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, what estimate he has made of the level of change in the number of households exempt from the benefit cap following the Autumn Budget 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: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support will be offered to disabled young people not currently in education, employment or training.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Pathways to Work is a guaranteed offer of tailored work, health and skills support for all disabled people, including young people, and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. We are rolling out our new support offer, backed by new funding building to £1bn a year by the end of the decade, with much of our plan already in motion. There are now over 1,000 FTE Pathways to Work Advisors in Jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales who are helping disabled people and people with health conditions towards and into work.
We are also testing how best to deliver and integrate work, health and skills support locally – including through Mayoral Strategic Authorities with 9 Economic Inactivity and 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazers live across England and Wales. We are delivering the NHS 10 Year Plan, and have introduced WorkWell in 15 sites across England, testing a new way to integrate health and work support.
We are also expanding our support for all young people, by expanding Youth Hubs to every local area across Great Britian. These Hubs will provide comprehensive support, such as mental health, housing, skills training, and employer engagement, to all 16-24 year olds, regardless of their benefit status.
Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn will lead an investigation into the rise in young people not in employment, education, or training, with findings to be published by Summer 2026. The report launched its formal call for evidence this week, on 16 December, and will remain open until 30 January.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of the Government's changes to the Motability scheme on wheelchair users who do not use a wheelchair accessible vehicle.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for many disabled people and families, supporting their independence by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance.
Before any announcements were made, Motability Operations confirmed it will continue to offer a broad range of vehicles without an Advance Payment. This will ensure that people who elect to join the Scheme can access vehicles suited to their needs, whether that’s a larger vehicle or extra boot space to carry wheelchairs, whatever their health condition or disability, in exchange for all or part of their mobility allowance.
Motability Foundation will continue to offer means-tested grants to those most in need of financial help. These grants support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Motability Scheme.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor the effectiveness of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want to see an enduring reduction in child poverty over this parliament as part of long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out how we will track progress and evaluate success as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and continued learning. It can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of requiring JobCentre Plus districts to report outcomes for (a) full-time work, (b) part-time work and (c) training and skills provision.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department monitors Jobcentre performance through an internal performance framework aligned with the priorities set out in Get Britain Working White Paper. The framework is designed for internal management purposes and the data is not published externally.
The Department recently published data on movements into work amongst people in the Universal Credit (UC) searching for work group - Get Britain Working: Labour Market Insights October 2025 - GOV.UK.
We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 merits of including targets and milestones for reducing child poverty in legislation.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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 and Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually. We have put these clear reporting arrangements in place so that the progress we make is transparent for all.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will consider introducing legally-binding child poverty targets to reduce child poverty within this Parliament and beyond.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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 and Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually. We have put these clear reporting arrangements in place so that the progress we make is transparent for all.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he has taken to support young people into employment in Slough.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 for the Growth and Skills Levy.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.
c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
Guaranteeing jobs: Too many young people are spending the first years of their adult life out of work or education. Long periods of unemployment in these early years have lifelong negative impacts.
As part of the Youth Guarantee, we are breaking the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing paid work for every eligible 18-21 year-old who has been on Universal Credit, looking for work, for 18 months.
The Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment, for 25 hours a week, at the relevant minimum wage, with the government covering 100% of employment costs. This, will help young people take that crucial first step into sustained employment, supporting the government’s long-term ambition for an 80% employment rate.
The Jobs Guarantee will also provide wraparound support to further develop the required skills and experience needed for the move into sustained employment.
Appropriate safeguards will be built into the scheme to ensure that opportunities are high quality, fair and deliver the intended outcomes for young people.
The Jobs Guarantee will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years.
Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.
Growth and Skills Levy A £725 million package of reforms includes a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. We will make available £140 million to pilot new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
In Slough specifically, we already have innovative programmes for young people:
The Football Association Programme, funded by the FA, is a 12 week course to promote different roles within football;
Engage Lime is a project delivered in association with London School of Economics focusing on skills; and
Start-Up UK will encourage young people to think about starting their own businesses.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new Crisis and Resilience Fund will count as public funds under the 'no recourse to public funds' rule.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund will fall within the definition of public funds. We plan to publish scheme guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish an Equality Impact Assessment for changes to the Motability scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for many disabled people and families, supporting their independence by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance.
The government announced a package of reforms to the Motability Scheme at Autumn Budget 2025, which will ensure the scheme delivers value for money for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people.
An Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken and published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK