Written questions by Evans.

Whether his Department holds data on the number of (a) starts, (b) completions and (c) licences obtained from the HGV providers (i) System Group and (ii) Qube.

The government carries out assurance and financial reconciliation exercises of Skills Bootcamps across all sectors, including the HGV sector. The department publishes data on Skills Bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes by sector. This can be found here; Skills bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes, Financial year 2023-24 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK. The department does not publish this information by provider.

Whether his Department has conducted a formal audit of funding for the HGV driving bootcamp.

The government carries out assurance and financial reconciliation exercises of Skills Bootcamps across all sectors, including the HGV sector. The department publishes data on Skills Bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes by sector. This can be found here; Skills bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes, Financial year 2023-24 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK. The department does not publish this information by provider.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the investigation of the pensions regulator into NHSBSA.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is an independent body responsible for the regulation of work-based pension schemes in the UK. TPR conducts its supervisory and investigatory functions independently of the Government. As such, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on an ongoing investigation being undertaken by the Regulator.

Whether she plans to launch a campaign to increase pension credit uptake before winter 2025-2026.

The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are entitled. That is why since Autumn 2024 we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign. The Department’s campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit has continued in numerous stages between January and July 2025 and has included radio, print and social media adverts as well as continuing work with stakeholders. We plan to continue promotional activity from Autumn through to the end of the financial year with the campaign aimed at eligible pensioners who are not yet claiming, and their friends and family, as we work to increase the take up of Pension Credit.

What discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and (b) local authorities on ensuring that people who do not have digital connectivity can access (i) the Jobs and Careers Services online portals and (ii) alternative provision.

As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain which will include a modern, joined up and enhanced digital offer where people can access support through the channels that best meet their needs. This reconfigured service will be accessible to everyone; it will use data intelligently to join up government and personalise support. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and officials have been in regular engagement with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and with local areas as we develop our plans for a new Jobs and Careers Service. This builds on the vision as laid out in ‘A blueprint for modern digital government’ published in January. The new service will be digital where possible, and human when needed. A large number of those seeking employment support or careers advice will be best served digitally, however we recognise this will not be appropriate for everyone and other channels of support will be available. The department also continues to work closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and other government departments to deliver on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. Its first steps were published on 29 February 2025 and outline the government’s initial actions and long-term goals to tackle digital exclusion in the UK. As we set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are exploring the use of digital employment support for customers and testing how to enhance collaboration between Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service. This will be key to understanding how we can better integrate employment support and careers advice in England. As part of our plans to develop the new Jobs and Careers Service, Ministers and officials are working in collaboration with West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Wakefield Local Authority to design and deliver tests within our first Pathfinder that will inform the design of the new service.

What discussions the Health and Safety Executive has had with representatives of the hairdressing and beauty industry on ensuring that health and safety practices are followed when using hair dye.

Businesses in the hairdressing and beauty sector, which includes barber shops, hairdressers and beauty salons are required to comply with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations, which place duties on businesses to assess the risk of infection for employees and others affected by their work including members of the public. While Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has the policy lead for the hair and beauty sector, responsibility for enforcing health and safety legislation at individual businesses rests with the local authority where the premises are located. HSE is not currently engaged in discussions with the industry about the use of hair dye, however it’s use and the precautions necessary when using it are captured by the requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended). Where there is evidence that risks are not being properly managed, local authorities are able to intervene and take appropriate enforcement action to ensure that employees and customers are protected.

What steps she is taking to monitor outputs arising from the £1bn for guaranteed personalised employment support to help people get back to work.

We anticipate that we will assess effectiveness of Pathways to Work measures in the usual way, including through evaluation of their implementation and the impacts that they have on employment, incomes, benefit receipt and other indicators. We will publish more information on our evaluation strategy in due course.

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on best practice in joined up systems supporting people with long term health issues to (a) find work and (b) achieve long term employment.

Regular cross government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. Examples of this can be seen through the publication of the Get Britain Working White Paper and the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits, Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, the Industrial strategy, the Joint Health and Work Directorate and the Make work pay legislation.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 35774 on Pension Credit: Staff, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of using (a) external providers and (b) external recruitment to process pension credit applications during Winter 2024-25.

My previous response (UIN 35775) advised we had deployed over 500 additional staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. The 24/25 forecast cost of (a) external providers is £1.9 million, and (b) external recruitment is £2.2 million.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 35774 on Pension Credit: Staff, what steps she is taking to ensure that the work previously undertaken by internal redeployed staff is continued.

My previous response reference 36448, advised redeployed colleagues to support Pension Credit were from Child Maintenance Service and Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt. Since the redeployment, both services have continued with no deterioration in service or performance.Further to this, the Autumn Statement includes additional investment in Fraud and Error, which means we can increase our resourcing levels. We will also be increasing Child Maintenance Service resources as demand for that service continues to grow. In the meantime, we are continuing to transform Child Maintenance Service with our 24/7 online service and also with further automation, reducing the need for human intervention.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 36448 on Pension Credit, how many staff were seconded from the Child Maintenance Services and Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt to process pension credit applications; and for what time period.

100 colleagues have been redeployed from Child Maintenance Services and 20 colleagues redeployed from Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt to support Pension Credit activity.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 31507 on Pension Credit, whether she is taking steps to ensure that backlogs of work are actioned within directorates that have seconded additional staff to process pension credit applications.

The directorates within DWP where colleagues were redeployed to support Pension Credit activity were from Child Maintenance Service and Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt. Other additions were via use of a flexible pool of DWP colleagues that move across functions as required. Our approach to deploying additional people to support Pension Credit activity was taken in a manner to not disadvantage other services. Backlogs have not emerged as a consequence of these moves.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 31507 on Pension Credit, from which directorate have the additional staff been deployed to process pension credit applications; and for how long the additional staff have been seconded to process pension credit applications.

The directorates within DWP where colleagues were redeployed to support Pension Credit activity were from Child Maintenance Service and Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt. Other additions were via use of a flexible pool of DWP colleagues that move across functions as required. Our approach to deploying additional people to support Pension Credit activity was taken in a manner to not disadvantage other services. Backlogs have not emerged as a consequence of these moves.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2025 to Question, what performance matrix she is following to monitor the effectiveness of the funding for additional staffing to reducing pension credit application processing times to a planned timescale of 50 working days.

The Government has recently put in place the biggest ever pension Credit tave-up drive. To help ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims within reasonable timeframes, the Department has deployed over 500 additional staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. We measure Pension Credit performance via our published 50 working day timeliness measure and monitor weekly average actual clearance times. The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%. The next publication of the ARA will include claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer. As a result of this investment in staff the latest Average Actual Clearance Time is now down to 56.2 working days in week commencing 24th February 2025 after a peak of 87 working days week commencing 9 December 2024. Please note, the Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.

What steps she is taking to seek improvements to the child maintenance system; and what recent discussions she has had with statutory and non statutory bodies to discuss system improvements.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is taking steps to make improvements across the child maintenance system and create a modern, accessible and robust service through our Service Modernisation Programme and CMS reforms.Throughout our Service Modernisation Programme, we have worked with suppliers who have experience of transforming organisations globally – this is ongoing, and we benefit from their insight and innovation. Additionally, we have worked with other government departments to understand elements of their transformation, for example HMRC on how they have modernised guidance.The Service Modernisation Programme (SMP) has already delivered significant improvements to the customer experience through the provision of online services and Digital Assist Telephony Service enabling parents to access their on-line My Child Maintenance Case at any time. We have restructured our telephony call routing system, made incremental improvements to customer communications, including a full review of letters, and made significant advancements to our IT systems. The wide-reaching programme aims to continue to reform and modernise CMS services with increased effectiveness and efficiency and will continue to engage a wide range of statutory and non-statutory bodies to do this.The CMS has recently concluded a public consultation on policy changes to the CMS (The Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments) and are analysing the responses. This includes removing the Direct Pay service and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster. The consultation also sought views on how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported to use CMS, and whether removing Direct Pay completely would benefit victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This is ongoing and the Government will publish a response in due course. Following the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 receiving royal assent in 2023, government consulted on accelerating enforcement to inform its proposed regulations to support the introduction of administrative liability orders. Proposed changes will streamline the enforcement process and facilitate compliance from paying parents more quickly. We are working to bring them into effect as soon as possible. The department is also conducting a programme of work to review the maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose, reflects today’s social trends and is future proofed to handle further changes.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 31507, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of additional staff on pension credit application processing times.

The Government has recently put in place the biggest ever pension Credit tave-up drive. To help ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims within reasonable timeframes, the Department has deployed over 500 additional staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. We measure Pension Credit performance via our published 50 working day timeliness measure and monitor weekly average actual clearance times. The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%. The next publication of the ARA will include claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer. As a result of this investment in staff the latest Average Actual Clearance Time is now down to 56.2 working days in week commencing 24th February 2025 after a peak of 87 working days week commencing 9 December 2024. Please note, the Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.

What estimate she has made of the number of Pension Credit applications rejected by decision makers since September 2024; and what the reasons were for the rejection of those applications.

The latest published data on Pension Credit applications and awards was published on 27 February [Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2025 - GOV.UK]. This showed that DWP cleared 232,200 Pension Credit claims between 29 July 2024 and 23 February 2025, of which 117,800 claims were awarded Pension Credit and 114,500 were not awarded Pension Credit. In common with all income-related benefits, a person’s eligibility for Pension Credit depends on their financial and household circumstances. The most common reason why a person might not qualify for Pension Credit is because their household income is too high.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 31507 on Pension Credit, what departmental budget stream is supporting the funding for additional staff to process pension credit applications.

The Government has recently put in place the biggest ever pension Credit tave-up drive. To help ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims within reasonable timeframes, the Department has deployed over 500 additional staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. We measure Pension Credit performance via our published 50 working day timeliness measure and monitor weekly average actual clearance times. The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%. The next publication of the ARA will include claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer. As a result of this investment in staff the latest Average Actual Clearance Time is now down to 56.2 working days in week commencing 24th February 2025 after a peak of 87 working days week commencing 9 December 2024. Please note, the Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.

With reference to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question HL4289 on Pension Credit and with reference to the oral contribution of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury of 3 December 2024, Official Report, column 141, what steps she is taking to improve the processing of pension credit claims.

As referenced in previous responses HL4289 and Question 5385, DWP works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims. The funding was the first stage followed by securing staffing resource, training those people and enabling learning consolidation to process Pension Credit claims. As a result the Department has deployed over 500 additional people to ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims in reasonable timescales. Since this action, the latest Average Actual Clearance Time is now down to 56 working days in week commencing 3 February 2025 after a peak of 87 working days week commencing 9 December 2024. However, Pension Credit is a complex benefit, and some claims require additional investigation or information from the customer, which can result in longer processing times. Statistics on Pension Credit application volumes were published on 28 November 2024. This includes numbers of applications that were received, awarded and not awarded, up to 17 November 2024.Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK The latest publication is due on 27th February 2025 and will cover data up to week commencing 17th February 2025. Please note, the Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2024 to Question 5385 on Pension Credit, what recent steps she has taken to ensure that funding for additional staffing is reducing pension credit application processing times.

As referenced in previous responses HL4289 and Question 5385, DWP works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims. The funding was the first stage followed by securing staffing resource, training those people and enabling learning consolidation to process Pension Credit claims. As a result the Department has deployed over 500 additional people to ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims in reasonable timescales. Since this action, the latest Average Actual Clearance Time is now down to 56 working days in week commencing 3 February 2025 after a peak of 87 working days week commencing 9 December 2024. However, Pension Credit is a complex benefit, and some claims require additional investigation or information from the customer, which can result in longer processing times. Statistics on Pension Credit application volumes were published on 28 November 2024. This includes numbers of applications that were received, awarded and not awarded, up to 17 November 2024.Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK The latest publication is due on 27th February 2025 and will cover data up to week commencing 17th February 2025. Please note, the Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.