theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to adopt a new target that would triple UK international climate finance to 2035 in line with the global goal agreed at COP28. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK remains committed to providing International Climate Finance (ICF) now and in the future, and to playing our part alongside other developed countries and climate finance providers to deliver our international obligations. Climate and nature are top priorities for the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, alongside humanitarian and health. Meeting the £11.6 billion ICF commitment by March 2026 remains the Government's ambition. Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used are being worked through as part of the ongoing Departmental resource allocation processes. The Government will set out spending plans following the completion of these resource allocation processes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed changes to funding of Official Development Assistance from the 2027-28 financial year on (a) gender equality and (b) inclusion. \p Stephen Doughty: Detailed decisions on the Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. Equality impact assessments - which consider impacts on those with protected characteristics, including gender - are an essential part of this process. The FCDO will share the conclusions of the Equality Impact Assessment of the 2025/26 ODA allocations alongside the final allocations which will be published in the FCDO Annual Report and Accounts this summer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Chinese counterpart on restrictions faced by (a) Christians and (b) underground churches in China. \p Catherine West: The environment for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in China is restrictive, which includes the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. Chinese regulations on religious activity severely restrict religious and cultural expression in China. This Government stands firm on human rights, including the right to FoRB. We raise our concerns at the highest levels: the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor and Energy Secretary all raised human rights recently with their Chinese counterparts.

More broadly, this Government champions FoRB for all abroad. We work to uphold the right to FoRB through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora, and through bilateral engagement.

The recent launch of our FoRB strategy on July 8 outlines our approach to promoting and protecting the right to FoRB globally, of which China is one of ten focus countries. We continue to do all we can to encourage FoRB across China.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Stephen Gethins:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) EU, (b) Canadian and (c) US counterparts on the release of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. \p Stephen Doughty: Russia must pay for the damage it has caused and is causing Ukraine. This is a matter that must be considered collectively, and we are working urgently with our partners across the G7 and European Union to consider all lawful avenues to make Russia pay. It would not be appropriate to give a running commentary; it's important that we preserve the ability to have candid conversations with our international partners.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Priti Patel:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking a public consultation with the Chagossian community prior to the (a) announcement of the agreement with Mauritius over the future sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory and (b) signing of the UK-Mauritius Treaty on 22 May 2025. \p Stephen Doughty: The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia. The UK Government regularly engages Chagossian groups and representatives at both official and Ministerial levels on a range of issues and will continue to do so.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to announce the UK’s financial commitment to the 2025 Global Fund replenishment. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK has long been a strong supporter of the Global Fund and we are proud to be co-hosting the 8th replenishment this year in partnership with South Africa. Except for a few time-sensitive decisions, such as our pledge at the Gavi replenishment conference, we will be working through decisions on future multi-year Official Development Assistance allocations over the coming months, including our Global Fund pledge and announcement timing.

The Global Fund is the primary channel for UK support to fight HIV, TB, and Malaria. It currently invests approximately $5 billion a year to defeat the three diseases and strengthen health systems. In 2023, the Global Fund accounted for 28% of all international financing for HIV, 76% for TB and 62% for malaria.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department holds data on the number of EU airports which (a) offer and (b) are expected to offer e-gate access for UK passport holders by 23 July 2025. \p Stephen Doughty: At the UK-EU Summit on 19 May, we secured confirmation that there will be no legal barriers for British nationals to use eGates after the introduction of the EU's Entry/Exit system (EES). Whether to grant British Citizens eGates access is a matter for Member States.

A number of Member States already offer British Citizens eGates access at certain airports and ports, in a range of circumstances, including Italy, France and Spain. We are working at pace with individual Member States to expand access to eGates for British Citizens where this is currently limited. Recently, Bulgaria has begun offering eGates access in Sofia airport and the UK-Germany Friendship and Bilateral Cooperation Treaty signed on 17 July commits to rolling out eGate access for frequent travellers by the end of August, followed by rollout for all UK nationals as soon as technically possible.

We anticipate more Member States will be able to offer access at further locations over the coming months.
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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to pledge of £1.45 billion to the twentieth-first replenishment of the International Development Association. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK remains committed to the International Development Association (IDA). As the Minister for International Development, Latin America and the Caribbean has said, we will prioritise spending our ODA budget through multilaterals which deliver most impact, like IDA.

Following the decision to reduce our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of resource allocation processes.
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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to encourage other donor countries to make pledges to the Global Fund. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK is co-hosting the Global Fund 8th replenishment with South Africa. The Department, together with officials from South Africa and the Global Fund, will engage with existing and potential new donors in the private and public sector through bilateral engagement and multilateral events to encourage support and pledges for the Global Fund.

The Global fund is the primary channel for UK support to fight HIV, TB, and Malaria. It currently invests approximately $5 billion a year to defeat the three diseases and strengthen health systems. In 2023, the Global Fund accounted for 28% of all international financing for HIV, 76% for TB and 62% for malaria.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Sammy Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic conditions his Department has attached to engaging with the transitional authorities in Sudan on freedom of religion or belief. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: We will continue to recognise the persecution of individuals on the basis of their religion or belief. On 8 July, the Minister for Africa co-hosted the launch of the UK Approach to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) with David Smith MP, UK Special Envoy for FoRB, with the overarching goal to reduce the number of countries in which the right to FoRB is significantly curtailed. The Minister for Africa expressed concern about the situation for religious and ethnic minorities impacted by Sudan's war. David Smith MP also made a statement at the UN Human Rights Council on 4 March, highlighting our unease about the coercion of non-Muslims in Sudan to change their beliefs through denial of work, food aid, and education. The UK's Special Representative for Sudan has visited Port Sudan three times since December 2024 to press the Sudanese Armed Forces to comply with the Jeddah Declaration of Commitments to Protect Civilians from continued atrocities. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials have raised similar issues in communication with representatives from the Rapid Support Forces on different occasions since the start of the conflict. We have used these exchanges to request that their leadership make every effort to protect civilians and cease atrocities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to have discussions with (a) NGOs, (b) parliamentarians, and (c) women and girls before his refresh of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK remains committed to advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda through implementation of the fifth WPS National Action Plan.

This government is committed to engaging widely ahead of refreshing the National Action Plan. We held our first round of consultation with civil society organisations and academics on 11 July to hear their views and expertise. The Minister for Africa, the Minister responsible for WPS, also met with the WPS All Party Parliamentary Group on 3 July where he heard from civil society organisations and parliamentarians on national and international work in this area.

We will continue to engage with women and girls, NGOs and parliamentarians throughout the development of the refreshed plan.
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Mr Angus MacDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help strengthen the UK’s relationship with France. \p Stephen Doughty: The Government is committed to strengthening its close partnership with France, a commitment that was reaffirmed during President Macron's State Visit on 8-10 July and the UK-France Summit with groundbreaking agreements on migration, defence, growth and culture. We are further enhancing foreign policy cooperation to increase pressure on Russia and support Ukraine, support stability in the Middle East, increase coordination in the Western Balkans, Moldova, and the Indo-Pacific, and combine efforts on development and global issues.

I attended the UK-France Summit with the Prime Minister and President of France on 10 July. Please see the joint declaration (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-france-leaders-declaration) for further details.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to publish the refreshed National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK remains firmly committed to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda as reflected in the UK's fifth WPS National Action Plan. The Government intends to build on this ambition through a refreshed National Action Plan, advancing implementation and aligning to emerging priorities.

While we have not yet set a publication date for the refreshed National Action Plan, we have already begun consultations with civil society and academics. This included a first round of consultation on 11 July to hear their expert views.
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Sarah Hall:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his international counterparts on the recognition of a Palestinian state. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: We continue to engage all partners on advancing a two-state solution and supporting the foundations of Palestinian statehood on a regular basis.

The people of the West Bank and Gaza must be given the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future. That is why this Government supports a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. The Government agrees strongly on the importance of recognition, and that is why we will make sure the timing is right. UK bilateral recognition is the single most important action the UK can take regarding Palestinian statehood. We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state at a time that has the most impact in achieving this reality, creates genuine momentum and is most conducive to long-term prospects for peace. The UK commitment to a two-state solution is unwavering.

Palestinian statehood is the right of the Palestinian people. It is not in the gift of any neighbour and is also essential to the long-term security of Israel.
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Paula Barker:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to require companies with Government contracts to recognise trade unions. \p Georgia Gould: This Government is committed to creating jobs that provide security, treat workers fairly, and pay a decent wage. The Government’s Social Value Model provides an opportunity to reward suppliers who provide good working conditions for staff working on public contracts. The Employment Rights Bill also supports workers’ rights to access a Trade Union.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of (a) call-off contracts, (b) contract values and (c) delivery milestones awarded to Palantir Technologies under Crown Commercial Service frameworks since 2020. \p Georgia Gould: Crown Commercial Service (CCS) does not maintain a centralised list of all call-off contracts, values, or delivery milestones awarded to Palantir Technologies.

Details of individual call-off contracts, including contract values and delivery milestones, are publicly available on the Contracts Finder website: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk. Contracts Finder lists information on government contracts worth over £12,000 (including VAT), including those awarded by departments and agencies across the public sector.

It is the responsibility of the contracting authority to upload contract information to Contracts Finder.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 66338 on George Cross Committee, when the decisions of the George Cross Committee are notified to applicants. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: The George Cross Committee assesses all recommendations for civilian gallantry awards. The Committee's recommendations are submitted by the Prime Minister to The King, who awards the honour. If an award is recommended and subsequently approved, those nominated for gallantry awards are asked if they are willing to accept. Unlike the King’s Birthday and New Year Honours Lists, there is no set timeline for notification and publication of gallantry lists.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, ow many cars have been reported as stolen in the last 12 months for which data is available. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 14th July is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 94.6KB)
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July to Question 65165 on Business: Lancashire, if he will provide the same data for the period between 2020 to 2024. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 14th July is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 101.4KB)
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued guidance on considering political neutrality when awarding government contracts. \p Georgia Gould: The Procurement Act 2023 requires contracting authorities to act, and to be seen to act, with integrity, and has introduced new requirements to identify and review any potential conflicts of interest in relation to a procurement.

Contracting Authorities must now prepare a conflict of interest assessment at key points in the procurement, including details of any actual or potential conflicts of interest and any steps they have taken to mitigate them.
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Steff Aquarone:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 66761 on Emergencies: Mobile Phones, what steps she is taking to support communities who have (a) no emergency sirens and (b) had their emergency sirens removed. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: In the UK, we have a number of public warning and informing mechanisms that can be used in different situations when there is a risk to life. This includes the Emergency Alert system, introduced in April 2023, which has been used five times. Emergency Alerts are instantaneous and the Government can send alerts directly to all mobile phones within a geo-targeted area. A second national test of the emergency alerts system will take place on Sunday 7 September around 3pm in the afternoon.

Other warning methods include flood alerts via the Flood Warning Service, Met Office weather warnings and knocking door-to-door when safe.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will update the About us section of the National Security and Intelligence webpage on gov.uk. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The “about us” section of the National Security and Intelligence webpage will be updated shortly.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Agency provides free tampons in (a) female and (b) male toilets. \p Georgia Gould: The Government Property Agency (GPA) provides free tampons in female toilets at Birmingham, 23 Stephenson Street, Nottingham, Apex Court, London, 70 Whitehall and Coventry, Cheylesmore House. Tampons are not provided by the GPA in any male toilets.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 60489 on Universities: Fees and Charges, whether young people from EU member states coming to the UK under the proposed UK-EU youth mobility scheme would pay international student fees. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: We have agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced youth experience scheme with the EU. Any scheme will be time-limited and capped, and we have also been clear that it should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes with countries like Australia and New Zealand. The primary purpose of a youth mobility scheme is cultural exchange and to give young people opportunities to experience life overseas on a temporary basis. We have not agreed to offer home fee status to EU students. Most new EU students who were not lawfully resident in the UK before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 pay international fees.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of businesses which have ceased trading each day since July 2024. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 15th July is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 95.3KB)
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 22 May 2025, to Question 53205, on Intelligence and Security Committee, whether the Prime Minister will meet with the Intelligence and Security Committee before the summer recess. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The Prime Minister met the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) on 14 July. The Prime Minister was pleased to have the opportunity to reset the relationship between the Government and the ISC, and discuss a range of important issues pertaining to national security and the Committee’s remit.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Paula Barker:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of Capita's approach to industrial relations when administrating government contracts. \p Georgia Gould: As with all strategic suppliers to the government, we continue to monitor Capita's conduct and commercial performance. The Supplier Code of Conduct expects suppliers to treat employees and service users fairly and in line with employment laws, including non-discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and human rights. It also requires adherence to ethical standards, counter-fraud policies, and whistleblowing procedures, promoting lawful and appropriate working practices throughout the supply chain. Suppliers are expected to communicate these standards internally and to their subcontractors.

As a strategic supplier to the Government, Capita has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which supports this framework through proactive risk management. It enables the Cabinet Office to monitor performance and financial health, identify breaches, and, where necessary, take action such as developing Improvement Plans to address any workplace conduct and governance issues.
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Chris Law:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to respond to the correspondence of 28 April 2025 from the hon. Member for Dundee Central. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: There are no plans to respond to the letter dated 28 April 2025.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Crisis and Resilience Fund will include funding for furniture. \p Alison McGovern: I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 16 July to PQ 65851.
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Steff Aquarone:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of HMRC confidentiality rules on the ability of the Child Maintenance Service to (a) suspend and (b) revise liability, where possible fraudulent child benefit claims are under investigation by HMRC. \p Andrew Western: To qualify for maintenance payments a child must meet the Child Maintenance Service's criteria. They must be:

They must also be habitually resident in the UK and usually living in the same household as the receiving parent. Child maintenance defines a child the same way as Child Benefit does to offer consistency across rules. Child benefit is not used as a blunt tool in determining who may be considered a receiving parent and the CMS can consider multiple different forms of evidence when determining who is the primary carer.

If a paying parent believes that the Child Maintenance (CM) liability should cease because a qualifying child (QC) no longer meets the statutory definition of a qualifying young person but checks with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) disagree, the CM caseworker can ask the receiving parent to provide;

1. verbal confirmation of the QCs status if they agree that the paying parent’s statement is correct, or

2. where they disagree with the paying parent, a letter from the school or college confirming the QCs status, or

3. written confirmation from an employer that the QC has started work.

Where the paying parent believes that Child Benefit is claimed fraudulently, the paying parent will be signposted to report the fraud to HMRC at Gov.UK.

Child Maintenance Service make automated monthly requests to HMRC asking for all children aged 16 to 19 who are included in its caseload, to establish whether Child Benefit is still in payment.

The CMS has a Financial Investigations Unit (FIU), that can investigate complex cases. This is a specialist team which can investigate the accuracy of information the CMS is given by either parent.
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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase volunteering opportunities for disabled people. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March, highlights the value of volunteering in the transition from inactivity to employment.

The Department’s Strategic Relationship Team (SRT) has worked closely with the Shaping the Future with Volunteering Group to demonstrate the benefits volunteering can bring for Jobcentre Plus customers, in particular those that are furthest away from the labour market.

SRT has developed a toolkit and delivered a campaign to raise the awareness of volunteering opportunities, dispel myths, share good news stories and demonstrate how this may be a stepping stone into employment.

Whilst the focus is not specifically on volunteering for disabled customers volunteering is proven to support people with health conditions, building confidence and helping to improve mental and physical health and wellbeing and is an ideal solution for those further away from the labour market to help remove barriers, build skills and confidence, and therefore acts as an employment enabler without any risk to benefit claims.
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Dame Chi Onwurah:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) availability and (b) portability of (i) digital infrastructure and (ii) IT services at Jobcentre Plus locations, in the context of support for (A) staff and (B) public users in accessing jobs and careers services through (1) self-service technologies, (2) artificial intelligence, (3) employer suites, (4) self-service screens and (5) other portable access points. \p Andrew Western: We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that 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.

Our vision is for a Jobs and Careers service where people can access support through the channels that best meet their needs – digital where possible, human when needed.

We are testing a range of flexible and accessible delivery mechanisms. These include early assessment of user needs, determining the appropriate course of action; Self-service check-in stations; Strategically placed digital screens, displaying local job opportunities; A dedicated customer TechBar, providing digital support; Multifunctional Hubs, supported by conferencing functionality.

We are also testing bringing our core services directly to communities to meet underserved groups using mobile vehicles and pop-ups.

In addition to these wider digital changes are underway that will include the update and rollout of revised customer computer systems.

Furthermore, dedicated funding has been earmarked to support wider proof of concept testing including In-person transcription and summarisation; Real time translation capabilities; Video-based access to providers/suppliers.

The insight gained throughout these tests will help to shape our future service model.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of her Department's procurement contracts were awarded to British companies in the last financial year. \p Andrew Western: The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. Information on government contracts can be found here: DWP Contracts Finder.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Universal Credit Bill on young people under 22 with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Universal Credit Bill makes no change to the eligibility of young people under 22 for the Universal Credit Health element. The proposal to restrict access to the element was the subject of a consultation which closed on 30 June. The responses to the consultation are now being reviewed, and the Government’s conclusion will be announced in a white paper in the autumn.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to (a) increase the rate of and (b) expand eligibility for Carer’s Allowance, in the context of trends in the number of unpaid carers. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Government keeps all aspects of Carer’s Allowance (CA) under review to see if it is meeting its objectives. It is not means-tested but is subject to a weekly earnings limit. This was increased by a record amount in April 2025, which will benefit at least 60,000 unpaid carers between 2025/26 and 2029/30.

Beyond that, to be entitled to CA, a carer must be over the age of 16 and provide 35 hours of care per week to a severally disabled person in receipt of a qualifying benefit. They must not be in ‘gainful employment’ (earning more than the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage), or in full time education (defined as being more than 21 hours per week). There are currently no plans to change the existing eligibility rules for CA.

The level of CA is protected by uprating it each April in line with inflation as measured by the CPI for the previous September. The purpose of benefit uprating is to ensure that the value of benefits stays in line with the general level of prices. From April 2025, the rate of CA was increased to £83.30 per week.

Between 2025/26 and 2029/30 real terms expenditure on CA is forecast to rise by over 6% - around £285 million. By 2029/30, the Government is forecast to spend over £4.7 billion in real terms a year on CA in England and Wales.

CA may be supplemented for those on low incomes through Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These are paid at a higher rate for carers through the Universal Credit carer element of £201.68 per monthly assessment period, paid in addition to the Standard Allowance; or the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £46.40 a week, paid in addition to the Standard Minimum Guarantee.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unpaid carers receive Carer’s Allowance in West Dorset constituency. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The latest figures available - from November 2024 - show that 999 people were receiving a Carer’s Allowance payment in West Dorset Constituency.

These figures can be found on Stat-Xplore.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Sarah Olney:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure that Jobcentre Plus services meet the needs of disabled refugees. \p Alison McGovern: DWP works with partners and services to meet the needs of disabled refugees. This includes working with Migrant Help, the Refugee Employment Network; Home Office refugee liaison officers; referring to alternative provisions including English language provision; and sign posting to the Home Office Refugee Employability Programme.

The Department is committed to promoting a just, equal, and inclusive society, ensuring independence and control for all customers, including disabled individuals and those with complex needs.

DWP provides a range of support to help refugees and those on Afghan and Ukraine Schemes to settle in the community and find work, including access to mainstream Jobcentre services which provide individually tailored benefit and work support.

Jobcentres also work locally with partners and employers to support this group into work. Connect to Work, part of the Government’s Get Britain Working strategy, will provide support to disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment, including refugees and those on resettlement schemes, to get into work.

The Government is dedicated to championing the rights of disabled people and involving them in designing our reforms. All new Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisors receive training to support all claimants, with specialist support available from Disability Employment Advisers to tailor assistance for disabled customers. These advisers also offer direct support to those with long-term health conditions needing bespoke assistance

In addition, the Department will launch a new coaching academy to enhance the skills of Work Coaches and provide further support to customers, including those with disabilities. This initiative will be evaluated and reviewed regularly to ensure training remains relevant and effective.

Additional Work Coach Support provides disabled people and people with health conditions, with increased one-to-one personalised support from their work coach to help them move towards, and into work. Support is now available in all Jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales. This personalised support from Work Coaches aims to enable disabled people to access employment, wider support including our employment programmes earlier.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress her Department has made in ensuring that job centres improve the support available to (a) people looking for work and (b) employers seeking to recruit staff. \p Alison McGovern: As we set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that 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. The new service will be for anyone who wants to look for work, wants help to increase their earnings, or who wants help to change their career or re-train.

We are taking a test and learn approach to develop the new service. In our initial Pathfinder based in Wakefield, we are testing our new Get Britain Working Coaching Academy. This Academy will further train our Jobcentre colleagues to support individuals in achieving their employment aspirations. We are also testing changes to the claimant commitment appointments, to explore how we can focus work coach conversations on more personalised and tailored employment support based on their individual needs and move away from a one size fits all approach.

The new service must also work for employers. Our vision is for a service that all employers want to engage with, as they know it is a place where they can find high-quality, highly motivated future employees.

As part of our commitment to enhance our employer offer, we have set up a dedicated recruitment team to provide recruitment support and single account management. We have boosted the number of Sector-based Work Academy Programme’s from 80k to 100k in 25/26 across a range of priority and high vacancy sectors. For example, we are working with UKHospitality to launch a hospitality SWAPs pilot in 26 areas in need of jobs and opportunity, including 13 coastal towns such as Scarborough and Blackpool. We are committed to working across Government and with industries such as construction, health and social care and clean energy to help address workforce shortages.

We will continue to work with employers as we design the new Jobs and Careers Service to ensure we design a service that can better support employers to meet their recruitment needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Kim Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to include the PCS trade union in the co-production process for the Timms review of the Personal Independence Payment assessment. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Terms of Reference for this review were announced in a Written Ministerial Statement from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on Monday 30 June, and you can find them here – Welfare Reform - Hansard - UK Parliament. They will be updated shortly.

We are committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders, to ensure that a wide range of views and voices are heard. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We are currently planning what engagement will look like and will share more information in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost of Universal Credit payments were in each year between 2022 and 2024. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Expenditure on Universal Credit was:

£40.6billion in the 21/22 financial year

£41.9billion in the 22/23 financial year

£52.1billion in the 23/24 financial year

Figures are taken from DWP's Spring Statement 2025 Benefit Expenditure and Caseload publication table 1a
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's policy that claimants’ (a) appointees and (b) Lasting Power of Attorney appointees cannot submit online claims on those claimants. \p Sir Stephen Timms: In law both appointees and attorneys can make online claims. They act for the claimant and can perform any function ordinarily required of the claimant.

The department is continuing to modernise its services to provide customers and appointees/attorneys with a greater choice over the channels they use to interact with the department. For example, the Health Transformation Programme is transforming the entire Personal Independence Payment service to improve the experience of applying and this includes introducing an optional online service.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Richard Burgon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21325 on Social Security Benefits: Appeals, whether her Department has been able to recover the backlog of mandatory reconsideration cases. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The PIP Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) backlog was on track to be cleared in March 2025. However, intakes have been higher than anticipated, which meant the backlog was not cleared as predicted. We are increasing resources available for PIP MRs by recruiting decision makers.

In April 2025, the median MR clearance time was 61 and 59 calendar days for new claims and DLA reassessments respectively, a reduction of 10 and 12 days respectively in relation to the last quarter.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Tessa Munt:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism for work capability assessors. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Since 09 September 2024, the educational material for all Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) Health Professionals (HPs) has been provided by DWP. In reviewing the material ahead of that date, we considered practice in the NHS, and have now implemented the Oliver McGowan training as part of the mandatory training requirements for every HP.

Following the completion of core training to undertake the role, HPs will engage in an annual training programme, and HAAS has been provided with materials (such as Continual Professional Development modules) to support the development of HPs where learning needs are identified. This approach ensures that both service wide and individual training needs are met and will be of benefit to those with neurodiversity.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will publish a timetable for stakeholder engagement in the Timms Review. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We published the Terms of Reference for the review (the Timms Review) on 30 June 2025, and will be updating them shortly.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, we are committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, experts, clinicians, MPs, and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We will work on how to embed disabled people in the leadership of the group, ensuring that we include those with relevant lived and professional experience. We will also set up arrangements to involve disabled people much more broadly.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-21)

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Laurence Turner:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37879 on Cats: Animal Breeding, what progress he has made in reviewing the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices, published in December 2024. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government is still carefully considering the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices.