Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
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 a) gender and b) demographic breakdown of people aged 16-24 not in education, employment and training.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Education (DfE) publishes statistics on those aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24 . In this release, estimates of the number and proportion of young people who are NEET by sex and age group are available and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f4e23f94-bfd1-4bcc-49c0-08de398c3998
This release also provides information on young people aged 16-24 who are NEET by health characteristics using the annual population survey (APS). The following link provides the latest data on the proportions of NEET young people aged 16-24 who have recorded a specific health condition, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2d152296-fc61-4e6c-b1be-08de39895a0e
The Office for National Statistics publish NEET estimates from the LFS for the UK broken down by age group and sex, and can be found here: Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK - Office for National Statistics
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to reform the Motability scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government announced a package of reforms to the Motability Scheme which will ensure the scheme delivers value for money for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people. Full details were set out in the budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to use AI and digital technology to improve the efficacy of job and employment services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are adopting AI in DWP to help colleagues deliver better outcomes for customers and to improve productivity and efficiency.
We will develop the Jobs and Careers Service to better support jobseekers and employers. As part of the design of the service, we will explore and test the most appropriate use of technology (including AI) to support job seekers with their work search.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children were in poverty in Telford constituency for each year that data is available.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty by parliamentary constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication.
These are available at: Children in low income families: local area statistics - GOV.UK
Statistics are available from FYE 2015 to FYE 2024.
The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: Stat-Xplore - Home
The Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published shortly, sets out the steps we are taking to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to change the course we’re on and create long-term change.
The removal of the two child limit, announced at Autumn Budget, will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures announced this year, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
The removal of the two child limit could benefit around 4,800 children in Telford living in households affected by this policy.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to (a) reform the National Careers Service and (b) review careers advice contracts.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.
In England, these reforms will include bringing together Jobcentre Plus with the National Careers Service to create a greater awareness and focus on skills and careers as well as better join-up between employability and careers provision.
The current National Careers Service contracts are due to expire on 30 September 2026. Therefore, a decision was required on how to deliver adult careers advice from that point.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has taken the decision to bring adult careers advice in-house into DWP from 1 October 2026. This means that National Careers Service contractors will no longer deliver this service after that date.
This change is designed to ensure maximum flexibility in developing an integrated employment support and careers advice service. It will enable the service to respond more effectively to customer needs, identify and embed improved operational practices, and bring together employment and careers advice to meet the ambitions of the Get Britain Working White Paper
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the National Careers Service at providing young people with a broad range of career paths.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government regularly assesses the effectiveness of careers guidance for young people, including the role of the National Careers Service (NCS). While the NCS primarily focuses on adults, it also provides support to young people aged 13 and over.
According to the 2025 National Careers Service customer satisfaction and progression survey, 97% of young people surveyed aged 18–24 reported gaining some form of Personal Added Value, such as increased confidence, motivation, and a clearer understanding of their next steps, following contact with the service.
This support for young people complements that provided by schools and colleges, which are legally responsible for securing independent careers guidance for all 11- to 18-year-olds.
We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new Jobs and Careers Service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. Our new service will move away from the current one size fits all approach, recognising people are individuals with different support needs and will provide better tailored support. The new service will be universal and must work for everyone, including young people.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of calculating Carer's Allowance eligibility over longer periods to help reduce the rate of overpayments and underpayments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Carer’s Allowance is assessed on a weekly basis and paid either weekly or 4 weekly. Payment of Carer’s Allowance (CA) is dependent upon the person being cared for receiving a “trigger” DWP benefit, such as Disability Living Allowance, Personal independence Payment or Attendance Allowance, where entitlement is also assessed on a weekly basis. Where someone has fluctuating earnings, we try and find the most suitable period to average those earnings over to obtain the most accurate figure.
Liz Sayce OBE was commissioned to lead an Independent Review into overpayments of CA. The Government is carefully considering the recommendations of this Review which investigated how overpayments of CA related to earnings occurred, how we can best support those who have accrued them, and how to reduce the risk of these problems occurring in future.
We have already taken steps to improve the way CA operates and to support those who can combine their caring responsibilities with some paid work, including changing the weekly CA earnings limit to match 16 hours work at National Living Wage levels. This is the largest ever increase in the earnings limit since CA was introduced in 1976 and the highest percentage increase since 2001. Over 60,000 additional people will be able to receive CA between 2025/26 and 2029/30 as a result from investment worth around £500 million.
As with all benefits we keep Carer’s Allowance under review to see whether it is meeting its objectives.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of Carer's Allowance claimants received an (a) underpayment and (b) overpayment of their Allowance in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department published estimates of the proportion of Carer’s Allowance claims overpaid and the proportion of Carer’s Allowance claims underpaid for the financial year 2024-2025, in its annual national statistics: Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2025 - GOV.UK.
However, Carer’s Allowance was not measured for the National Statistics publication in 2022/23 or 2023/24 and so that information is not available.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
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 reduce the (a) underpayment and (b) overpayment of Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Carer’s Allowance is a single rate benefit which is either fully awarded to those who meet the qualifying conditions or disallowed. Those who also receive an “overlapping benefit”, such as a State Pension, will have any award of Carer’s Allowance adjusted accordingly.
We commissioned an Independent Review of Carer’s Allowance earnings-related overpayments to see what happened and what changes can be made. The Review and our response to it will be published in due course.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure the compatibility of the Pathways to Work green paper with the UK's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We take our international obligations including those under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) very seriously.
The measures announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, and those implemented in the Universal Credit Act, are in accordance with this Government’s commitment to help disabled people fulfil their potential.
We remain committed to constructive engagement with disabled people and broader stakeholders as part of our efforts to develop and implement reforms that support disabled people. This is evidenced with the launch of collaboration committees which bring together groups of disabled people and other experts for specific work areas to collaborate and provide discussion, challenge, and recommendations. The Disability Advisory Panel is being established to convene and connect the expertise of deaf and disabled people and people with long-term health conditions into our policy and strategy design and delivery. This will be chaired by Disability rights expert and consultant Zara Todd, taking a guiding role in the development and focus of the panel.
We are also engaging with disabled people and their representatives as part of the Timms Review, which aims to ensure we have a system that supports disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. We have committed to co-producing the Review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other stakeholders.