Written questions by Hayes.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people qualifying for (a) blue badges, (b) housing benefit and (c) Carer's Allowance in Lincolnshire impacted by her Department's proposed changes to the eligibility for PIP.

Changes to the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not have an impact on Blue Badge holders as no changes are being made to the mobility component of PIP. The assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility of the impact of the proposed changes on carers was only made for England and Wales as a whole. The impacts can be found in table A4 here: Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts. There will be no immediate changes to PIP eligibility. Our intention is that changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. After that date, no one will lose PIP without first being reassessed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional, who assesses individual needs and circumstance. Reassessments happen on average every 3 years. The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to lose PIP in future. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the two, not least because we don’t want constituents to be unnecessarily fearful about their situation, when we understand many are already anxious. Someone who did not score 4 points in an activity in a previous assessment may well score 4 points in a future assessment as conditions change over time. After taking account of behavioural changes, the OBR predicts that 9 in 10 of those on PIP daily living at the point any changes come in will still be receiving PIP by the end of the decade. We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including ensuring health and care needs are met. We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I will lead. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress. Even with these reforms, the overall number of people on PIP and DLA is expected to rise by 750,000 by the end of this parliament and spending will rise from £23bn in 24/25 to £31bn in 29/30. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

How many people living in South Holland and the Deepings constituency are claiming PIP and not in work.

In the South Holland and The Deepings constituency, 3,750 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants are not in work. The figure has been rounded to the nearest 10. This only includes claimants with normal rules and who are working-age adults. Data is for March 2024 which is the latest employment data available.

What steps she is taking to increase the number of apprenticeship starts in her Department.

We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. A new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026. The Department for Work and Pensions has been supporting Cabinet Office with the development of this new scheme, sharing learning from our own school leaver Social Mobility Apprenticeship pilot, which has run successfully for the last two years, with our first cohort of school leavers all securing permanent employment within the Department. In addition, in the Department for Work and Pensions we are developing an internal apprenticeship strategy, which will utilise the flexibility provided by the new Growth and Skills Levy to develop skills and support the future needs of the Department. Expansion of opportunities to recruit new apprentices are being explored, including continued use of our Social Mobility Apprenticeship schemes and direct recruitment of apprentices into entry level roles. We have recently run a campaign for 50 new Level 3 apprentices in Counter Fraud and Compliance, with a further 40 roles due to go live next month. We are committed to Getting Britain Working, driving growth through employment. Our plan includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education are working closely with the eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England who have commenced phased delivery of the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers announced in the Get Britain Working white paper from May 2025. The Department is committed to offering high quality apprenticeships for all and working with professions to identify opportunities to fulfil business needs.

How many UK nationals resident in Serbia have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in the Balkan region, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in those countries receiving benefits administered by those countries.

How many UK nationals resident in Macedonia have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in the Balkan region, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in those countries receiving benefits administered by those countries.

How many UK nationals resident in Montenegro have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in the Balkan region, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in those countries receiving benefits administered by those countries.

How many people working in the armed forces have claimed Personal Independence Payment in each year since 2020.

The Department does not hold data on whether Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants are in the armed forces.

How many UK nationals resident in New Zealand have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in New Zealand, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in New Zealand receiving benefits administered by that country.

How many UK nationals resident in Bosnia and Herzegovina have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in the Balkan region, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in those countries receiving benefits administered by those countries.

How many UK nationals resident in Kosovo have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in the Balkan region, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in those countries receiving benefits administered by those countries.

How many people living in Iceland claimed Personal Independence Payments in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country. The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

How many people living in Liechtenstein claimed Personal Independence Payment in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country. The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

How many people living in Norway claimed Personal Independence Payments in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country. The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

How many people resident in Switzerland claimed New Style Jobseeker's Allowance in the last three years.

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

How many people resident in the European Economic Area claimed New Style Job Seekers Allowance in the last three years.

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

How many people living in Switzerland received Personal Independence Payments in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country. For eligibility to PIP, you can be abroad for up to 13 weeks without your PIP claim being affected. This is 26 weeks if you are going abroad for medically necessary treatment. We have no current plans to change the eligibility rules. The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

How many people living in the EU claimed Personal Independence Payment in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country. For eligibility to PIP, you can be abroad for up to 13 weeks without your PIP claim being affected. This is 26 weeks if you are going abroad for medically necessary treatment. We have no current plans to change the eligibility rules. The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

What assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of changes in the number of 18-24 year olds claiming jobseeker’s allowance in South Holland and the Deepings constituency; and what steps she plans to take to help young people find jobs.

The latest published statistics can be obtained from Stat-Xplore - Log in Guidance on how to use it can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/User-Guide.html DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need. Spalding Jobcentre works very closely with several training providers such as National Careers Service, Boston College, Tonic Health, LCVS and Net UK. As part of our plan to Get Britain Working, we are launching a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. We will use the learning from eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities Youth Guarantee Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee across England.

How many people received Personal Independence Payment in South Holland and The Deepings constituency in each of the last five years.

Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Clearances’ dataset. You can use the ‘Month’ filter to select each month for the last five years and add it as a row or column. You can filter for South Holland and The Deepings by using the ‘Geography’ filter to select ‘Westiminster Parliamentary Constituency 2024’. You can use the ‘Clearance Type Detail’ filter to select those who were awarded PIP.You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

What steps she is taking to support partially sighted people into employment in Lincolnshire.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. 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, backed up by £1 billion of new funding. This support is needed to break down barriers, unlock work and open up opportunity. It will get people off welfare and into work – which we know many believe they could do.Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions including the partially sighted are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the Joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025. Additionally, the JWHD has developed a digital information service for employers, continues to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, and continues to increase access to Occupational Health.