Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 help tackle barriers to work for disabled people in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.
Disabled people are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.
Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in Primary Care and WorkWell. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
DWP is working with the NHS and Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) as part of the Get Hertfordshire Working strategic plan. DWP and the NHS co-chair the Work and Health subgroup of the plan. This group is working with local employers and key partners from the statutory, education and voluntary sectors, to support residents with health conditions to both stay in and return to work through a range of activities such as employment and skills training and providing support in managing their health conditions. The group is also developing employment pathways such as work experience, internships, and apprenticeships with partner agencies.
DEAs in the Jobcentres supporting the constituency hold in-depth Work Ability conversations that focus on strengths, suitable work options, workplace adjustments and confidence building. There is a Weekly Wednesday Job Club for Berkhamsted customers. As part of the Pathways to Work initiative DEAs work in collaboration with HCC to deliver joined up services for residents by supporting disabled people into employment through our Connect to Work programme, referrals to Employment Advisors in Talking Therapies and IPS.
We set out our plan for the Pathways to Work Guarantee in our Pathways to Work Green Paper and are building towards our guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for disabled people and people with health conditions on out of work benefits. The guarantee is backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by the end of the decade. We anticipate the guarantee, once fully rolled out, will include: a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement, and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan also states the Government’s intention to 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. 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.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 potential impact of State Pension age changes for 1950s-born women living in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
All women born since 6 April 1950 have been affected by changes to State Pension age.
Estimates can be made with ONS 2022 Census Data of how many women born in the 1950s were resident in each constituency in that year.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to publish an equalities impact assessment of the Child Poverty Strategy, including its impact on groups at highest risk of poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.
The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for the Access to Work scheme; and whether he plans to increase that funding.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are considering all aspects of the scheme as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.
We have recently concluded (November) the Access to Work Collaboration Committees, in which we engaged with a range of stakeholders, including disabled people’s organisation representatives and lived experience users, to provide discussion, experience, and challenge to the design of the future Access to Work Scheme.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to expand apprenticeship and training programmes for engineering roles supporting digital and energy infrastructure development.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, backed by £725 million of additional investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy.
In August 2025 we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. The first foundation apprenticeships are focussed on industrial strategy and priority areas, they include engineering and manufacturing, software and data, and hardware, network and infrastructure.
Additionally, from April 2026, employers will also be able to access short, flexible training courses to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs. The first wave of these courses will be called apprenticeship units, and they will be available in critical skills areas such as engineering and digital.
Following commitments made in the Industrial Strategy, the Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper announced an £182 million engineering skills package, with the aim of helping to address the engineering skills needed in priority sectors such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and digital and technology.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department are taking to review the state pension addition for individuals aged 80 and over; and whether the Department plans to adjust that addition in line with inflation to ensure it provides meaningful financial support.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The 25 pence a week Age Addition is part of the old State Pension, for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, and is paid with their State Pension, when they reach the age of 80.
The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension, but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, the 25 pence Age Addition under the existing rules will continue.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made on working with expert stakeholders to review the impact of four-weekly employer pay cycles on Universal Credit payments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. As part of the review we have considered the impact that fluctuating incomes including those paid on a four-weekly cycle has on households including engaging with expert stakeholders and those with direct experience. The Department is considering this insight and will provide updates on the review in due course.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 help support the development of (a) specialist training and (b) apprenticeship pathways in the (i) natural stone and (ii) heritage construction sectors, including (A) traditional craft and (B) masonry roles.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced in the Spending Review, the Government is investing over £1.2 billion annually in skills by 2028-29 to support technical routes and work-based training.
Employers and learners in the sector can benefit from a range of apprenticeship standards, such as Level 2 Stonemason, Leve 2 Thatcher and Level 5 Heritage Construction Specialist.
On 20 October 2025, we published the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, setting out a strategy to build a world-class skills system aligned with student and employer needs.
Central to these reforms is Skills England, which provides expert insight into current and future skills needs. It has published two key reports — Skills for Growth & Opportunity and Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030 — and will continue to assess national, regional, and sectoral demands. This evidence base will inform policy and funding decisions, helping employers close skills gaps all sectors, including the heritage sector.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to increase the number of approved apprenticeship providers for (a) stone masonry, (b) quarrying (c) and heritage restoration skills.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 15 October 2025, there are 1450 active providers on the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR).
New training providers can enter the apprenticeship training market under one of the three entry routes in place. These are either where there is a legitimate gap in provision that is generated by unmet employer demand, where a levy paying employer wants to become an employer-provider to train its own workforce, or where the provider is in an area we want to grow or where we identify a capacity issue.
The government continues to monitor the suitability of entry routes onto APAR as the government develops the Growth and Skills offer.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 processing times for disability benefit (a) applications, (b) reviews and (c) mandatory reconsideration requests.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Managing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are working constantly to improve our service.
Our aim is to make an award decision, including on an award review decision, as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all the available evidence, including that from the claimant, and ensuring that the decision is robust.