theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_8
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_8

Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the capacity of Jobcentre Plus to support claimants in South East Cornwall constituency. \p Alison McGovern: The Government has set a long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate, building on our plan for growth. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out the fundamental reforms needed to realise our ambitions, including the vision to reform Jobcentres - to a new Jobs and Careers Service to meet the needs of local labour markets, people and employers.

Across Great Britain, the new service will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. Central to the new service will be our use of technology, enabling us to reinvest time in supporting people more effectively.

We are starting a test and learn approach to develop the new service. We are currently running two large-scale tests testing reducing the frequency of engagement with customers and the mode of mandatory engagement for Universal Credit claimants that are looking for work or are in lower paid jobs. These will help us to better understand what will work best for the individual.

Residents of Southeast Cornwall are served by Liskeard, Launceston and Devonport Job Centres who are responsible for ensuring residents of Southeast Cornwall can access the Jobcentre offer and a wide range of programmes with partner organisations.

This includes the Work Well Pilot, delivering a range of tailored work and health support, the YEP! Programme (SPF), the People Hub working with people who are unemployed or under employed with a range of training and pre-employability help and the Restart Programme.

Area specific needs are met by a range of Jobcentre and partner bespoke offers, which includes Disability Employer Advisor outreach in GP surgeries, working with refugees in Torpoint and Saltash, and the IPS programme delivering support to those with addiction and Mental Health issues.

Recent Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) have assisted residents of Southeast Cornwall into security, retail and care work.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Mr Paul Foster:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in South Ribble constituency are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP); how those payments are broken down between the (a) daily living and (b) mobility component; and how many of those people did not score a four or above on the assessment criteria. \p Sir Stephen Timms: 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.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Alicia Kearns:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to create an exemption from proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments for people who have been medically retired from the emergency services. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. The impact in each case will depend on an individual’s circumstances. For those already claiming PIP, the changes will only apply from November 2026 at their next award review, subject to parliamentary approval. People will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstance.

We are also mindful of the impact this could have on people. That is why, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working (published on 18 March), we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Sally Jameson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of financial support provided to parents trying to enter back into the workforce that are currently in (a) education and (b) training. \p Alison McGovern: An assessment has not been made on these parameters, however in DWP’s Get Britain Working White Paper, published November 2024, we set out our aspirations backed by a £55million investment for 2025/26, to transform Jobcentre Plus. This transformation will create a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and to help people to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.

The Get Britain Working White Paper also committed DWP to supporting and providing all areas in England with resource to produce a local Get Britain Working Plans. We are asking local areas to develop detailed plans that address the challenges related to labour force participation (employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity) and progression in work. Local Get Britain Working plans will enable all areas to take the lead in shaping a coherent offer of support for their local citizens, including the offer of support for parents, across work, health, and skills.

Parents claiming Universal Credit have existing support from Work Coaches, who provide individual, tailored help to all customers across the country, this includes supporting the development of skills needed to look for and obtain sustained employment, advice to parents on childcare support and funding through Flexible Support Fund to remove immediate barriers to employment.

We are also considering how we can improve our support to help parents into work as part of our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty. This is an urgent priority for this Government, and we will bring forward the Child Poverty Strategy as soon as we are able.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that veterans with fluctuating (a) physical and (b) mental health conditions will not be disproportionately disadvantaged by proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment eligibility criteria. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. The impact in each case will depend on an individual’s circumstances. For those already claiming PIP, the changes will only apply from November 2026 at their next award review, subject to parliamentary approval. People will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstance.

Veterans are able to access the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS), which provides compensation for injury or illness caused or made worse by Service on or after 6 April 2005. For serious injuries and illness, the AFCS provides a tax-free index-linked income stream known as the Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP). The Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP) is an additional allowance which provides financial support for eligible service personnel and veterans who have an AFCS GIP. It is an alternative to PIP (and other disability benefits), based on separate eligibility criteria, but paid at the same rate as the combined enhanced daily living and mobility components. The eligibility criteria for AFIP is not due to change.

I have also asked my officials to work with their counterparts in the OVA to set up a dedicated Green Paper consultation event for armed forces stakeholders (likely to be held in May) and to give a detailed briefing on the proposals to MoD and OVA officials. And once we have completed the consultation we will be building up to a White Paper, where we will once again engage with the OVA and MoD in advance of collective agreement.

We are also mindful of the impact the change to PIP eligibility could have on people. That is why, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working (published on 18 March), we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Bob Blackman:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's proposed reforms to health and disability benefits on people who are (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Chris Coghlan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of implementing face-to-face Personal Independence Payment assessments. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Since July 2024, there has been no change in policy regarding assessing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims remotely. We remain committed to enabling a multi-channel assessment approach, but as announced in Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, we will be carrying out more face-to-face assessments.

As part of the Functional Assessment Service (FAS) process, the feasibility of a paper-based assessment will always be considered in the first instance, for all cases. Where a paper-based review is not possible the claimant will be invited to an assessment.

Before an invitation to an assessment is sent, consideration will be given to claimants who need a specific assessment channel due to their health condition or circumstances. Other claimants who can undertake any assessment type will be allocated to the next available appointment; however, this can be changed if the claimant informs us that a reasonable adjustment is appropriate in their circumstances.

The department audits FAS suppliers to ensure that the correct PIP assessment channel type has been selected for the claimant. This provides assurance that claimants are routed to the most appropriate assessment type.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of poverty among people in receipt of social security; and if she will introduce a statutory poverty reduction target. \p Alison McGovern: Statistics on the number of people living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at  Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK. Tables giving the percentage of individuals in relative poverty by state support received by the family are published in “table 5.9db” of “workingage-hbai-detalied-breakdown-2023-24-tables”, “table 6.6db” of “pensioners-hbai-detailed-breakdown-2023-24-tables”, and “table 4.6db” of “children-hbai-detailed-breakdown-2023-24-tables”. The latest statistics published on 27 March 2025 are for the financial period 2023/24.

The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to use it can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/User-Guide.html.

The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

Our metrics must also reflect the experience of poverty in households across the UK and the urgent need to focus on those children experiencing the most severe and acute forms of poverty. The Taskforce will consider how best to measure this as the strategy develops, including through our work on the material deprivation measure following the recent review of the material deprivation survey questions carried out by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to freeze Local Housing Allowance on other areas of public expenditure. \p Sir Stephen Timms: 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. We do however work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness are considered.

This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, the fact that rates were increased in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years.

We continue to work across Government on the development of the Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategy. Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context.

For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.

On other areas of public expenditure, we have announced the government will invest £2bn in social and affordable housing in 2026-27, to deliver up to 18,000 new homes. This will immediately allow housing associations and local councils to bring bids forward for new affordable housing developments in every part of the country.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2024 to Question 3854 on Pension Credit: Armed Forces, if her Department will review the treatment of Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments in means-tested benefits. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit.

The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support. Armed Forces Independence Payments are fully disregarded in these benefits and can also allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount. This contrasts with a benefit like Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard. Furthermore, these are legacy benefits, in the process of being replaced by Universal Credit, in which War Pensions and AFCS are ignored.

By default, the first £10 per week of a War Pension or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to disregard them fully.

There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of classifying income from pensions payments as unearned income for the purposes of Universal Credit assessments on people who are unable to work due to their partner's disability or health condition. \p Sir Stephen Timms: No assessment has been made.

There are no plans to change the way that income from pensions is treated under Universal Credit.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the take up of means-tested benefits in households with children in poverty. \p Alison McGovern: The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy, and we are exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. High childcare costs are a key barrier in preventing individuals into work, we want to ensure that the right financial help is provided to make it easier for low incomes families to choose work, stay in and progress in work.

Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the time horizon, will be set out in the strategy publication.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Helen Whately:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will instruct the Health and Safety Executive to provide information on their planned inspections of battery storage units at Cleve Hill Solar Park before they are switched on. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) received your correspondence dated 19 March 2024 and 28 March 2025 regarding Cleve Hill Solar Park. HSE sent a reply to both pieces of correspondence on 27 March 2024 and 10 April 2025 respectively. I have asked HSE to re-send these replies in case you have not received them.

As HSE has stated in their responses, based on their current understanding of the activities proposed at the Cleve Hill Solar Farm it would be unlikely that they would undertake an inspection prior to the facility becoming operational. Responsibility for the safety of the operations remains with the operator of the facility who should ensure compliance with the relevant regulations. HSE has recently developed web guidance for Grid Scale Battery Energy Storage Systems to assist duty holders with compliance - Grid-scale battery energy storage systems - HSE
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Layla Moran:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish the findings of the review of rodenticide stewardship. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Government Oversight Group for Rodenticide Stewardship will meet in June to address the conclusions from working groups established to make recommendations for strengthening stewardship. Further discussions will take place over the summer, with final recommendations set for publication following discussions with the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU UK) at the end of the year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Helen Whately:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times her Department has used the Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002 to recover assets following criminal prosecutions in each of the last five years. \p Andrew Western: The Department for Work and Pensions uses the Proceeds of Crime Act to apply to the courts to recover assets following criminal prosecutions. In Great Britian in total there have been 174 cases in the last 5 years which resulted in a confiscation order from the courts following conviction. Below is the breakdown of the number of cases by year:

2020/21 - 64

2021/22 - 39

2022/23 - 20

2023/24 - 22

2024/25 - 29

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to Personal Independent Payment eligibility criteria on veterans with (a) fluctuating and (b) continuous service-related (i) mental and (ii) physical health conditions. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department does not centrally record the veteran status of PIP claimants.

In our recent Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on the 18 March 2025, we announced a broad package of reforms to the health and disability benefit and support system. No changes are proposed to Armed Forces Independence Payments which provide support to some of the most severely disabled veterans.

For those who receive PIP and are affected by the eligibility changes, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.

As we develop proposals further, we will consider the impacts of changes as part of our wider consideration of responses to the Green Paper consultation. We would encourage organisations supporting and representing veterans, such as the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, and many others, to respond to the consultation setting out their thoughts and views on how wounded, injured and sick veterans can best be supported.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the take-up of means-tested benefits in households with children in poverty. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department provides extensive information on Universal Credit including on GOV.UK that supports customers to identify what support may be available. Additionally, we signpost potential customers to external benefit calculators where they can identify what they are likely to be eligible for. We also work closely with Citizens Advice who provide Help to Claim support by phone and on-line for customers to apply for Universal Credit.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government. The Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy looking at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the Work Capability Assessment decisions made between January 2022 and November 2024, broken down by mental and behavioural disorders. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Statistics on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessment decisions by grouped medical condition, including ‘mental and behavioural disorders’, are published on Stat-Xplore in the sections ‘ESA Work Capability Assessments’.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

Statistics on Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment decisions by grouped medical condition, including ‘mental and behavioural disorders’, are available at Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment statistics, April 2019 to December 2024 - GOV.UK in section 6 of the document and table 7 of the tables.

Information on lower level conditions is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish a breakdown of work capability assessment decisions in each month between January 2022 and November 2024. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Statistics on Work Capability Assessment decisions by month of decision are published on Stat-Xplore in the sections ‘ESA Work Capability Assessments’ and ‘Universal Credit Work Capability Assessments’.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Amanda Hack:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) prolonged waiting times and (b) lack of clarity regarding the application process on people with disabilities who are attempting to make use of the Access to Work scheme. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Access to Work has a significant backlog of applications, with 62,000 outstanding applications in February 2025. This has resulted in significant delays and we are considering changes within the existing policy framework to reduce this.

To support customers with the application process, we have streamlined our delivery process and made all core parts of the Scheme, such as applying and requesting payment, fully digital. We recognise that significant delays can have adverse effects on customers, our Case Managers receive training in how to identify and support vulnerable customers during their application process and can provide advanced support to those whose wellbeing is affected during the application process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Chris Coghlan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to reduce waiting times for Access to Work applications. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Demand for the Access to Work Scheme has been growing. In 2023-2024, 67,720 people were approved for Access to Work provision. This is around a 32% increase compared to the previous year. Alongside this, there is a significant delay in processing Access to Work applications. As of February 2025, there were 62,000 applications outstanding.

We are committed to reducing waiting times for Access to Work. We have streamlined delivery practices and have increased the number of staff processing claims. We will also consider further changes within the existing policy framework to reduce waiting times.

In March 2025, the department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, which consults on the future of Access to Work. The backlog, coupled with significant increases in expenditure in recent years requires us to consider how resources should be best directed to ensure the service is sustainable.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the qualification requirements are for Personal Independence Payment assessors. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has set clear requirements on the professions, skills, experience, and training of health professionals (HPs) that assessment suppliers use to carry out assessments. The Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide (PIPAG) states all HPs recruited for the delivery of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments (or any parts of these) must meet the following requirements:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Kim Leadbeater:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that people who are unable to work due to (a) long-term illness, (b) disability, and (c) other circumstances are adequately supported following her planned reforms to the welfare system. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out plans to reform the health and disability and employment support system. Our reforms will ensure we can always protect people who will never be able to work – now and into the future. But, for those that can, we know that good work brings hope, dignity and self-respect and can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty.

We are taking steps to support those who will never be able to work and to make sure they receive the support that they need. The changes to PIP eligibility will not affect those who are unable to complete activities at all or who require more help from others to complete them, who will continue to receive financial support. For new claimants on the Universal Credit health element after April 2026, we are proposing that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected. We will also aim to guarantee that for both new and existing claims, those in this group will not need to be reassessed in the future.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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David Chadwick:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she will consider proposals to support parents of chronically ill children from day 1 of that child's diagnosis. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Government understands the difficulties and distress that children with serious health conditions or critical illnesses face. Children and their families who are living with a medical condition will be facing a difficult time in their lives which is why the department provides a wide range of financial support for both individuals and their carers.

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is open to new claims for children aged under 16 if a child’s condition or illness is both of a long-term nature and gives rise to care or mobility needs.

The earliest that entitlement to DLA can start is when a three-month qualifying period condition has been met. This qualifying period helps establish that the disability and resulting care, supervision or mobility needs are of a long-standing nature and ensures that disability benefits are targeted to support those with long-term health conditions or disabilities. The qualifying period starts from the point that care, or mobility needs commence rather than the date the condition is diagnosed.

Children claiming DLA under the special rules for end of life do not have to satisfy the three-month qualifying period. In these cases, the claim is fast tracked, and the higher-rate care component is awarded from the date of claim.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ian Byrne:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to widen the scope of the consultation for the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out our plans and proposals for reform to health and disability benefits and employment support. This includes some urgently needed reforms to PIP eligibility and UC rates that are not subject to consultation but on which Parliament will fully debate and vote. We included these changes in the Green Paper to allow readers to see the proposals in wider context and so they can provide more informed views.

The Green Paper does consult on many key elements of the reform package, including employment support and access to work, which are at the centre of our plans to improve the system for disabled people. We hope that a wide range of voices will respond to the consultation, and we are holding a programme of public consultation events across the country to help facilitate input.

We are also developing other ways to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders and disabled people in our reforms. In addition to the consultation itself, we will establish ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups of people together for specific work areas and our wider review of the PIP assessment will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) coastal and (b) rural areas are not disproportionately impacted by housing insecurity as a result of welfare policy changes. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Government is providing £1 billion, including Barnett impact, to extend the Household Support Fund in England and Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) in England and Wales in 2025-2026. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or UC who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and DHP funding includes over £1m ring-fenced for the most rural LAs in England and Wales.

Alongside delivering on our Get Britain Working White Paper to support people into good jobs and make everyone better off, we’re increasing the Living Wage, uprating benefits and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit (UC) deductions to help low-income households.

Our reforms will ensure we can always protect people who need it. But, for those that can, we know that work is the best route out of poverty. Many sick and disabled people want to work and have been denied the opportunity. They deserve the same chances and choices to work as everyone else, and our £1 billion employment support package will start to provide that across the country, including in coastal and rural areas.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_34

Rachel Gilmour:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who is (a) responsible for the installation of fencing to keep cattle safely grazing and (b) liable if the fence breaks and a member of the public is injured by cattle. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, this includes workplace health and safety risks created in agriculture.

The main piece of health and safety legislation enforced by HSE is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA). Under the HSWA, those creating work-related risk have the primary duty to control it. Therefore, farmers who own or manage cattle as part of their business activities and place those cattle in fields, have a duty to ensure that the cattle are kept inside the designated field or fields by provision of suitable means such as perimeter fencing, walls or hedges.

In addition, where public rights of way run through fields in which cattle may be kept, farmers should consider and implement those control measures that are reasonably practicable for the particular farm or field as set out in HSE guidance sheet Cattle and public access in England and Wales. This may include provision of permanent or temporary fencing as a means to segregate cattle from members of the public using rights of way through the field. Again, the primary duty is on the farmer that owns or manages cattle to control risk to people to the extent required by health and safety legislation.

If other parties also have a role in the ownership or management of the land on which cattle are grazed, they may also have duties under health and safety legislation to co-operate with the farmer so that risks are adequately controlled.

Depending on the reasons behind any failure of perimeter fencing or in-field fencing along public rights of way, initial enquiries to determine any criminal liability would begin with those dutyholders who have responsibility for maintaining the perimeter fencing / in-field fencing.
wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_35
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_35

Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce poverty for people on the lowest incomes. \p Alison McGovern: We are committed to tackling poverty and supporting people into good work will be the foundation of our approach. Our plan to Make Work Pay will tackle poor working conditions, poor job security and low pay.

To take crucial steps towards the creation of a genuine living wage that supports families the Government increased the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates on 1 April 2025, delivering a pay rise to over three million workers.

Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by £240 million investment, will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

Alongside this, we are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in April, giving 1.2 million of the poorest households an average of £420 per year. Furthermore, in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we announced that we will improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced.

To further support struggling households, funding of £742 million has been provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_36

Bob Blackman:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming the standard level of the Personal Independence Payment who did not score four points in any of the 10 descriptors are (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent. \p Sir Stephen Timms: In January 2025 (latest available data), there were 8,200 claimants of Personal Independence Payment in England and Wales receiving the Standard Daily Living component who did not score at least four points in any of the 10 descriptors and had autism as their primary condition. There were 21,600 such claimants whose primary condition was a neurodivergent condition, including the 8,200 with autism.

We have defined Neurodivergent claimants as those with the following primary conditions:

- Autism

- Dyslexia

- Dyspraxia

- ADHD / ADD

- Tourette’s Syndrome

There may be other claimants with neurodivergent conditions as a primary or secondary condition, but these are not identifiable from the readily available data. Behavioural responses on the part of claimants and assessors to the reforms planned to take effect from November 2026 will affect the outcomes of award reviews undertaken after that date.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_37

Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of employment programmes on rates of poverty resulting from changes to Personal Independence Payment. \p Alison McGovern: A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_38
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_38

Bob Blackman:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent people will no longer be eligible to Personal Independence Payment following the proposed reforms. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The number will not be known until those affected have gone through their first award review after the reforms take effect, starting in November 2026.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_39
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_39

David Simmonds:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the cap on the amount councils can claim to meet temporary accommodation costs on local authority finances. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We continue to keep the rates used for Housing Benefit subsidy under review and are working closely with MHCLG and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to explore the impacts of subsidy rates on local authorities.

Any future decisions on subsidy rates will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the current challenging financial environment at the appropriate fiscal event.

We recognise the financial pressures which local authorities are experiencing. MHCLG is increasing funding for homelessness services this year by an extra £233 million compared to last year (2024/25).
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_40

Mel Stride:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the planned rollout of the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment has been delayed from 2026, and what the full new planned timetable is for rollout of this reform to (a) new and (b) current claims. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Our Green Paper outlines why we think removing the WCA and moving to using the PIP assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, is the correct decision for the reformed disability benefits system. Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment will take time, and we need to act now to reset the system. We are making changes to PIP eligibility to ensure it focuses more on those with higher needs, making support more targeted to protect this safety net for future generations. We are also lowering the rate of UC health for new claims from April 2026 to £50 and then freezing the rate until 2029/30 – alongside increasing the standard allowance – to reduce the incentive to define yourself as unfit to work, while still providing a higher rate of benefit for disabled people and those with health conditions with extra costs.

Following the Green Paper consultation, we will bring forwards a White Paper in Autumn 2025 to set out our full proposals. This will be followed by further primary legislation, which we expect to take forward in the second session, subject to parliamentary approval. Therefore, the indicative date this will take place will be in 2028/29.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-28 conversation_41

Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help protect people with (a) multiple mental and physical health disabilities and (b) chronic health conditions from financial hardship. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The social security system will always be there for those who can’t work. As part of making changes to the rates in Universal Credit, we will ensure that the incomes of those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work have their incomes protected. We will also guarantee that for both new and existing claims, those in this group will not need to be reassessed in future.

We are also taking action to get the basics right and improve the experience for people who use the system of health and disability benefits as set out in the Green Paper. This includes exploring ways to improve PIP assessments through digitalising transfer of medical information, using evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for people with very severe health conditions to undergo functional assessments and improving communication with people receiving awards who are expected to remain on disability benefits for life.