Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the debate that took place at the Council of Europe on 28 September 2021 on socio-economic inequalities in Europe.

The UK is committed to the protection and promotion of social rights. The UK has ratified the 1961 European Social Charter (ESC), the European Code of Social Security and numerous other international social rights instruments. The UK is fully committed to all of the Council of Europe instruments it is Party to and engages constructively in work on socio-economic inequalities at the Council of Europe.

The UK Government is taking important steps to reduce inequalities and levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom, particularly as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. We have launched a suite of employment support schemes, significant investments in skills, training and apprenticeships, and Universal Credit has played a crucial and effective role in protecting the most vulnerable.

The Department for Work and Pensions is continuously reviewing its policies on socio-economic inequalities to ensure that no one and no community is left behind.