Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of child poverty in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of children living in relative poverty on a before housing costs basis for Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication.
An assessment of the trends in the level of child poverty in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency can be made using Table: “5_Relative_ParlC” in the latest published version, found here: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish our ambitious, UK-wide Child Poverty Strategy this autumn, which will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
In addition, we are taking further steps to support children and families through our commitments to roll out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools, extend Free School Meals to every pupil whose household is in receipt of Universal Credit.
From September, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months and above can now access 30 hours a week from the term following their child turning 9 months to when they start school. This means working parents could save on average £7,500 per year, transforming the costs of having children for families.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of the £25 million funding for Youth Hubs will be allocated to Scotland; and what estimate he has made of the number of youth hubs that will be supported.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 200 within the next three years, including in Scotland, to provide more accessible and joined-up employment support for young people. This investment ensures that young claimants, particularly those on Universal Credit, can access tailored employment and skills services in their local communities.
While employment and skills support remain central to the Youth Hubs offer, the expansion will also ensure a core minimum blueprint across all locations. This will connect young people to a wider range of services such as health, housing, and wellbeing support, based on local needs and partnerships.
This expansion will build on the strong foundations of existing Youth Hubs operating in Scotland, which will continue to evolve and align with the Youth Hub blueprint, ensuring young people benefit from high-quality, locally tailored services
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 steps he is taking to ensure that (a) highly skilled and (b) experienced jobseekers are able to access suitable employment opportunities; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of perceptions of being overqualified on those jobseekers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to supporting customers into secure employment, including highly skilled and experienced jobseekers.
DWP currently offers tailored, flexible advice and employment support through its network of Jobcentres across the UK. Work Coaches offer all customers a comprehensive menu of help, including referral into skills provision and job search support.
In addition, the National Careers Service provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the Labour Market in England. Further information about the National Careers Service can be found online by visiting https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk.
As part of our plans to Get Britain Working, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new, more personalised, Jobs and Careers Service. This will enable everyone, including experienced and skilled jobseekers, to access support to find good, meaningful work. It will support people to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.
We are also transforming DWP’s employer commitment and working with a broader range of employers, including those requiring skilled and specialist talent, to offer customers jobs that match their skillset and qualifications.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
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 reduce the number of families with children relying on emergency food parcels.
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 are expanding Free School Meals to every pupil whose household is in receipt of Universal Credit, which will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament, and introducing a new £1 billion package (including Barnett impact) to reform crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time.
This comes alongside £600 million for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme across the next three financial years as well as expanding free breakfast clubs, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Strategy will tackle overall child poverty as well as going beyond that to focus on children in deepest poverty lacking essentials, and what is needed to give every child the best start in life.
We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty. Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by an initial £240 million investment in 2025/26, will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help remove barriers to work faced by young disabled people with complex needs in Birmingham Perry Barr constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group. Access to the right support, in the right place, at the right time, is crucial.
Jobcentre Plus provides tailored, person-centred support to young disabled people, focusing on their individual needs. Disability Employment Advisors (DEAs) provide personalise support for people with health conditions and disabilities to enable them to achieve appropriate and sustainable employment. DEAs work closely with Youth Employability Coaches (YECs), who deliver longer-term support, specifically for young people facing with complex to work. Both DEAs and YECs work with partner organisations to ensure access to expert advice.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education continue to work closely with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) on the design and delivery of their Youth Guarantee Trailblazer. WMCA has actively engaged its seven Local Authorities, which includes Birmingham, to co-develop and test place-based solutions aimed at tackling high youth unemployment, economic inactivity, and declining apprenticeship opportunities. Examples of programmes being delivered through the Trailblazer include work experience placements, pre-apprenticeship training, and NEET prevention. This locally tailored support is also accessible to young people with health conditions and disabilities. Insights from the Trailblazer will inform future national policy and delivery.
In addition, young people with health conditions and disabilities can benefit from other locally delivered programmes such as Connect to Work and Workwell. Connect to Work, is a voluntary, high-fidelity programme, connecting work, health and skills support for people with challenges to employment, including health and disability. Workwell, provides a light touch intervention which focuses on prevention and support for people in work to sustain employment. It also supports people who have fallen out of work due to health and disability to return to the workplace.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 public information campaigns on levels of benefit-related fraud.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP will be launching a new campaign at the end of January 2026. This campaign will focus on the three greatest key loss areas for the Department – living together, self-employed, and capital & savings. It will run across a range of channels, including on demand video, out-of-home, digital display, paid search and paid social.
The campaign’s communications objectives are to increase awareness of the consequences of not reporting changes of circumstances to DWP and to increase understanding of the types of changes of circumstances that need to be reported amongst Universal Credit customers.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the freeze on local housing allowance on levels of homelessness in Wales.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex; they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. Responsibility for housing and homelessness is devolved to the Welsh Government, while social security is reserved to the UK Government.
In April 2024, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was increased to the 30th percentile of local market rents, including across Wales, costing an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years.
The Secretary of State reviews LHA rates annually in the Autumn, this includes consideration of latest rental data, stakeholder evidence from organisations across GB, including in Wales, homelessness levels and the current challenging fiscal environment. Future funding decisions will be taken in the context of Government priorities.
For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase apprenticeship opportunities in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are a number of apprenticeships available to support employers of all sizes in the hospitality sector to benefit from and develop the skilled workforces they need.
The government has reduced the apprenticeship minimum duration to 8 months so that shorter apprenticeships are possible from August 2025. Employers in the hospitality sector will be able to make use of this flexibility where this is appropriate for the role or the apprentice.
To support apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.
In addition, the government is delivering a hospitality Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) pilot, launched in partnership with UKHospitality. This pilot is being rolled out to 26 new areas in need of jobs and opportunity. These SWAPs support participants to gain accreditation for a digital Hospitality Skills Passport which is designed to provide proof that a person is qualified to perform their job effectively and safely, giving them a universal entry standard into the sector.
Apprenticeship starts within the Hospitality and Catering sector can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/649e785b-9332-4f3c-f886-08de0724494a
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 reduce the processing times for disability benefit (a) applications, (b) reviews and (c) mandatory reconsideration requests.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Managing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are working constantly to improve our service.
Our aim is to make an award decision, including on an award review decision, as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all the available evidence, including that from the claimant, and ensuring that the decision is robust.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the offer and uptake of apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy.
In August we introduced new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.
To support employers to offer apprenticeships, the government provides £1,000 payments to employers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19 to 24-year-old apprentices who have an education, health and care plan or have been, or are, in care. Government also pays employers up to £2,000 for eligible foundation apprenticeships to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.