. Employers in the sector have developed a number of apprenticeships including the Level 2 Food and Beverage Team Member, Level 3 Hospitality Supervisor, and Level 4 Hospitality Manager. Published data on apprenticeships, including within the hospitality sector, can be found at: Apprenticeships, Academic year 2024/25 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.
To support our ambition of 50,000 more young people undertaking apprenticeships and foundation apprenticeships, we will expand foundation apprenticeships into sectors where young people are traditionally recruited, exploring occupations such as hospitality and retail. Additionally, to support SMEs to access apprenticeships, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the next academic year. Smaller employers in all sectors will benefit from this change.
The department and Skills England engage regularly with the hospitality sector, including industry bodies such as UK Hospitality, regarding training for the sector and the government’s plans for skills.
The government has also supported other sector-based initiatives such as the development of a Hospitality Skills Passport and hospitality Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by his Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Due to the way this information is stored in our systems, it would be difficult and incur disproportionate costs to extract subscriptions to LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on sickness absence, including mental ill-health, is available in the Civil Service Sickness Absence Reports, which provide statistics by organisation and sickness reason. These reports can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence. The Cabinet Office collates Sickness Absence data from DWP on a quarterly basis. On an annual basis this management information is published.
The next release of these statistics is expected to be around 18 December.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claims were terminated in the last 12 months as a result of fraud investigations; and what the estimated value of those claims was.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in the welfare state in Great Britain.
Information on the outcomes of our fraud investigations was published this year and can be found using the below link (pg 114-115): DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 25
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) asylum seeker status, (b) refused asylum seeker status and (c) no lawful immigration status are in receipt of benefit support; and what the annual cost of that support is.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
People without valid UK immigration status are prohibited from accessing public funds benefits, including asylum seekers and those refused asylum in the UK. People with a pending asylum application may be able to claim asylum support provided by the Home Office, which is separate to the mainstream welfare system.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of benefit expenditure was lost to (a) claimant fraud, (b) official error and (c) customer error in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in Great Britain.
Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UK and cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of savings from halving levels of benefit fraud and error by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in Great Britain.
Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UK and cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much benefit expenditure was lost to fraud and error in the most recent year for which figures are available by benefit type.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in Great Britain.
Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UK and cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many telephone operators work on the Universal Credit helpline by the nationality of those operators.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not centrally hold the nationality of Universal Credit call handlers and to provide the information would incur disproportionate cost.