Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 potential impact of the discontinuation of the Skills Bootcamps programme on (a) AI and (b) automation training in Somerset for 2026-27 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 adequacy of training provider capacity for the Fishmonger Apprenticeship Standard in meeting employer demand.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department actively monitors all registered apprenticeship training providers through compliance checks, performance reviews, and inspections to ensure quality standards are met. Where providers fail to meet these requirements, we take appropriate action, which can include applying conditions such as restricting delivery and even termination of agreements and removal from the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR).
There are currently 4 registered training providers offering the Fishmonger Level 2 apprenticeship standard.
The Department manages entry to the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register to ensure that new providers meet a gap in apprenticeship training provision or meet our strategic priorities in areas where we want to grow apprenticeships.
Where an employer has provided evidence of a gap in the current apprenticeship training provision through the employer-led gap in provision policy, new training providers may enter the market.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to prevent enforcement correspondence being issued by the Child Maintenance Service where maintenance has been paid early but outside the Service’s payment window.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Correspondence issued by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) referencing enforcement action as being considered should only be issued if a customer has missed payments due and has fallen into arrears.
CMS is currently reviewing its processes to ensure that this principle is consistently applied and that such correspondence is not issued where payments have been made.
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 his Department has made of the amount paid in Universal Credit to claimants recorded as non-UK nationals by month since 1 July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Non-British and Irish nationals typically cannot access Universal Credit until they have been granted settlement after 5 years of lawful residence in the UK. The Home Office are consulting on doubling the standard qualifying period for settlement from 5 to 10 years. Exceptionally, some groups can access sooner, including people protected by the Withdrawal Agreement and Afghans and Ukrainians who have fled those countries.
Universal Credit awards are paid to households, so it is not possible to break payments down to individual members of a household.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how long they will remove the right to claim benefits from 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who do not accept the offer of a work placement through the Youth Guarantee scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Guarantee is part of a new social contract with young people – opportunity matched by responsibility. Young people who can work will be expected to engage with the support offered. If the support is declined without good reasons, existing benefit sanction rules will apply. The Jobs Guarantee is no exception and the full conditionality regime will apply.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
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 potential merits of engaging in structured, law-based mediation with representatives of women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 29 January 2026 my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the Government’s new decision on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) investigation into the way that State Pension age changes were communicated to women born in the 1950s.
We have set our decision out in full, and the document is available on Gov.uk: Government response to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension communications and associated issues.
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 information his Department holds on the number of pensioners whose sole income is the (a) basic and (b) full new State Pension.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Findings from the Pensioners’ Incomes Series show that, in 2023/24, around 1.1 million pensioner families (i.e. singles or couples) in the UK received the State Pension together with other state benefits as their sole sources of income. However, this does not indicate the amount of State Pension received or whether the State Pension received was the basic or new State Pension. This information is published in the Pensioners' Incomes series.
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 non-UK nationals have received the State Pension for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of State Pension paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not hold data on the nationality of individuals in receipt of the State Pension, as nationality is not recorded as part of the State Pension claim process, as was the case under the last Conservative Government. Eligibility for the State Pension is based on an individual's National Insurance record over their working life.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 impact of requiring parents to apply for Child Benefit on their eligibility to qualify for National Insurance credits.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
DWP has not conducted such an assessment. Child Benefit is a benefit administered by HMRC.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the value of graduated pension contributions paid by individuals prior to 1975 relative to the level of the new State Pension.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Graduated Retirement Benefit (GRB) scheme was the precursor to the additional State Pension and ran from 1961 to 1975. One unit of GRB was earned, by a man, for every £7.50 of graduated contributions paid, and in the case of a woman born before 6 April 1950, for every £9.00 paid. The maximum number of units available was 86 for a man and 72 for a woman. These rules were equalised for women born on or after 6 April 1950, with the result that GRB contributions paid by women who have reached State Pension age since April 2010 will be “converted” into GRB units on the same basis as for men. A unit is currently worth 17.83p per week (2025/26).
For people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, GRB is normally paid with other State Pension components, but it is paid on its own if there is no other State Pension entitlement.
GRB is not payable as a separate amount for people who reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, who will claim the new State Pension. Instead, people who had made contributions under the old State Pension system, including graduated contributions, will have their new State Pension calculated under transitional rules. Under the transitional arrangements, we look at an individual's National Insurance record as it stands on 6 April 2016 and compare what this would give them under the new State Pension rules with what they would have built up under the old system. The higher of these two values will be used as their Starting Amount for the new State Pension going forward. Therefore, any previous Graduated Retirement Benefit will be consolidated, along with other elements, into an individual’s entitlement to the new State Pension.