Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her department collects data on (a) race and (b) ethnicity and c) religion from benefit claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The purpose of collecting race and ethnicity data is because it they are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
All public bodies have a requirement under the Public Sector Equality Duty to pay due regard to the impacts of policies to those who share protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act.
To do so requires that meaningful data be collected in a harmonised form, as set out by the Cabinet Office. Claimant declarations of their protected characteristics are optional, and not mandatory.
Data collected on protected characteristics is solely used for analytical and statistical purposes in aggregate form and has no part in decisions relating to benefit claims.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in Washington and Gateshead South constituency are covered by the pension triple lock.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Caseload statistics for State Pensions are available via Stat-Xplore - Log in. The latest published data currently relate to the quarter ending May 2025.
The State Pensions Triple Lock applies to recipients of the core element of State Pension. Based on latest data, the number of pensioners resident in the Washington and Gateshead South constituency who are in receipt of the State Pension, and therefore covered by the Triple Lock, is 20,085.
This total has been adjusted to exclude a very small number of individuals, who receive only Graduated Retirement Benefit, a category of the Pre-2016 State Pension system, as such payments are uprated using CPI.
The constituency referenced above encompasses Gateshead South as well as the entire Washington area, including Washington Central, Washington South, Washington North, Washington East and Washington West.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to reinstate the pensions of Yemeni steelworkers who worked in Britain.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension payments to Yemen are being disrupted due to banking and currency issues, war, international sanctions and some issues over verification of identity. We are looking at ways to ensure payments are completed.
Our dedicated Yemen telephone number can be found on GOV.UK ( International Pension Centre - GOV.UK) and includes a Yemen-Arabic language translation as part of the opening message and we provide callback and translation services. We urge anyone who is having issues with their State Pension to contact us via this dedicated helpline.
Additionally, the Department is working with the Yemeni banks to enable payments in different currencies in order to get payments to the intended recipients.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people she estimates have been impacted by the cessation of pension payments to Yemeni steelworkers who worked in Britani.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are unable to identify which State Pension claimants are ex-steelworkers and therefore unable to provide any estimate of the number of people whose payment has stopped.
As of May 2025, there are 832 State Pension recipients in the Yemen.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 the Child Maintenance Service formula in cases where the paying parent is the sole earner in a household supporting children with registered (a) disabilities and (b) additional needs; and whether he plans to review the formula to reflect financial pressures faced by families caring for disabled children, including higher daily living costs and the need for specialised equipment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) formula is calculated on the paying parent’s gross income, the number of qualifying children, overnight care arrangements, and any additional children in their care – known as ‘relevant other children’. The formula does not automatically account for the higher costs associated with caring for children with disabilities or additional needs.
However, we recognise the additional financial pressures faced by families caring for disabled children. Therefore, the CMS provides a special expenses variation which allows paying parents to request an adjustment where they incur significant costs related to the illness or disability of ‘relevant other children’. The permitted expenses cover a wide range of costs, including personal care, heating and specialised equipment.
In addition, the Government is reviewing the CMS calculation to ensure the formula remains fit for purpose and reflects current societal and financial realities. Any proposed changes will be subject to public consultation and would require primary legislation and Parliamentary approval.
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 he has made of trends in the level of food poverty over the last 12 months.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
We published the Good Food Cycle in July which identified ten priority outcomes needed to build a thriving food sector while tackling a range of food related challenges. Improving food price affordability and access, in particular targeting costs that lead to food price inflation and supporting those who most need access to healthy affordable nutrition, is a key priority.
From 1 April 2026, we are introducing a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels. The Crisis and Resilience Fund Guidance for local authorities was published on 13 January 2026, enabling local authorities to prepare for delivery in line with the new fund.
The removal of the two child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty across the United Kingdom, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
The most recent official statistics show for the United Kingdom, in 2023/24, 7.5m individuals lived in food insecure households. The rate is unchanged on 2022/23 but the total number of individuals living in food insecure households has increased by 300,000.
The most recent official statistics show for the United Kingdom, in 2023/24, 2.8m people, were living in households where a food bank has been used in the 12 months prior to the interview, up by 500,000 since 2022/23.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the expected launch date of the Money and Pensions Service pensions dashboard; and what impediments still exist for the launch of the Money and Pensions Service pensions dashboard and private sector pensions dashboards.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will be launched when we have assurances that the service is secure and thoroughly user tested. As confirmed last year, Government will give 6 months’ notice before the launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. Pension providers and schemes in scope are required to connect to the pensions dashboards ecosystem by 31 October 2026 and connection remains on course against this timeline.
The Government remains committed to the launch of private sector pensions dashboards. Insights gained from the launch and operation of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will help inform the launch of private sector pensions dashboards.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of data is already onboarded for the pensions dashboard being created by the Money and Pensions Service.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Three quarters of pensions records in scope of the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 are now integrated into pensions dashboards. Over 700 of the largest pension providers and schemes are now connected with over 60 million records integrated into dashboards. State Pension data is also accessible, representing tens of millions of additional pensions records.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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 measures to reduce child poverty on children in Washington and Gateshead South constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of the total impact on low income poverty levels, and the number of children gaining, from the main changes included in the strategy for the United Kingdom as a whole are available here: Child Poverty Strategy: Impact on low income poverty levels and children gaining in the UK: December 2025 - GOV.UK. Across the United Kingdom, the measures set out in the strategy are expected to reduce the number of children in poverty by 550,000 in the final year of this Parliament, compared to our estimates without these measures.
Estimates for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit policy at constituency level are available here: Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK. The number of children who are expected to gain from the removal of the two-child limit policy in the Washington and Gateshead South constituency is 2,620.
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 steps his Department is taking to assess the suitability of people for each job under the Youth Guarantee.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the wider Youth Guarantee, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment for every eligible 18 to 21-year-old who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months. The scheme will break the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing meaningful paid employment opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.
Appropriate requirements will be built into the scheme, with guidance provided to those delivering the Jobs Guarantee to ensure that opportunities are high quality, fair and deliver the intended outcomes for young people.
A critical part of the Jobs Guarantee will be the provision of wraparound support to ensure that young people are able to take that crucial first step into employment, and to further develop the required skills and experience needed for the move into sustained employment.