Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their childcare support policy on child poverty in single-parent households; and what consideration they have given to reforming childcare support to reflect the financial constraints faced by families with one member in paid employment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Poverty scars the lives and life chances of our children. Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.
The Child Poverty Strategy sets out the steps we are taking to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to change the course we’re on and create long-term change.
The Government is investing in the future of our children by removing the two child limit on Universal Credit, reinstating support for all children in the household. This comes alongside a package of measures that will drive down working poverty by raising the minimum wage, creating more secure jobs by strengthening rights at work, and expanding free childcare.
We recognise that access to high quality, affordable childcare is essential for parents to be able to work. We will increase Universal Credit childcare support to help parents in work, with eligible parents receiving up to £737.06 in UC childcare support for each additional child beyond the first. We will also streamline the process for getting support with upfront childcare costs.
Changes to the childcare cost caps will occur during the 2026-27 financial year, subject to the laying of the relevant legislation and alterations to the UC service.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of the expansion of free school meal eligibility from 2026 on the level of demand for school milk; and what steps are being taken to ensure adequate provision.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is a legislative requirement that milk is provided free of charge to children who meet the free school meal criteria.
We are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals putting £500 back in families’ pockets.
We have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multi-year spending review period to cover additional meal costs. This includes milk. This is on top of £1.5 billion we already spend annually supporting schools to deliver free school meals and milk.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average end-to-end clearance time for a Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment was in each month since January 2025 for (a) new and (b) existing claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit Work Capability Assessments were undertaken in each month since August 2025 for (a) new and (b) existing claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) new and (b) existing claimants were waiting for a Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment in each month since January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the long-term consequences of the benefit cap on the life chances of children, including future employment prospects, health inequalities and intergenerational poverty.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that growing up in a working household helps to tackle the long-term impacts of poverty on a child’s future health, employment, and life chances. The benefit cap aims to incentivise work and exemptions to the cap are in place for households in work earning at least £846 each month, rising to £881 each month from April 2026.
The Child Poverty Strategy kickstarts action and ambition over the next ten years to respond to the current crisis of child poverty now while delivering longer term change to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty.
The Government is investing in the future of our children and is removing the two child limit in Universal Credit in April 2026. This will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this parliament and is the most cost-effective and quickest way of reducing child poverty and the impacts that child poverty can bring.
In addition, the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 places a duty on the Secretary of State to report annually on the life chances of children in non-working households and educational attainment as two main factors leading to child poverty. These were last released on 27 March: “Workless households and educational attainment statutory indicators 2025 - GOV.UK”
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit awards were made following the application of an exception to a No Recourse to Public Funds condition in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is not held centrally by DWP, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review the eligibility criteria for pupil premium funding so that all children from families receiving Universal Credit are entitled to support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all our children have the freedom to achieve and thrive in education.
We are providing over £3 billion of pupil premium funding in financial year 2025/26 to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.
Pupil premium is allocated on the basis of economic disadvantage, using free school meals claims, and to support children looked after or previously looked after by their local authority
Pupil premium will continue to be allocated using the current free school meals threshold of £7,400 for financial year 2026/27.
Over the longer term, we are reviewing how we allocate pupil premium and related funding to schools and local authorities to ensure it is targeted to those who need it most, while maintaining the overall amount we spend on these funding streams.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the a) mean and b) median amount of housing support claimed by people in each local authority who were on i) Housing Benefit ii) the Housing Element of UC and iii) either Housing Benefit or the Housing Element of UC.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I) The information requested for Housing Benefit (HB) mean amounts are available on Stat-Xplore (link below).
II) Universal Credit (UC) is a single integrated benefit made up of different elements, such as Housing. Benefit units receive one combined monthly payment, and any deductions apply to the total award, not individual elements. Breakdowns of the UC Housing Element are available at national level in the Benefit Expenditure Tables (link below). However, the underlying data is not sufficient to produce these breakdowns at a sub-national level, such as local authorities. As a result, it is not possible to robustly estimate mean or median element of UC at a local authority level.
III) Due to data quality limitations that prevent calculation of (ii), it is not possible to estimate the population receiving either HB or the housing element of UC.
Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any geographical disparities in the availability of funded childcare places; and what steps they are taking to target support towards single parents living in areas where a lack of provision restricts the ability to enter or progress in employment.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as we have successfully rolled out the expansion of government-funded childcare for all working parents.
We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school-based nurseries to help ensure more children can access quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 having been made available from September 2025.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare, particularly for low-income families and those with additional needs. Parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit Childcare.