Every parliamentary written question tabled by Jas Athwal this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–10 of 10 · Department for Work and Pensions
What assessment their Department has made of trends in the level of discrimination faced by (a) Sikhs and (b) Jews as ethnic groups in the provision of their Department's services.
I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 18 July 2025 to PQ UIN 66615.
Whether Sikhs and Jews are recorded as (a) ethnic or (b) religious groups by the agencies his department is responsible for.
The Department adheres to the current harmonised definitions for ethnicity and religion, which are owned and managed by the Office for National Statistics.
With reference to the consultation, Government Statistical Service Harmonisation: Assessing user needs for additional response options for the new ethnicity harmonisation standard, published on 28 October 2025, whether his Department plans to make a submission.
The Department notes the plan by the Office for National Statistics for an updated harmonised standard, which will be applied to our departmental statistics where applicable in due course.This is an open consultation due to close on 4 February 2026, and the Department provided a response on 28 January 2026.
What steps he is taking to ensure timely chid maintenance payments for single parents.
Children in separated and single-parent families are statistically more likely to experience poverty compared to those in non-separated families. Through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements, Child Maintenance payments currently help keep around 120,000 children out of poverty each year.The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring that parents meet their financial responsibilities in full and on time. Recent system changes enable us to identify at-risk cases earlier, allowing caseworkers to intervene promptly where partial payments are made and before payments stop altogether.Where parents fail to meet their obligations, the CMS will not hesitate to use the full range of enforcement powers available. These powers are applied fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.
How many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
DWP staff are not required to disclose details of any religion, however, the information can be voluntarily provided and based on those responses, DWP as of May 2025 has 1207 employees that have declared as being Sikh (paid staff only). This level of data is recorded as ‘Religious Belief Breakdown’.
What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce levels of poverty among children in Ilford South constituency.
The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and is exploring all available levers across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change. The Devolved Governments and Local Authorities are a key part of our approach to learning directly about the experience of poverty in different communities and solutions already underway. The Strategy will look at 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. The Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, campaigners and leading organisations across the UK to shape and inform the Strategy. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April to boost the pay of three million workers. To further support struggling households, funding of £742 million will be 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.
What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of youth unemployment in (a) Ilford South constituency and (b) London.
The information requested is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp Guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
What steps her Department is taking to (a) improve access to pension information and (b) introduce the Pension Dashboards Scheme.
The Government ensures everyone has access to free impartial pension guidance through the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS). Their MoneyHelper service provides guidance to the public on all areas of UK pensions. In September 2024, MaPS launched a new digital service to give individuals more choice on how to access guidance from Pension Wise, which is part of MoneyHelper. Pensions dashboards will improve access to pensions information by allowing people to view information about their pensions, including the State Pension, securely and in one place online. This will help promote greater engagement with pensions information, empowering people to better prepare for retirement. MaPS oversees the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) which is responsible for designing and implementing the digital architecture that will make pensions dashboards work. The PDP continues to test the connection journeys with around 20 volunteer participants. This activity will help support the connection of pension schemes and providers to the dashboards digital architecture from the end of April 2025, in line with the published timetable. The connection of schemes and providers in line with the dates in guidance will enable MaPS and the PDP to undertake user testing, in turn helping to inform the launch of dashboard services at the earliest possible point. Further information on dashboards delivery progress is set out in the update report, published biannually on the PDP’s website: www.pensionsdashboardsprogramme.org.uk/progress-update-report.
What steps her Department is taking to help improve the (a) affordability and (b) accessibility of parental leave.
Government keeps the rates of benefits, state pension and statutory pay under review. Parental pay is reviewed annually at the discretion of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. From April 2025, subject to parliamentary approval, the rate will increase by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week Parental pay is only one element of the support available for parents. Depending on individual circumstances, additional financial support, for example, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and the Sure Start Maternity Grant (a lump sum payment of £500) may also be available. The Government has committed to conduct a review of the whole parental leave system. This review will focus on ensuring that parental leave offers the best possible support to working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.
What steps she is taking to help ensure that employers support women managing menopause.
The Government has introduced the Employment Rights Bill which [if passed] would require large employers with more than 250 employees to produce Menopause Action Plans on how they will support employees through the menopause. Alongside this we have committed to publishing guidance, including for small employers, on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause-related leave and absence. The Secretary of State has also appointed Mariella Frostrup as the Government’s independent Menopause Employment Ambassador. The Menopause Employment Ambassador will work closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing menopause.