Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the proportion of Personal Independence Payment claimants who were below the poverty line on 4 July 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of the proportion of Personal Independence Payment claimants below the poverty line in July 2025 are not available. Estimates for the 2025/26 financial year are due to be published in March 2027 as part of the “Households Below Average Income” publication. The most recent publication covers the 2023/24 financial year and can be found here: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK
Statistics on the number of individuals living in families where at least one member is in receipt of Personal Independence Payment that are in Absolute and/or Relative Poverty in 2023/24 are published on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/) in the Households Below Average Income dataset.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
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 potential impact of the uplift to the basic standard allowance of Universal Credit on the incomes of low income households in Bournemouth East constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not have constituency level estimates of the forecasts available.
The latest published data on UC, in November 2024, shows that, in Bournemouth East, there were approximately 10,225 households on UC that were not subject to the benefit cap.
The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill was introduced to Parliament on 18 June 2025 and, subject to parliamentary approval, it will increase the Universal Credit Standard Allowance above inflation every year from 2026/27 to 2029/30. Based on current forecasts, the increase to the Standard Allowance in Universal Credit is estimated to be worth £725 a year by 2029/30 in cash terms for a single person aged 25 or over, which is around £250 more a year than if it were only uprated by inflation.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
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 potential implications for her policies of the Institute for Fiscal Studies' report entitled The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children’s outcomes, published in May 2025.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Institute for Fiscal Studies' report offers interesting insight into parental employment support provided through Sure Start. We will consider the findings and reflect on learning as part of DWPs key strategic aims.
The Department is actively engaged in supporting families including through the work of the child poverty taskforce. The value evidence and analysis as part of this policy making process. The taskforce will consider this report and others in this work.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
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 potential impact of the disability employment gap on (a) the public purse and (b) trends in the level of economic growth.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has published analysis which estimated the costs to the economy of working age ill-health or disabilities that prevent working in the UK, to be between £240 and £330 billion.
The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap, as part of a clear ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%. The Government has published a set of key indicators, including the disability employment rate gap, which is monitored regularly to assess progress and identify influencing factors.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the NHS 10-Year Plan on (a) levels of employment and (b) the cost to the public purse of (i) health and (ii) incapacity benefits.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care Joint Work and Health Directorate was set up in recognition of the significant link between work and health and to improve employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions. The Directorate is staffed by officials in both Departments who report to both Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Work and Pensions Ministers. The Secretaries of State and Junior Ministers for Work and Pensions and for Health and Social Care meet on a regular basis.
We know that good work is generally good for health and wellbeing and that there are many disabled people who want to work. Our Pathways to Work Guarantee will provide work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions claiming out of work benefits.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan. The Plan will break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work. Neighbourhood health services will support people to access services closer to home, which will benefit people whose disability may make travelling challenging.
NHS Health and Growth Accelerators are testing a novel approach where local NHS systems are supported to increase – and are held accountable for – the impact they have on people’s work status. If those Accelerators are successful, we will expect all integrated care boards (ICBs) to establish specific and measurable outcome targets on their contribution to reducing economic inactivity and unemployment based on this model. In developing that approach, we will expect ICBs to seek the closest possible collaboration with local government partners – including mayors and strategic health authorities in particular – so that citizens benefit from a seamless work, health and skills offer in their area
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care are working together and will continue to do so as the package of reforms is developed in detail.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of Personal Independence Payments claims are related to an ongoing mental health condition for the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
PIP is assessed on the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability rather than a diagnosis. Information on claimants whose primary health condition is a mental health condition can be found on Stat Xplore. The information you need can be found on the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ table. You can use the “month” filter to select the previous 12 months for which data is available, and the ‘Disability’ filter can be used to select those under mental health conditions. The “table options” setting can be used to select “percentages”.
You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 May 2025, Official Report, column 2, what assessment she has made of the potential value of the review being completed before changes to eligibility for Personal Independence Payments come into force.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I stated in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, Official Report, column 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after the comprehensive review of the PIP assessment which I am leading to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future.
We are committed to co-producing this review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. The review is expected to conclude in Autumn 2026.
Over the summer we will engage widely with stakeholders to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has a target for narrowing the disability employment gap.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap as part of an ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%. The Government has published a set of key indicators, including the disability employment rate gap, which is monitored regularly to assess progress and identify influencing factors.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
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 disability employment gap in (a) Bournemouth and (b) the South West.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The disability employment gap is monitored and published in the official statistics release The employment of disabled people 2024 - GOV.UK in data tables LMS008, LMS009 and LMS010. This includes statistics on the South West region, parliamentary constituencies Bournemouth East, Bournemouth West and local authority area Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
The disability employment gap for 2020 to 2022 was 23.6 percentage points for the South West, 23.8 percentage points for Bournemouth East, and 35.2 percentage points in Bournemouth West. This compares to the UK wide disability employment gap of 27.4 percentage points for 2020 to 2022. This is the latest period for which reliable data is available.
Estimates below national level are based on smaller sample sizes and should therefore be used with caution.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 May 2025, Official Report, column 2, whether the Personal Independent Payment assessments review will include (a) equality and (b) employment law experts.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have launched a review of the PIP assessment, which I am leading. Through the review, we want to make sure the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence.
The review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders, to ensure that a range of views and voices are heard.
I have now spoken to a range of stakeholders to gather views on how best to approach the review. Proposed Terms of Reference have been published. I will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review, including to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.