Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation, Government Statistical Service Harmonisation: Assessing user needs for additional response options for the new ethnicity harmonisation standard, published on 28 October 2025, whether his Department plans to make a submission.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department notes the plan by the Office for National Statistics for an updated harmonised standard, which will be applied to our departmental statistics where applicable in due course.
This is an open consultation due to close on 4 February 2026, and the Department provided a response on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specific reasonable adjustments are embedded in the digital benefit application interface to accommodate claimants with learning disabilities; and what percentage of those who failed (1) the identity verification, and (2) the work capability, online application stages in the past 12 months were identified as having a learning disability.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that its digital benefit services, including the Universal Credit online claim, are accessible to all, in line with our duties under the Equality Act 2010. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities so that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage when applying for support.
Universal Credit is designed as a modern digital service, with the online application structured in clear steps and using plain English, informed by user research and feedback. The questions presented are built dynamically based on the information the customer provides, so people only see the screens that are relevant to their circumstances, reducing complexity for those who may find long forms or highly technical language difficult to manage.
An Accessibility Statement link is also available at the bottom of each Universal Credit page. This explains how to access the service if extra support is needed, including how to ask for information in alternative formats or for additional help with managing the digital journey.
Customers who are unable to use the digital service can make a claim by telephone, and where they are unable to attend the jobcentre, a home visit can be arranged to undertake verification. Customers may also give explicit consent for a trusted third party to help manage their claim, or an appointee can be formally appointed to act on their behalf, with these arrangements recorded within the digital service.
The Department keeps the Universal Credit service under regular review and continues to work with stakeholders, disability organisations and people with lived experience to identify further improvements, including for customers with learning disabilities, to ensure that our services remain accessible and responsive to all.
With reference to the statistics requested, these are not readily available based on the requested parameters.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will require NHS employers to provide ongoing education, training and health surveillance for all staff who handle or may be exposed to hazardous medicinal products.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 October 2025 to Question UIN 84444.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that employers participating in the Disability Confident scheme do not unfairly dismiss employees due to health-related absence or long-term conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All employers are required to comply with the Equality Act 2010, including the duty to make reasonable adjustments where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments, and we expect all employers including those in the Disability Confident scheme to act within the law.
The Disability Confident scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. When an employer signs up to the scheme, they agree to commitments which include anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required and supporting any existing employee who acquires a disability or long-term health condition, enabling them to stay in work.
To help employers meet these commitments in practice, Disability Confident provides a range of guidance and resources. This includes the Disability Confident Manager’s Guide [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-confident-and-cipd-guide-for-line-managers-on-employing-people-with-a-disability-or-health-condition], which explains how managers can make and review reasonable adjustments, consider flexible working, and sets out examples of other types of workplace adjustments. In addition, the Department has developed the ‘Support with Employee Health and Disability’ digital service [https://www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk/support-with-employee-health-and-disability], which offers employers tailored guidance on supporting employees with health conditions or disabilities, including advice on legal obligations, making reasonable adjustments, and signposting to sources of expert support.
The scheme also signposts employers and employees to Access to Work, a discretionary grant that provides support for people with a disability or health condition to move into or retain employment, by helping with extra disability related costs of working that go beyond the standard reasonable adjustments an employer is expected to provide under the Equality Act.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the use of engineering controls such as biological safety cabinets and closed‑system drug‑transfer devices during preparation and administration of hazardous medicinal products to better protect healthcare workers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 October 2025 to Question UIN 84144.
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, how many assessments for Personal Independence Payment were carried out by Capita by telephone in 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Capita delivers Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the Midlands and Wales, and on behalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland.
Information relating to the Midlands and Wales is not currently published by DWP; however, we intend to include this data in a future statistical release.
If your query concerns Northern Ireland, responsibility for this information rests with the DfC. This data is not held by DWP.
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, how many assessments for Personal Independence Payment were carried out by Capita in person in 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Capita delivers Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the Midlands and Wales, and on behalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland.
Information relating to the Midlands and Wales is not currently published by DWP; however, we intend to include this data in a future statistical release.
If your query concerns Northern Ireland, responsibility for this information rests with the DfC. This data is not held by DWP.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 effectiveness of UK–EU social security coordination rules in protecting the pension rights of people who have worked in the UK and Greece.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK’s comprehensive social security relationship with the EU Member States, including State Pensions, is governed by the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
These agreements provide the necessary level of social security protection and continuity of State Pension provision for those moving between the UK and the EU Member States, including Greece.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a bilateral reciprocal social security agreement with Greece.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK’s comprehensive social security relationship with the EU Member States, including State Pensions, is governed by the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
These agreements provide the necessary level of social security protection and continuity of State Pension provision for those moving between the UK and the EU Member States, including Greece.
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 Pension Credit for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of Pension Credit paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The requested statistics are not held by the Department.
Entitlement to Pension Credit depends on a person’s residence or immigration status, including the requirement to have the right to reside and to be able to be treated as factually habitually resident in Great Britain. Foreign nationals must also have an immigration status that gives access to public funds, which most will not have until they have lived in the UK for at least 5 years.