Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of overpaid benefits they have recouped in each of the past 10 financial years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The recovery of overpayments cannot be attributed to the year in which the benefit was overpaid, as many of those overpayments will have occurred over more than one year.
Furthermore, many of the overpayments that occurred in previous years are still undergoing recovery or are likely to be identified and recovered some time in the future.
The annual National Statistics publication Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK compares the amount of money recovered in each financial year from overpayment debts with its estimate of the money that was overpaid in that financial year – with the understanding that much of that recovered money each year would have been from benefits that were overpaid in past years. Figures from the National Statistics publications are provided in the annex.
The overall amount that can be recovered by deduction from benefit is set by regulations, and priority is given to a number of other deductions above those for recovery of an overpayment of benefit.
We encourage anyone who is finding recovery difficult to get in touch with DWP Debt Management, who can consider a lower rate of recovery or temporary suspension.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 24 November (HL11931), whether the report into young people and work will also examine reasons for the increase in the number of young people with disabilities and health conditions, and if not, what plans they have to investigate the reasons for this increase.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The rising number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a crisis of opportunity that demands more action to give them the chance to learn or earn.
To truly address the root causes of youth inactivity, we need a deeper understanding of the barriers that disabled young people and those with health conditions face. The Report will examine the drivers behind the rise in NEET rates and economic inactivity among young disabled people and those with health conditions.
On the 4th of December my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Department for Health and Social Care launched an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism.
The review will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD and autism. It will look at prevalence, early intervention and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services.
The review will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the NHS, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with regional leaders on supporting tourism growth outside London.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is committed to ensuring that tourism contributes to growth and jobs across all parts of the country and particularly in coastal areas including Fylde, home to attractions including Lytham St Annes and the historic Lytham Hall.
A number of regional leaders are represented in the joint industry and Government-led Visitor Economy Advisory Council, which I co-chair. In this way, the views of regional leaders help to inform and shape Government policy. The Council is also helping to deliver the forthcoming sector growth plan which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth.
The Lancashire Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), which includes the constituency of Fylde, works collaboratively with both local authority and private sector partners to communicate investment opportunities and to showcase Lancashire’s strengths as a place to live, work, study and invest in, as well as a premier destination for visitors.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Manchester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Crisis and Resilience Fund will help local authorities to address the causes of financial crisis instead of the symptoms.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis. The Fund will support local interventions that prevent people from falling into crisis and improve their citizens’ long-term financial resilience, reducing the need for crisis support in the long-term.
My Department has engaged extensively with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of furniture provision, through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, on the likelihood of low-income households entering unmanageable debt.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process including furniture provision. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October to Question 78154, how much of the £500 million allocated to local authorities for Family Help services is being allocated to help adoptive and kinship families with post placement support.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Family Help reforms are being delivered nationally through the Families First Partnership programme, offering services to all families, including adoptive and kinship families.
On 20 November, we announced additional investment of £547 million, bringing total programme funding to £2.4 billion over this Spending Review period. This funding demonstrates the government’s commitment to invest in prevention, supporting local authorities and partners to deliver reformed help and protection services that make a real difference to families.
It is for local authorities to determine how best to make use of these resources to support adoptive and kinship families with the help they need.
The department will soon pilot a new Kinship Allowance in some local authorities in England, which will support around 4,500 children. This will test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate has been made of the number of reports of child (a) sexual (b) criminal exploitation safeguarding failings at (1) private (2) local authority children’s homes in England since 2015.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All registered children’s homes, whether privately run or local authority-operated, must notify Ofsted, the regulator for children’s social care, about certain serious incidents that happen to children in their care living with them and what they have done in response. The published data, available from April 2023, includes a category of ‘sexual exploitation’, which shows:
This data does not distinguish between private or local authority run homes and does not specify data on criminal exploitation.
Ofsted review the notifications received to ensure homes have acted to protect the child from immediate harm, and the information contained in the notifications informs their risk assessment and inspection scheduling.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what actions have been taken in response to recommendations made by the Independent Case Examiner in relation to Child Maintenance Service complaints in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) have implemented measures in line with the Independent Case Examiner's recommendations in each of the last five years.
Actions include strengthening enforcement processes, improving complaint handling procedures, enhancing staff training, updating guidance, and reviewing policies to ensure fairer outcomes for parents and children. These actions demonstrate CMS commitment to learning from ICE recommendations and improving the experience of CMS customers.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he has taken to make sure that digital ID can not be made a requirement for accessing a wide range of public and private services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Digital ID will only be mandatory for a person who is going through a right to work check. There will be no other mandatory requirement to have the ID.
The Government is not mandating the use of digital ID to access other public or private services. People can still prove their identity using physical documents and non-digital alternatives outside of right-to-work checks if they prefer.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) for 2026-27 to 2029-30 have not changed materially since they were published on the gov.uk following Spending Review 2025. Please find those documents and DELs: Spending Review 2025 document - GOV.UK
DSIT has recently published how it is allocating the majority of its R&D budget over this period. Here is the link to this: DSIT Research and Development (R&D) plans to 2029/2030 - GOV.UK. We intend to publish a further breakdown of our R&D spend later this financial year. Allocations for the non-R&D elements of DSIT’s CDEL budget are still being determined.