theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to encourage retraining into hospitality careers for older workers. \p Dame Diana Johnson: We know that work helps everyone, including older people, play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement.

DWP delivers Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), which are fully funded by government and offer training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview to those ready to start a job, as well as those who are seeking to retrain and change career. DWP’s Strategic Relationship Team (SRT) and the local Employment Advisers (EAs) based in jobcentres work together to engage with employers to support these SWAPs. Building on our relationships with national employers, SRT continues to expand its current network to more employers in key sectors such as hospitality where there is a critical demand for workers.

EAs can help employers write job descriptions, promote vacancies in job centres, help select and interview priority candidates, invite employers to local recruitment events to promote their vacancies, and help plan recruitment campaigns.

DWP are focusing on the hospitality sector by delivering a hospitality SWAP pilot, launched in partnership with the trade body UKHospitality. This pilot is being rolled out to 26 new areas in need of jobs and opportunity, including 13 coastal towns such as Scarborough and Blackpool. As part of the pilot, participants are supported to gain accreditation for a digital Hospitality Skills Passport, which is designed to provide proof that they are qualified to perform their job effectively and safely, giving them a universal entry standard into the sector.

In the last financial year, there were 5,620 SWAP starts in hospitality, which have helped people of all ages gain the relevant skills to move into work. Research has found that all demographics considered benefitted from taking part in a SWAP and that SWAPs had a greater impact improving employment outcomes for some of the most disadvantaged groups, including older claimants.

Employers and training providers in the hospitality sector who are interested in offering SWAP opportunities can contact their local Jobcentre Plus Group Partnership Manager. A contact list is available on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-partnerships/national-partnership-teams.
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Marie Goldman:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trussell Trust’s Guarantee our Essentials research, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of uplifting Universal Credit to £120 per week. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The purpose of the standard allowance is to provide towards basic living costs. Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs.

Around 4 million households will benefit overall from the Government’s decision to increase the Universal Credit standard allowance – estimated to be worth £725 annually by 2029/30 in cash terms based on Spring Statement 2025 economic assumptions - £250 annually above inflation for a single household aged 25 or over.

We have uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.
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Anna Dixon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the current average time taken was for a DWP-initiated PIP review to be completed in West Yorkshire in each of the last 12 months. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The table below provides information on the median number of weeks taken to complete a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Award Review (AR) for claimants living in West Yorkshire local authority districts. The time taken is measured from the date of AR registration to the date of completion. Figures are presented for each month in which ARs were completed, covering the 12-month period up to and including July 2025.

Table 1: Median time in weeks from PIP Award Review registration to completion, by month of completion, for the West Yorkshire local authority area.

Month AR completed

Aug-24

Sep-24

Oct-24

Nov-24

Dec-24

Jan-25

Feb-25

Mar-25

Apr-25

May-25

Jun-25

Jul-25

Median time in weeks

58

50

46

46

45

41

40

38

38

38

37

32

Our aim as always is to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account all available evidence, including that from the claimant. We are taking steps to improve the service by prioritising new claims, to ensure new claimants are paid as soon as possible whilst safeguarding claimants awaiting award reviews, who have returned their information as required, to ensure their payments continue until their review can be completed.

Notes:

- Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number of weeks.

- Figures are for the following West Yorkshire local authorities: Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.
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Helen Whately:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) PIP and (b) DLA claimants who are members of the Motability scheme had ADHD as their main disabling condition in each of the past 5 years. \p Sir Stephen Timms: At the end of July 2025 (latest available data), 593,700 PIP claimants had an active contract with the Motability Scheme.

The number of PIP claimants who had an active contract with the Motability Scheme broken down by condition groups over the past 5 years is provided in the table below.

Table 1: PIP claimants with an active Motability Scheme contract by condition over the past 5 years

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025 (to July-25)

Psychiatric disorders

76,100

86,800

97,200

125,000

162,700

174,700

of which ADHD / ADD

1,900

2,600

3,400

5,600

9,000

10,400

of which any depressive disorder

16,200

19,700

22,700

32,800

46,100

49,900

The Department does not hold Motability data in its analytical datasets for DLA. Obtaining these data from other sources would involve disproportionate costs.

Notes:

- The figures provided are for PIP claimants in England and Wales only.

- The figures include both claims made under Normal Rules and those made under Special Rules for End of Life.

- The claimants’ primary conditions were used to categorise them in the provided table. Many claimants have two or more health conditions, and it is not necessarily the case that the listed primary condition is that which gives rise to the functional limitation(s) behind the award of the enhanced mobility component of PIP.

- The figures have been provided in calendar years, containing data from January 2020 to July 2025.

- The calendar year 2025 only contains data to July 2025, therefore volumes may be smaller than what would appear within a full calendar year. Data beyond this point is currently unavailable centrally for analysis.

- Values in the table show any PIP claimant with an active Motability Scheme contract on the PIP caseload at some point within that calendar year.

- The “of which any depressive disorder” category is made up of 4 primary conditions:

o Anxiety and depressive disorders – mixed

o Bipolar affective disorder

o Depressive disorder

o Mood disorders – Others / type not known

- Values have been rounded to the nearest 100.
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Nadia Whittome:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Universal Credit taper in incentivising part-time work. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The taper rate aims to make customers financially better off in work by ensuring that their Universal Credit award is reduced by less than their earned income.

Universal Credit has a single taper rate of 55% and some customers will also benefit from a work allowance which is the amount someone can earn before their Universal Credit award starts to reduce.

Once a customer is earning more than their work allowance (if applicable), their Universal Credit starts to be reduced at a consistent rate.
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Helen Whately:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding his Department has provided to the Motability Scheme in 2025. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Motability Scheme receives no direct funding from DWP. However, it does receive the direct transfer of benefit from DWP. This is claimant benefit the claimant would otherwise be receiving, and the cost of transfer is paid for by the Motability Foundation. The total value of benefits transferred to Motability in financial year 2024–2025 the Department for Work and Pensions was £3,074,920,421.67.

The Motability Scheme also receives zero rate VAT for hire of motor vehicle to individuals in receipt of specified disability benefits; zero rate VAT for sale of lease vehicle on first sale after end of lease and zero rate Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) on Scheme policies.
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Kirsteen Sullivan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many reports of inadequacy in the provision of personal protective equipment were received by the Health and Safety Executive in the (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024 reporting year. \p Sir Stephen Timms: This data is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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Margaret Mullane:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has prepared an impact assessment on the decision to freeze the local housing allowance. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Secretary of State considers a range of factors when reviewing Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. This includes the impact of the current rental market, the Government’s goals on housing, and the wider fiscal context. In April 2024, LHA rates were increased to the 30th percentile of local market rents costing £1.2bn in 2024/25 and £7bn over 5 years. LHA rates have been maintained at 2024/25 levels for 2025/26. The impacts of this are described in the explanatory memorandum for the legislation:

The Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2025 - Explanatory Memorandum

The Secretary of State considers LHA rates annually in the Autumn. Autumn Budget decisions will be taken in the round, considering the Government’s missions and the challenging fiscal context.
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Siân Berry:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Access to Work applications are outstanding; and what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog of applications. \p Sir Stephen Timms: There are currently 62,000 applications outstanding. We recognise the importance of reducing waiting times, which is why we have increased the number of staff working in this area by 27% in the last financial year.
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Kevin Bonavia:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72603 on Universal Credit: Veterans, how many veterans in each district council in Hertfordshire (a) claim Universal Credit (UC), (b) are in receipt of the housing element of UC and (c) pay the housing element of UC to private landlords. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021.

By May 2025 data was held on the armed forces status of approximately 81% of the GB UC caseload. Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”.

Data is not held on the total number of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past, but data is held on those who have identified themselves so far.

The housing element of Universal Credit is paid to the claimant household rather than individuals.

The following table shows (a) the number of claimants who have identified themselves as veterans in each district council in Hertfordshire, and the number of households containing at least one claimant who has identified themselves as a veteran in each district council in Hertfordshire that are (b) are in receipt of the housing element of UC and (c) have a tenure type of the Private Rented Sector.

District council

The number of claimants who have identified themselves as veterans as of May 2025

The number of households receiving the housing element of Universal Credit, containing at least one claimant who has identified themselves as a veteran as of May 2025

The number of households receiving the housing element of Universal Credit, with a tenure type of the Private Rented Sector, containing at least one claimant who has identified themselves as a veteran as of May 2025

Broxbourne

40

30

10

Dacorum

90

60

20

East Hertfordshire

60

40

10

Hertsmere

40

20

10

North Hertfordshire

80

50

10

St Albans

40

30

10

Stevenage

60

40

10

Three Rivers

50

40

10

Watford

50

30

10

Welwyn Hatfield

60

40

10

Total Hertfordshire

530

380

100

*NB columns may not sum to totals due to rounding

1. Figures are for Great Britain. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland.

2. Figures in the table have been rounded to the nearest ten in line with Department’s Official Statistics rounding policy: Background information note: DWP benefits statistical summary - GOV.UK.

3. Further information on the caseload definition used for the UC official statistics can be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

For the purposes of answering these questions:
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's timetable is for reviewing the Personal Independence Payment assessment process and whether his Department plans to consult with (a) disabled people, (b) carers and (c) the wider public during that review process. \p Sir Stephen Timms: To ensure lived experience is at the heart of its work, the Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, carers, experts, MPs and others. We have also confirmed that a majority of the Review’s leadership group will be disabled.

This group will not work alone: it will shape a programme of participation and engagement that brings together the full range of views and voices.

Over the summer, I met with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, disability, welfare and carers’ charities, think tanks and other experts to discuss and listen to how we should approach co-production in the Timms Review.

We are working through this feedback and will provide an update shortly.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the Universal Credit Health Element on poverty among disabled people. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department published an updated assessment of the poverty impacts of the health/disability benefit changes announced at Spring Statement with revisions to reflect the proposed changes since tabled. This estimates that there will be 50,000 fewer individuals in relative poverty after housing costs in 2029/30 as a result of the changes.

The assessment is available at: Spring statement social security changes – updated impact on poverty levels in Great Britain, July.

We will continue to carefully consider the impacts of reforms as we develop our detailed proposals for change.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that carers continue to receive national insurance contribution credits during temporary leaves of absence for the person they are a carer for. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Carers in receipt of Carers Allowance (CA) are awarded class 1 National Insurance credits. If there is a break in care that lasts up to 12 weeks, carers in receipt of CA are awarded class 3 National Insurance credits. These credits protect their State Pension and help with access to certain working age benefits.

Carers in receipt of the Universal Credit Carer Element or Carer’s Credit receive class 3 National Insurance credits, including during a break in care, which protects their State Pension in later life.
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Alex Brewer:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) vulnerable adults and (b) adults with learning difficulties are adequately supported in managing rent payments under Universal Credit in cases where direct payments to landlords have been cancelled and individuals are unable to manage the new arrangements independently. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Housing costs can be paid direct to landlords at any point during a Universal Credit claim where the claimant is vulnerable or has rent arrears or there is a risk of eviction. The need for such an arrangement may be identified by DWP staff or requested by the claimant, their appointee, caseworker or landlord.

Landlord payments are only removed where claimants are able to manage their own affairs or where they ask for this and we are satisfied that it’s in their best interests.
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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve health outcomes for agricultural sector workers. \p Sir Stephen Timms: In line with its published Strategy 2022 to 2032, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) focuses on the most effective and efficient ways to improve the health and safety performance of all industries in Great Britain, including farming.

Many of the health risks agricultural workers face are common to other industries such as manual handling and noise and vibration. However, some are very specific to agriculture, such as pesticides or zoonoses (animal diseases which may infect humans).

Between 2018 and 2024, in partnership with the industry, HSE ran a campaign to offer farmers free health and safety training which was then followed up by an inspection to a selection of those farms invited to take the training. HSE will continue to visit farms where they have intelligence to suggest risk is not being managed adequately and investigate incidents in line with their published selection criteria.

As well as appropriate site visits, HSE continues to engage with farming through a variety of other methods including delivering industry talks; webinars and presentations; engaging with the media and publishing targeted articles for farmers; producing industry notifications which include health messaging; and producing awareness raising campaigns. It also produces an extensive range of freely available guidance to enable farmers to comply with health and safety law and keep themselves and others safe.

HSE’s commitment to working with the agricultural industry through stakeholders such as Britain’s Farm Safety Partnerships (FSPs) remains strong.
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Helen Whately:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific internal management information Motability shares with his Department. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Motability Foundation is independent of government and regulated by the Charity Commission so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme.

The Motability Foundation do not routinely share internal Management Information with DWP but will respond to individual requests should the Department request specific Management Information.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to fund the access to work programme for the rest of this parliament. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We are pleased to confirm continued funding for the Access to Work Scheme, which helps disabled people and those with health conditions to stay and remain in the workplace. Funding has been secured to continue the scheme for the entire Spending Review period. Following the close of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation at the end of June, we are considering all responses to the consultation and will set out our plans in due course. We will be reviewing all aspects of the Scheme now that the consultation has closed. We are continuing to work closely with stakeholders, and in particular disabled people and their representatives, on all aspects of our proposals.

In addition to the consultation itself, we also established ‘collaboration committees’ that brought groups, including disabled people and other experts, to inform the design of the support we offer.
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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will consider how people with life-long disabilities caused by receiving sodium valproate in utero will be affected by welfare reforms when planning those reforms. \p Sir Stephen Timms: In our Pathways to Work Green Paper, we set out plans to remove the WCA and move to using the PIP assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions in England and Wales. To ensure that PIP and the PIP assessment are fair and fit for the future, we have launched the Timms Review.

The Review will look at PIP, the assessment criteria, and the wider role the assessment could play in providing access to the right support at the right level. To ensure lived experience is at the heart of its work, the Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts.

It will be for the Review’s leadership group – building from the Terms of Reference – to set its strategic direction, priorities and workplan. It will also oversee a programme of participation and engagement that brings together the full range of views and voices.

PIP assessments and Work Capability Assessments are not medical consultations and do not require Healthcare Professionals (HP) to diagnose conditions or recommend treatment. Instead, they are functional assessments designed to evaluate how an individual’s health conditions or impairments - including those caused by receiving sodium valproate in utero - affect their ability to carry out daily living activities and/or their capability for work

HPs conducting assessments are trained specialists in disability analysis. Their focus is on understanding the functional impact of a claimant’s condition, rather than its clinical diagnosis. All HPs receive specific training on assessing the effects of physical and mental health conditions.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason his Department is prioritising Work Capability Assessments for new benefit claimants over reassessments. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department prioritises Work Capability Assessments (WCA) for new benefit claims (and for individuals already receiving UC who join the UC health journey) in order to assess these individuals’ capability for work at the earliest opportunity. This is so they get the right benefit entitlement and the right labour market support as soon as possible.

During the second half of 2024, DWP experienced a much higher level of demand for new WCAs than envisaged. As a result, 35,000 reassessments built up from individuals reporting a change in their condition before May 2025. We have worked with suppliers to rapidly increase capacity for clearing this backlog, including by accelerating the recruitment of assessors. 6,000 of these referrals have already been progressed, and we expect most of the remainder to be cleared over the next six months.
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Mary Glindon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the minimum British Sign Language level required is for communication support workers in his Department. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The minimum BSL sign levels required for DWP communication support workers are:

RSLI (Registered Sign Language Interpreter) has Level 6 BSL and an Interpreting qualification (NVQ or Degree).

TSLI (Trainee Registered Sign Language) has level 6 BSL and is enrolled and working through Interpreting qualification (NVQ or degree).

All interpreters are registered with NRCPD (National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deaf/blind People).
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish all changes to guidance for civil servants issuing Access to Work grants issued since 2020. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Minor changes to guidance have been made to increase readability and operational understanding for civil servants issuing Access to Work grants. More significantly, existing guidance has been applied more consistently. No changes have been made to Access to Work policy, and we will announce any changes prior to them being implemented.
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Kirsteen Sullivan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of fatalities that occurred in the workplace and were investigated by the Health and Safety Executive involved inadequate provision of personal protective equipment in the (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024 reporting year. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government intends to review the effectiveness of the special rules for end of life. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The primary way the Department supports people nearing the end of life is through special benefit rules which are known as the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment or serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. The system is kept under review to ensure it is meeting its objectives.

The latest figures show new claims to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in Great Britain) under the Special Rules are being cleared in 3 working days on average. The Government is committed to ensuring that the fast-tracked access to benefits via SREL is maintained, while keeping under review how we can continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of the current system.
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Kirsteen Sullivan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many injuries occurred in the workplace in the (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024 reporting year. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) puts duties on employers and other people in charge of work premises to report and keep records of all work-related fatalities, work related injuries, diagnosed cases of reportable occupational diseases, and certain 'dangerous occurrences' (incidents with the potential to cause harm).

The purpose of RIDDOR is to inform the relevant enforcing authority (Health and Safety Executive (HSE), local authorities or other enforcing authorities) that a work-related accident or event has happened to enable an appropriate regulatory response where required.

Not all injuries that occur in the workplace are ‘work-related’ and not all work-related injuries are reportable under RIDDOR. Only certain specified work-related injuries, injuries to member of the public where they are taken to hospital for treatment and injuries resulting in employees being absent from work for over 7 days are reportable. Therefore, RIDDOR only provides a partial picture of injuries occurring in the workplace.

The following data is the number of RIDDOR reports relating to specified injuries to employees, work-related injuries to members of the public and over-7-day absences for HSE only i.e. it does not include injury reports notified to local authorities, the Office of Rail and Road or the Office of Nuclear Regulation who also regulate under RIDDOR.

2022/23 – 59,774

2023/24 – 61,708

[Figures for 2024/25 have not been finalised yet.]
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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Access to Work grants for deaf and hard of hearing people are renewed without interruption; what steps he is taking to ensure that staff administering Access to Work grants provide reasonable adjustments when communicating with deaf and hard of hearing people; and whether he plans to maintain the current level of funding allocation in real terms for Access to Work grants in (i) 2026/27 and (ii) 2027/28. \p Sir Stephen Timms: To ensure Access to Work grants are renewed without interruption for our deaf and hard of hearing customers several measures have already been put in place, including streamlining our delivery processes and recruiting additional staff. We have also taken steps to modernise the Access to Work customer journey, with all core parts of the Scheme fully digital from April 2024.

There is a variety of contact methods which customers can utilise. These include telephone, textphone, Video Relay Service and email as a reasonable adjustment. Where a customer would like to use email to contact the department as a reasonable adjustment, they should let the Access to Work team know so the Case Manager can follow the appropriate procedure to ensure we can try to accommodate the request. Details can be found at Access to Work: factsheet for customers - GOV.UK

Funding has been secured to continue the Access to Work scheme throughout the Spending Review period.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take through the benefit system to incentivise young people to work additional hours in Lancashire. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Extended periods of unemployment at a young age can have long-lasting consequences, including limiting of future employment prospects and reduced lifetime earnings. Early intervention is therefore critical. That is why our plan to Get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. Eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers were launched earlier this year, and the insights gained will inform the future design and delivery of the Youth Guarantee.

Universal Credit is designed to make work pay by gradually reducing support at a steady rate allowing all Universal Credit customers to keep more of what they earn, therefore strengthening incentives to move into work and progress in work.

To support this, we apply a single taper rate of 55% to net earnings. This means that for every £1 earned, customers keep 45p, helping them see a clear financial benefit from working.

In addition, some young customers may qualify for a work allowance – the amount they can earn before the taper is applied. This is available to those responsible for children or who have limited capability for work.

Eligible young people who need childcare support can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs up to the maximum amount each month. The Universal Credit childcare support is available to all eligible lone parents and couples, regardless of the number of hours they work.
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Max Wilkinson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of the pensions triple lock for each of the next ten year. \p Torsten Bell: Expenditure on State Pension, which includes triple lock, for the years up to and including 2029/30 is available in the Benefit Expenditure and Caseload tables.

Beyond 2029/30, the Office for Budget Responsibility project State Pension expenditure as part of their Fiscal risks and sustainability report. This assumes long-term annual growth rates of 4.4% for ‘Triple Lock’, and 3.8% for Average Earnings.

Source: OBR September 2024 Fiscal risks and sustainability – charts and tables: supplementary tables, Table 1.1
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Lewis Cocking:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of net zero policies on Scotland's oil and gas sector. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Scotland Office 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.
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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of net zero policies on Scotland's oil and gas sector. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Scotland Office 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.
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Patricia Ferguson:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the the potential impact of the contract to supply Norway with Type 26 frigates on Scotland's economy. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Scotland Office 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.
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John Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of visits abroad by Scottish Government Ministers on UK trade policy. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Scotland Office 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.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will hold discussions with Scottish football authorities on the display of banners supporting deceased supporters of terrorism at football grounds. \p Kirsty McNeill: Everyone has the right to support their football club but they must do so in line with the law. Investigations into potential offences are a matter for Police Scotland.

All clubs across Scotland have a responsibility to ensure that football is, as it should be, a force for good.
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Euan Stainbank:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support economic growth in Scotland. \p Kirsty McNeill: Our Plan for Change is creating jobs, driving growth and delivering for Scotland.

Our recent trade mission to India, resulted in a raft of major new deals leading to more than 100 brand new jobs in Scotland.

This comes on the back of Norway’s decision to select Glasgow-built warships bringing billions of pounds into the Scottish economy securing thousands of jobs.

The Clean Energy Jobs Plan to train up the next generation of clean energy workers will recruit over 40,000 workers into clean energy jobs in Scotland by 2030.

And of course our focus as a Labour government is ensuring that people don’t only have access to work, but that work pays - and that’s why we have ensured a pay rise for 200,000 of the lowest paid Scots.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year. \p Kirsty McNeill: All staff that join the Scotland Office, do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other Government bodies, principally the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government, who remain the employers. As such, the Scotland Office actively participates with the employers in any recruitment and internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce.

In the past year, the Scotland Office has participated in the Civil Service Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme.
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Ruth Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Naturewatch Foundation's report entitled Policing Wildlife Crime: Make Wildlife Count, published om 9 September 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of wildlife crimes being recorded under other miscellaneous crimes rather than according to its own dedicated recording standard on the (i) quality and (b) reliability of crime statistics. \p Sarah Jones: To improve transparency around wildlife crime and to better identify these offences in national crime statistics the Home Office has already established a standalone classification which appears in the official statistics on crime published by the Office for National Statistics. These offences were previously hidden within the broader category of Miscellaneous Crimes against Society.

There are no plans currently to make all wildlife crimes notifiable and include in the official crime statistics. Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.

This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit to help tackle these crimes.

The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity. The NWCU uses this information to produce strategic and tactical assessments of wildlife crime across the UK.
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Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help the Metropolitan Police restore public confidence among women and ethnic minorities. \p Sarah Jones: This Government is clear that discriminatory attitudes and behaviours have no place in policing. All Londoners, including women and ethnic minorities, deserve to have trust and confidence in their police force. As part of our mission to take back our streets, we have committed to restoring neighbourhood policing and halving violence against women girls and knife crime in a decade.

Since the Casey Review’s publication in March 2023, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has set out his ‘New Met for London’ plan to improve confidence in the force. The London Policing Board holds the Commissioner to account for delivery of the plan, and I engage regularly with both the Commissioner and Mayor of London on progress.
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Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to strengthen the national framework for the Metropolitan Police’s vetting processes to (a) identify and (b) exclude applicants with discriminatory attitudes on the basis of characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010. \p Sarah Jones: Police forces are expected to carry out vetting in alignment with the national framework set out in the College of Policing’s statutory Vetting Code of Practice and accompanying Vetting Authorised Professional Practice (APP).

Vetting decision-making is made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account any risks posed by the individual to the public and the police service. The APP is clear that any adverse information uncovered during the vetting and recruitment processes - including evidence of discriminatory behaviour such as racism or homophobia - must be flagged and subject to additional scrutiny.

It also highlights that clearance should be declined where an applicant has a caution or conviction that demonstrated targeting of persons due to their vulnerabilities or protected characteristics.

To help ensure the system is as robust as possible, earlier this year the Government made changes to introduce a statutory duty for officers to hold and maintain vetting clearance, and provided a route to dismiss them should they fail to do so. We are building on this by introducing statutory vetting standards later this year, which forces must adhere to.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested for non-fatal strangulation in the last 12 months. \p Sarah Jones: The Home Office does not hold the data requested.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests in England and Wales, including reason for arrest, as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical series. The data is available here: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK

However the data is collected by wider offence group, for example “Violence against the person”, therefore data on arrests for non-fatal strangulation is not available.
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Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Metropolitan Police leaders on safeguards to protect whistleblowers who report (a) misogyny and (b) racism. \p Sarah Jones: The Home Secretary and I have regular meetings with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and other police leaders on a range of issues including police conduct.

Police officers have a statutory duty to report wrongdoing by their colleagues when they see it, and the College of Policing’s Code of Practice for Ethical Policing puts a duty on Chief Officers to facilitate and protect whistleblowers. The Metropolitan Police Service has a specialist unit to handle any concerns raised by “whistleblowers” with provision to come forward anonymously and to provide additional support to those who are accorded “whistleblower status” over and above their protections in wider employment and whistleblowing law. In addition, the Independent Office for Police Conduct runs a dedicated telephone line for police officers and staff.

Part 2 of the Angiolini Inquiry is also considering a range of cultural issues in policing, including whistleblowing processes, and the Government will consider any recommendations it makes carefully.