The Westminster lensArchive · Written questions · 440 tabled · 439 answered

Written questions by Whately.

Every parliamentary written question tabled by Helen Whately this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.

Department:All (440)Department for Work and Pensions (252)Treasury (41)Department for Transport (31)Department of Health and Social Care (31)Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (26)Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (18)Home Office (13)Department for Business and Trade (8)Department for Education (8)Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (6)Cabinet Office (4)Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (1)

Showing 101120 of 440 · this parliament

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11 Dec 2025·Treasury·Answered
Asked

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the salary sacrifice policy announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on individual pension savings.

Reply

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) sets out that there is not expected to be a material impact on labour supply from this measure. The OBR also do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes. The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of income tax and NICs reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.

8 Dec 2025·Treasury·Answered
Asked

How much insurance premium tax was collected from each type of insurance product in the latest year for which data is available.

Reply

HMRC publishes annual statistics on IPT receipts and liabilities within the publication titled “Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) Bulletin” which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/insurance-premium-tax-ipt-bulletin However HMRC does not hold the information requested as to how much insurance premium tax was collected from each type of insurance product. This is because Insurance Premium Tax returns do not include a breakdown of the tax due on different types of products, as this may impose an excessive administrative burden on customers. HMRC does however include the split between the standard rate and higher rate of insurance premium tax as part of our published annual statistics on IPT receipts and liabilities.

8 Dec 2025·Department for Energy Security and Net Zero·Answered
Asked

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of community benefit levels provided by NSIP-scale solar developers (a) relative to the profits generated and (b) in comparison with non-NSIP solar developments.

Reply

We believe that, where communities do the country a service by hosting clean energy infrastructure, they should benefit from it directly. No formal analysis has been carried out to compare the community benefit funds of proposed NSIP projects with those of non-NSIP projects. However, we are aware that the current voluntary provision can be variable and inconsistent. That is why we recently published a working paper proposing to make it mandatory for developers to contribute to community benefit funds. A government response setting out next steps will be published shortly.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) removing the two-child limit of UC child benefit and (b) adding that benefit to the exemptions for the household benefit cap on the (i) cost to the public purse and (ii) number of households exempt from that cap.

Reply

Information related to removing the two child limit policy is published in ‘Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit’ (page 66-67) and is available at EFOs - Office for Budget Responsibility.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

Of the households who flowed off the household benefit cap in the quarter to May 2025, how many had the off-flow outcome due to the (a) household’s benefit income being reduced to under the cap levels, (b) the household being in receipt of an exempting benefit, and (c) household no longer claiming Universal Credit.

Reply

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many households who flowed off the household benefit cap because of an exempting benefit had the off-flow outcome due to receiving (a) Employment Support Allowance support group, (b) Disability Living Allowance, (c) Industrial Injuries and (d) Personal Independence Payment in the quarter to May 2025.

Reply

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What is the average payment per customer for each primary medical condition, as defined in the Access to Work statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Reply

The requested information across all Access to Work provision can be found in tables AVG03a (nominal terms expenditure) and AVG03a-R (real terms expenditure) in the published official statistics. Tables AVG03b through AVG03d-R provide further average expenditure breakdowns by any element, any assessment and non-contracted provision. Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2025 - GOV.UK

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What data his Department holds on the number of people who have newly claimed Universal Credit in each of the last five years by (a) health-related reasons for claiming and (b) the searching-for-work conditionality group.

Reply

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 November 2025 to PQ UIN 92813.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 62284, whether his Department holds further information on the primary medical conditions of the PIP claimants with an active contract for the Motability Scheme whose primary medical condition is stated as (a) missing claim, (b) no illness or impairment claimed or identified and (c) main disability not recorded.

Reply

The information requested cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What analysis his Department has done on the increase in households that off-flowed from the benefits cap as a result of the increase in unemployment over the past 13 months, in the context of the 9-month grace period exemption for newly unemployed.

Reply

No such analysis has been undertaken.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many families in receipt of the child benefit of UC are exempt from the household benefit cap because they (a) receive limited capability for work and work-related activity, (b) are in a grace period and (c) earn £846 or more a month.

Reply

The information requested not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many complex case coaches (a) are currently employed and (b) have been for each month since June 2024.

Reply

There is no specific Work Coach role defined as Complex Case Coach.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many Personal Independence Payment claimants are in a contract with the Motability Scheme to receive a vehicle by primary medical condition.

Reply

The information requested will be published in due course.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many individuals are waiting for their Access to Work application to be processed, and how does this compare to each month since June 2024.

Reply

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 October 2025 to Question UIN 80759. The number of Access to Work applications increased from approximately 5,340 in April 2021 to 42,403 in June 2024. We are committed to reducing waiting times for new applications and have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims. Applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing are prioritised. In March 2025, the Department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, launching a consultation on the future of Access to Work and how the scheme can better support disabled people in employment. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation. 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.

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many people received the following payment per customer under the Access to Work scheme – a) £0 - £9,999 b) £10,000 - £19,999 c) £20,000 – £29,999 d) £30,000 – £39,999 e) £40,000 - £49,999 f) £50,000 - £59,999 g) £60,000 - £69,999 h) above £70,000.

Reply

The table below shows the number of people who received total payment values within each specified band during the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years. The figures refer to individuals who received any Access to Work provision. The figures do not sum to the total due to rounding. Number of Customers in each Payment Band2022/232023/242024/25£0 - £9,99949,38060,24066,300£10,000 - £19,9992,5203,5404,180£20,000 - £29,9991,0201,5001,670£30,000 - £39,999570820870£40,000 - £49,999310470550£50,000 - £59,999240330370£60,000 - £69,999140250210£70,000 +409050Total54,21067,24074,190

3 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

Pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2025 to UIN 77348, how many additional assessors have been recruited; and in what locations.

Reply

While this information is not currently published by the department, we will be sharing this data in a future statistical release.

2 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What estimate the Department has made of the level of change in the number of households exempt from the benefit cap following the Autumn Budget 2025.

Reply

No assessment has been made.

2 Dec 2025·Treasury·Answered
Asked

Wow many employees in the United Kingdom take part in a salary sacrifice scheme in the (a) public and (b) private sectors.

Reply

Salary sacrifice arrangement can cover multiple non-cash benefits, including cars, pensions, bicycles and workplace nurseries. HMRC does not hold administrative data on the number of employers offering and employees using salary sacrifice schemes. However, estimates based on other information are held. Pension contributions HMRC analysis of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) suggests that around 7.7 million employees made salary sacrifice pension contributions in 2024. Cycle to Work scheme HMRC’s non-structural tax relief statistics publication sets out the estimated number of participants in the cycle to work scheme (link below).Non-structural tax reliefs - GOV.UKIt is assumed that most would use the scheme via salary sacrifice given the tax savings.

2 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2025 on the number of NEET young people.

Reply

The Budget made more than £1.5bn available over the next three years for investment inemployment and skills support. This funds £820m for the Youth Guarantee and provides£725m for the Growth and Skills Levy, ensuring young people have the support they need toearn or learn. The Youth Guarantee will include the Jobs Guarantee, which is guaranteeing six-months of paid work for every eligible 18-21 year old who has been on Universal Credit andlooking for work for 18 months. Under the Jobs Guarantee we will fund 100% of the wages forthe six months (up to 25hrs/week at the relevant minimum wage), as well as the additionalemployment costs.An independent investigation has also been launched to identify how we can go further totackle the root causes of youth activity. Led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the probewill examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or educationbefore their careers have begun, with a particular focus on the impact of mental healthconditions and disability.

2 Dec 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

Will he provide projections for the number of face-to-face assessments on a national basis for each month of 2026.

Reply

As set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we plan to increase the number of face-to-face health assessments while maintaining our commitment to providing alternative assessment channels where necessary.

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