Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time is to process a Personal Independence Payment appeal in Bristol East constituency.
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: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 automating eligible claimants' entitlement to the disabled child addition to Universal Credit.
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: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 raise awareness of the disabled child addition to Universal Credit among eligible 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: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, progress his department has made on testing personalised employment support in the Wakefield Pathfinder pilots; and whether an assessment has been made of the potential impact on user experience.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the first Jobs and Careers Service Pathfinder, launched in Wakefield in April 2025, we have been testing personalised employment support, including through a new Get Britain Working Coaching Academy and changes to claimant commitment appointments. Evaluation is ongoing and will focus on how personalised employment support is delivered both from a user and operational perspective. We are committed to publish evaluation findings in line with Government Social Research processes.
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, with reference to SOPS 1.1. in the Department's 2024-25 Annual Report, if she will publish a breakdown of the £6,156,284,000 spent on Programme Resource Outturn in A: Core Department in 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Please see the breakdown attached at Annex 1.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on changes to women's State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024, if he will make an estimate of the cost of providing compensation to impacted women in Dewsbury & Batley; and if he will consider the potential mechanisms for doing so.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has made its decision on this case based on due process and careful consideration of the body of evidence. We have decided it would not be appropriate to pay compensation and the detailed reasons for this decision have been placed in the House library.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the in-house replacement for the Department’s Find a Job digital service will (a) offer additional functions to the current service, (b) if those additional functions will be available on launch, and (c) if not available on launch, when such functions will be incorporated.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the point of launch, the in-house replacement service will support equivalent functionality to the existing Find a Job service. After launch the service will go through regular test and learn iterations to introduce new innovations.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the in-house digital replacement for the DWP's Find a Job service, whether an assessment has been carried out of its potential impact on (a) jobseeker outcomes and (b) employers ability to find workforce, were it to launch with a reduction in provision when compared with the existing service.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The new service is designed to provide a parity of service from day one. We do not expect any negative impact on Jobseeker outcomes. The Department is continuously reviewing the readiness of the new service, and it remains on track. Over time the new service will be iterated in to provide a more enhanced experience for customers, in line with the ambition for the Jobs and Careers Service as outlined in the Get Britian Working White Paper.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to enforce guidance around Working Time Regulations in maternity services to encourage safe working practices in maternity care.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides readily accessible guidance to all employers on the Working Time Regulations 1998 on its website and is responsible for the enforcement of the maximum weekly working time limit, night work limits, and health assessments for night work. Issues relating to rest periods and time off are a matter for an Employment Tribunal.
It is the duty of each individual NHS trust, or employing organisation, to ensure they have systems in place to comply with these regulations. HSE responds to all concerns related to working time in a proportionate way, which may include activities such as stakeholder engagement, inspections and investigations, and taking robust enforcement action if employers are not complying with legal requirements.
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 proportion of Universal Credit claimants are assessed as having a) negligible and b) negative disposal income after housing and energy costs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not hold information on the disposable income of households after essential expenditure including energy costs.
Working-age benefits covered by the Secretary of State’s statutory review will be increased by 3.8% from April, in line with the increase in the consumer prices index in the year to September 2025.
The Universal Credit Act 2025 means that the Universal Credit standard allowance will be up-rated by 3.8%, followed by a further 2.3% from April.