Written questions by Hayes.

What recent steps his Department has taken to support jobseekers in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Spalding JCP have arrangements in place with Boston College to come into their site on a fortnightly basis to provide Information, Advice & Guidance & links for customers to their Adult Skills Courses. Lincolnshire Voluntary Services are also monthly visitors to Spalding JCP who come in to relay their current local volunteering offers to a wide range of customers, particularly those with health conditions, from which they can gain work experience & increase their confidence in progression towards the labour market. Spalding JCP have also commissioned delivery of digital support to their 50+ customers aimed at increasing their confidence in using digital platforms for work search & training & also obtaining best value products to assist with cost of living rises. The latest cohort ran from 26th Sept & ended 10th October, with a new cohort due to start in November. Finally, planning is already ongoing for an upcoming event run in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council Adult Skills Team called ‘Grow Your Skills’ whereby the skills providers funded by LCC in the local area are given an opportunity to showcase their offers to adults in the area. JCP connect their customers & their network of partners to those events to facilitate their connection to Skills, Opportunities, Jobs & Support.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2025 to Question 74705 on Social media, how much his Department has spent on promotion through social media influencers by influencer since July 2024.

The Department for Work and Pensions has spent a total of £120,023 on influencer marketing since July 2024. Please note this figure is inclusive of whole costs, including agency fees. It is not possible to release individual spend per influencer, as commercial sensitivities exist around aspects of this spend which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.

What estimate he has made of the number of people claiming housing benefit in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each of the last five years.

Monthly statistics for the number of Housing Benefit claimants in Great Britain are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore. The statistics are available for various geographies, including local authority and parliamentary constituency, and are currently available to May 2025. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available to people with Parkinson's disease in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

I refer the Rt.Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 September 2025 to Question UIN 72849.

What recent estimate he has made of the levels of (a) fraud and (b) error in the welfare system in Lincolnshire.

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UKWe do not provide sub-national estimates of fraud and error as we are unable to break the statistics down to this level.

How many days the Union Flag was flown on her Department's main sites in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

In response to the question raised by Sir John Hayes Conservative South Holland and the Deepings and the ask of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions as to how many days the Union Flag has been flown on her Department’s main sites: I can confirm in response that the Department’s main sites where a flagpole is in situ and that fly the Union Flag, this is flown continuously unless we are instructed otherwise by DCMS, in line with procedures, to lower: Quarry House, Leeds-ContinuouslyCaxton House, London-ContinuouslyPeel Park, Blackpool-Continuously until end of December 2024 when the flag was damaged.Treforest, Wales-ContinuouslyTyneview Park, Newcastle-Continuously

How many and what proportion of benefit claimants have been subject to sanctions in Lincolnshire in the last 12 months.

The Department regularly publishes monthly Universal Credit sanction rate statistics for Great Britain as part of the benefit sanction statistics. The latest statistics to May 2025 are available in table 2.1 of the latest benefit sanction statistics tables. Users can use the UC Sanction Rates dataset on Stat-Xplore to produce the same information for lower-level geographical breakdowns. After selecting the required geographies, firstly produce a table containing the monthly statistics for the total number of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, i.e. "searching for work", "planning for work" and "preparing for work", and include those people with unknown conditionality regime too. Then produce a separate table containing the monthly statistics for the number of Universal Credit (UC) claimants with a payment that has been reduced due to a sanction using the sanction indicator. Note, the second table should be produced for all people, regardless of conditionality regime. After retrieving these separate tables from Stat-Xplore, calculate the sanction rate, which is the number of people on UC with a sanction, as a proportion of all people on UC in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, both counted at the same point in time. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

Whether her Department has spent money on promotion through social media influencers since July 2024.

The Department for Work and Pensions has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. Influencers can be effective in reaching audiences that the Government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.

How much the Pensions Regulator has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The Pensions Regulator spent £16,109 in 2022/23, £7,711 in 2023/24 and £6,056 in 2024/25 on equipment including desktop monitor, keyboard, laptop riser and mouse to enable those of its staff who required it to work from home.

How much the National Employment Savings Trust has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

Nest is a Public Corporation which operates independently of Government. This includes necessary expenditure surrounding supporting its staff to work from home. However, it has provided the following information: Nest technology for staff is such that most equipment is used across home and office locations. Therefore, spending on equipment to enable working from home relates to specific items needed to adjust to working in a home environment (e.g. display screens and workstation accessories). Nest Corporation working from home expenditure: Year2022/232023/242024/25Total expenses£8,914£6,945£5,137 *Nest accounts, including expenses recognised, are audited by the NAO. However, this information is based on more detailed management information which is not specifically audited.

What assessment she has made of the disability employment gap in Lincolnshire.

The disability employment gap is monitored and published in the official statistics release The employment of disabled people 2024 - GOV.UK in data tables LMS008, LMS009 and LMS010. This includes statistics on the local authority areas Lincolnshire. The disability employment gap for 2023/24 was 24.7 percentage points in Lincolnshire. This compares to the UK wide disability employment gap of 27.2 percentage points for 2023/24. This is the latest period for which reliable data is available. Estimates below national level are based on smaller sample sizes and should therefore be used with caution.

How much the Money and Pensions Service has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has contributed the following for homeworking equipment in each of the last three years: £59,658 in 2022/23, £103,604 in 2023/24, and £61,087 in 2024/25.

How much the Pension Protection Fund has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

Over the period from 22/23 to 24/25, PPF spend on equipment to enable staff to work from home has been minimal (less than £1.5k over the period).

How much the Pensions Ombudsman has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The Pensions Ombudsman operates a hybrid working model. Therefore, the provision of equipment for staff to use when working at home is made in line with Health and Safety legislation and workplace adjustment requirements. Over the last three years, the following has been contributed to support staff on the days they are not working in the office: £6,868 in in 2022/23, £6,289 in 2023/24 and £2,243 in 2024/25.

What machine learning models her Department has used to help tackle fraud in the last three years.

DWP uses Machine Learning as an analytical tool in the prevention and detection of fraud and error. There is currently one fraud and error machine learning model in full deployment and others at various stages of development, testing and implementation, focused on the highest areas of loss.

How much the Health and Safety Executive has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

HSE spend on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years is shown in the table below. 2022/232023/242024/25HSE Equipment Spend (inclusive of VAT)£329,011£308,537£317,551 Note – the cost mainly relates to provision of equipment for new starters and HSE has increased its staff numbers in this period mainly due to becoming the Building Safety Regulator.

What the average time is to process a Personal Independence Payment appeal in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The average time to process a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal for all PIP appeals in the South Holland and The Deepings constituency, since PIP was introduced, can be found in table 1 below. Table 1: The mean and median time to process an appeal from time of registration to the time of appeal clearance in weeksMean appeal processing time (weeks)Median appeal processing time (weeks)2319 Source: PIP Administrative data Notes:The appeal processing time is calculated as the time between the date of appeal registration and date of appeal clearance.Figures include appeals related to initial decisions (including new claims and DLA reassessments), award reviews and changes of circumstance.Figures include time taken by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to clear the case.Cases are counted if the claimant is resident in the constituency at the point of registering their claim.

What recent steps she has taken to promote timebanking in job centres.

Our Get Britain Working plan aims to reduce economic inactivity levels and take the first steps to delivering our long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive, to succeed and flourish. Support includes identifying skills gaps and referral to skills training, careers advice, job search support, and volunteering opportunities. Work Coaches will work with customer to identify transferable skills relevant to the opportunities available. Our Employer and Partnership Teams work with employers and partners to bring vacancies and provisions closer to our customers.

How much her Department has spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.

We are unable to provide this information without incurring disproportionate costs.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that employers provide the support disabled people need to stay in work in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

We are delivering the biggest investment in employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. We announced in the recent Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work. As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform, on 30 June, we are investing an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This means, our ‘Pathways to Work Guarantee’ is now backed by an investment of £2.2 billion by 2030. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament. Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.In Lincolnshire, our Jobcentre Employer and Partnership Teams work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally. An example of this includes working closely with South and East Lincolnshire Council on the commissioning of skills and employment support programmes using Shared Prosperity Funding.