Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase (a) skills and (b) employment support for people in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency who are in receipt of sickness benefits.

The Get Britain Working White Paper, published in autumn 2024, and Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in spring 2025, set out the Government’s plan on skills and employment support, including for those in receipt of sickness benefits.

Our Pathways to Work Guarantee offer of personalised employment, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits is backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade. Once fully rolled out, we anticipate this 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.

In addition, Connect to Work is being made available across all of England and Wales. This is a voluntary, locally commissioned, Supported Employment programme for individuals that are disabled, have a health condition or experiencing non-health related barriers to work to find and sustain employment. There is no benefit-related requirement for this programme. DWP has agreed up to £7.2m in funding to Buckinghamshire County Council to deliver Connect to Work support across Buckinghamshire to around 1650 people by the end of the decade. We understand that Buckinghamshire County Council expect to open their service to participants at the start of April 2026.

Through the Adult Skills Fund in the 2025/26 academic year, we are spending £1.4 billion for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. In Buckingham and Bletchley, the Adult Skills Fund fully funds learners who are unemployed or earn less than £25,750 (annual gross salary).