Written questions by Asato.

Whether his Department has (a) implemented a domestic abuse policy for staff and (b) trained line managers to effectively respond to staff who are experiencing domestic abuse.

DWP provides comprehensive guidance and information to raise awareness of domestic abuse and its impacts which is available specifically to line managers and employees to help identify and respond appropriately to employees who may be experiencing domestic abuse, including signposting to further support and advice. DWP also runs a national annual programme of activity to raise awareness and share guidance with line managers and employees – promoting the '16 days of action against domestic abuse campaign'.

How many and what proportion of Work Coaches have been trained to understand domestic abuse; and who that training is provided by.

All staff new to DWP complete learning on Domestic Abuse as part of their induction. Work Coaches then complete role specific learning which includes further learning on domestic abuse which will build their knowledge to develop the relevant skills to help all customers, by tailoring their support to their individual needs. All learning is delivered by DWP staff. In total 27,714 work coach staff have completed domestic abuse learning over the last five years. Please note that the number of trained staff may include individuals who have since moved roles or left the organisation.

Whether she plans to give emotional support animals the same legal status as guide dogs.

Standards for assistance dogs are currently and historically maintained on the basis of a voluntary regulatory framework. There is no specific legislation for the regulation of assistance dogs and no legislation is planned. There are recognised standards for assistance dogs worldwide set by international bodies by which a number of UK charities and organisations are accredited. Assistance dogs are also provided by other charities and private sector organisations, including owner trainers, which are not accredited by international bodies. Assistance dogs might be regarded as such, if they serve to mitigate disabilities and have sufficient training to warrant public access. The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This definition is central to the Act, which aims to protect people from discrimination based on disability. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has produced guidance for businesses and service providers on assistance dogs. This guidance states that, “dependent on the specific facts and circumstances in each case, it may be a reasonable adjustment to give access to a disabled person’s Emotional Support Animal. Service providers should develop a policy that is inclusive and allows for consideration of individual circumstances”.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of an application for Universal Credit automatically triggering a claim for Council Tax Support.

Council Tax Support is administered by the Local Authority and is not a DWP benefit, therefore before we have determined entitlement to Universal credit, it is not appropriate for the department to trigger a claim for Council Tax Support automatically. A significant number of UC claims do not have an entitlement so notifying Councils before entitlement is established would present a number of risks to Councils.

How many care leavers in England claimed Universal Credit between 1 April 2023 and 1 April 2024.

The information requested is not available. DWP stated routinely collecting data on care leavers claiming UC in February 2022. All new claimants are now given the option of reporting their care leaver status, and work coaches can record existing claimants’ care leaver status if they are told about this. This data is being monitored for data quality and does not meet the quality assurance standards for officials statistics: the data coverage is still very limited and the claimants we have data on are not representative of the UC caseload. It is hoped that information will be available for publication in 2027. I have asked officials to explore the potential for answering this question from other data sources.