Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister, as of 3 February, had asked the Forfeiture Committee whether the Rt Hon Lord Mandelson should be stripped of his membership of the Privy Council.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Forfeiture Committee has no role in relation to Privy Council appointments. Appointments to, and removals from, the Privy Council are made by The King on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister announced on the 4th February that he had recommended to The King that Lord Mandelson be removed from the Privy Council.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) the Department of Work and Pensions, and (2) Skills England.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many households on Universal Credit in the most recent year for which data are available have received Universal Credit of (1) £0 per month; (2) less than £50 per month; (3) less than £100 per month.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Using the data published on Stat-Xplore, the monthly amount paid to households on Universal Credit, and those not in payment, from September 2024 to August 2025 is shown in the attached table. This increase in the UC Caseload comes as people are moving off legacy benefits– a transition we inherited from the previous government, alongside a system with the wrong incentives that writes people off.
This government is determined to fix this. That’s why we’re removing the financial incentives in Universal Credit that encourage inactivity, and as part of our wider plans to Get Britain Working we have redeployed 1,000 work coaches to help thousands of sick and disabled people who were previously left without contact for years.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many households on Universal Credit have an income equal to or greater than (1) £30,000, (2) £35,000, (3) £36,700 or (4) £40,000 per year.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Using the results from the most recent Family Resources Survey published on Stat-Xplore, the estimated number of households in receipt of Universal Credit by the total gross income received by a household from all income sources, in latest prices (weekly, CPI-adjusted real terms), as reported by FRS respondents, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to or greater than’ (1) £576.92, (2) £673.08, (3) £705.77 or (4) £769.23, in financial year 2023 to 2024, is shown in the table below.
Table 1: Estimated number of households receiving Universal Credit by weekly gross income from all sources in latest prices (weekly, CPI-adjusted real terms), ‘less than’ and ‘equal to or greater than’ (1) £576.92, (2) £673.08, (3) £705.77 or (4) £769.23 in financial year 2023 to 2024, United Kingdom
Weekly gross income from all sources | Households with income less than weekly value (millions) | Households with income equal to or more than weekly value (millions) | Total |
£576.92 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 3.1 |
£673.08 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 3.1 |
£705.77 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 3.1 |
£769.23 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
Source: Stat-Xplore - Family Resources Survey Household Dataset
Notes:
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the expected launch date of the Money and Pensions Service pensions dashboard; and what impediments still exist for the launch of the Money and Pensions Service pensions dashboard and private sector pensions dashboards.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will be launched when we have assurances that the service is secure and thoroughly user tested. As confirmed last year, Government will give 6 months’ notice before the launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. Pension providers and schemes in scope are required to connect to the pensions dashboards ecosystem by 31 October 2026 and connection remains on course against this timeline.
The Government remains committed to the launch of private sector pensions dashboards. Insights gained from the launch and operation of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will help inform the launch of private sector pensions dashboards.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of data is already onboarded for the pensions dashboard being created by the Money and Pensions Service.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Three quarters of pensions records in scope of the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 are now integrated into pensions dashboards. Over 700 of the largest pension providers and schemes are now connected with over 60 million records integrated into dashboards. State Pension data is also accessible, representing tens of millions of additional pensions records.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Minister acted as the qualified person in regard to FOI request 251030055, which asked for the briefing pack used by Paul Candler, Policy Director at the Ministry of Justice when he appeared before the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee on 29 October 2025 to be shared.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
I can confirm that I acted as the qualified person for this Freedom of Information Act request.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider the receipt of child maintenance to be important to the wellbeing of children.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring that parents meet their financial responsibilities towards their children where they don’t live with them. The role of the Child Maintenance Service is crucial to help meet this objective where parents cannot make a child maintenance arrangement between themselves. In the 12 months up to September 2025, the CMS arranged around £1.6 billion in child maintenance payments.
Where parents fail to meet their financial obligation towards their children, the Child Maintenance Service will use its wide range of strong enforcement powers to help ensure they fulfil their responsibility.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) His Majesty’s Treasury, and (2) His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We do not disclose the exact number of visas sponsored for data privacy reasons, but can confirm that fewer than five civil servants at HM Treasury are on Skilled Worker visas. Information requested on other departments is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) the Cabinet Office, and (2) its Executive Agencies.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
39 Civil Servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) the Cabinet Office and 0 in its (2) Executive Agencies.