Written questions by Stride.

With reference to the Prime Minister’s oral statement on Defence and Security of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 631, how much and what proportion of the £13.4 billion increase in defence spending is new money.

£13.4bn represents the forecast increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending between 2024-25 to 2027-28. This increase comprises the reallocated ODA funding, as well as forecast increases to existing NATO qualifying spend based on OBR forecasts, over that timeframe.

With reference to the Tables in the document entitled Work Capability Assessment Reform: update to estimated number of claimants affected, dated 18 April 2024, what her Department's estimate is of the number of claimants moved into each of those categories in the 2029-30 financial year.

The figures requested can be found in the table below: Note – This reform was planned and made by the previous Government, but the figures reflect the latest OBR forecasts and assumptions. Number of claimants affected by Work Capability Assessment Reform, Great Britain Moved from LCWRA to LCW2029-30Totals448,000Total moved due to removing the LCWRA ‘mobilising’ descriptor282,000Total moved due to amending the LCWRA ‘risk’ descriptor136,000 Moved from LCW to IWS2029-30Total moved34,000Total moved due to amending the LCW ‘getting about’ descriptor34,000 Source: Internal Work Capability Assessment Reform Policy Costing model Notes to tables:LCWRA, LCW and IWS are three groups within Universal Credit with different levels of labour market conditionalityLCWRA refers to the ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’ group. LCW refers to the ‘limited capability for work’ group. IWS refers to the ‘intensive work search’ groupthe number of claimants is rounded to the nearest 1,000. Figures may not sum due to rounding

Whether the estimated economic impact of additional public investment within the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts reflects the composition of that investment spending in each year of the forecast period.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces comprehensive economic and fiscal forecasts twice a year. This includes a judgement on how public investment levels impact the economy. This judgement is based on the Public Investment and Potential Output framework the OBR published in the summer of 2024, with the OBR providing further information on how it assessed the Autumn Budget 2024 increase in public investment in Chapter 3 of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook. In both, the OBR outline how they use impacts of aggregate measures of investment, rather than the decomposition of investment spending. The OBR makes this assessment on the basis of the government’s headline capital spending plans. The government has allocated capital budgets by department up to 2025-26. Allocations for future years will be published as part of the ongoing Spending Review, set to conclude in June 2025.

Whether it remains her Department's policy to begin the rollout of the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the categories of Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work Related Activity from April 2026.

We’ve been clear that WCA isn’t working and needs to be reformed or replaced. We are working to develop proposals for reform to the system of health and disability benefits and will set them out in a green paper in the spring. As part of the Get Britain Working plan, we will support more disabled people and those with health conditions to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

If she will provide a breakdown by department of the additional capital expenditure announced at the October Budget for each financial year up to 2029-30.

At Autumn Budget 2024 the government announced over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years compared to the plans the government inherited. In 2025-26, this amounts a £13 billion increase compared to Spring Budget 2024 plans. Allocations of departmental capital spending in 2025-26 can be found in Table C.4 of the Autumn Budget Document. Allocations from 2026-27 to 2029-30 will be announced at the conclusion of the ongoing Spending Review in June 2025.

What her Department's timetable is for abolishing the couple's administrative earnings threshold; and what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the abolition of the couple's administrative earnings threshold on the number of people entering the Intensive Work Search regime.

The previous administration planned to abolish the Couples AET to increase compliance and conditionality requirements on working households, without clear evidence that this would be cost-effective. The Government’s plans for supporting working households towards sustainable good quality jobs are set out in the Get Britain Working white paper.

What the forecast level of (a) public sector net debt, (b) public sector net debt excluding Bank of England and (c) public sector net financial liabilities was at the time of the Autumn Budget 2024 in (i) cash terms, (ii) real terms and (iii) as a proportion of GDP on a (A) pre and (B) post measures basis in each financial year to 2029-30.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the government put the public finances on a sustainable path by strengthening the fiscal framework, including announcing new fiscal rules, and taking difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending. The information requested is all published explicitly, or calculable from information published, in the AB24 Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the OBR’s Public Sector Finances aggregates databank , with the exception of the information related to public sector net debt excluding Bank of England on a pre-measures basis, which is not published by the OBR.

With reference to page 3 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, what her definition is of working people.

A working person is someone who goes out to work and works for their income. The government has committed to not increase taxes on working people, which is why it is not increasing the basic, higher or additional rates of Income Tax, National Insurance contributions or VATWorking people will not see an increase in the taxes they pay on their payslip due to the tax changes announced at Budget.

With reference to page 3 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, whether self-employed people are classed as working.

A working person is someone who goes out to work and works for their income. The government has committed to not increase taxes on working people, which is why it is not increasing the basic, higher or additional rates of Income Tax, National Insurance contributions or VATWorking people will not see an increase in the taxes they pay on their payslip due to the tax changes announced at Budget.

With reference to the oral answer of 7 October 2024 from the Minister for Employment, Official Report, column 6, what changes have been made to the Access to Work Scheme since the beginning of this Parliament; how many additional staff have been assigned to processing Access to Work claims since the beginning of this Parliament; and from which other area these staff have been diverted.

Since the beginning of this Parliament the Department for Work and Pensions has taken steps to improve operational guidance and process to ensure Access to Work grants are awarded consistently and as quickly as possible. Since July 2024, twenty-three additional staff have been deployed to support Access to Work. Of these, twenty-two were new recruits and one was redeployed from the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) team.

What information her Department holds on the local government (a) area and (b) ward of individual pensioners who (i) are and (ii) are not in receipt of Pension Credit.

The department holds information on individual pensioners who do claim Pension Credit broken down geographically by ward, Local Authority, region, country, and also Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 and 2024. The department does not hold information on individual pensioners who do not claim Pension Credit. The department publishes data on households in receipt of Pension Credit on Stat Xplore. This is broken down geographically by ward, Local Authority, region, country, and also Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 and 2024. The department also publishes data on individuals receiving State Pension on Stat Xplore. However, these statistics are currently suspended due to issues with internal processing of State Pension data.

Whether her Department provides information to local authorities on local residents who are (a) above State Pension age and (b) (i) eligible for and (ii) claiming Pension Credit.

The Department already shares extensive data with local authorities for a variety of purposes. Local authorities have access to DWP data about households in receipt of DWP benefits, including people over State Pension age which includes those receiving Pension Credit. Furthermore, as part of the Pension Credit claim process, if claimants state they want to claim Housing Benefit, DWP gathers the claim information required for this and passes it onto the relevant local authority to assess. Local authorities are allowed to re-use DWP data under the terms of a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding, subject to them seeking their own legal advice, and subject to them notifying the Department of their intent. This process can be used to include re-using data originating from DWP to help identify people eligible for Pension Credit. Many local authorities already undertake their own initiatives to identify eligible households and promote take-up and over 160 local authorities have responded positively to our ‘call for action’ following the Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter to all local authorities in August. The Department will also be writing directly to 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of Housing Benefit who may also be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit. We will be inviting these pensioners to claim Pension Credit by the 21 December, which is the latest date for making a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and still qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.

With reference to the correspondence from the Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee entitled The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024: letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, published on 17 October 2024, whether she plans to publish an updated impact assessment of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024.

In line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty, an equality analysis was produced as part of the ministerial decision-making process. The Department will continue to monitor and review the impact of the policy, using this to inform any future decisions.

Whether she made a request to the Social Security Advisory Committee to expedite their consideration of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024 before she invoked the urgency provision.

The urgency procedure was invoked as a means of making the necessary Exchequer savings in the current financial year, as the Regulations needed to come into force on 16 September 2024 (in time for the qualifying week for Winter Fuel Payments this winter).DWP officials met the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) in August to discuss the Regulations, and the Committee had the opportunity to raise matters of interest to them, prior to formal scrutiny. The regulations were formally considered by SSAC on 11 September.We welcome the observations and recommendations in the letter from the SSAC chair, and the decision not to take the Regulations on formal reference. The Secretary of State replied to the SSAC letter and recommendations which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-reply-to-ssac

When she plans to respond to the letter from the Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee entitled The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024: letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, published on 17 October 2024.

We welcome the observations and recommendations in the letter from the chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee, and the decision not to take the Regulations on formal reference. The Secretary of State replied to the SSAC letter and recommendations which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-reply-to-ssac

What progress she has made on the roll-out of the Universal Support Programme.

My Department continues to work in collaboration with local areas to support their development and delivery of the new employment support programme, shaped around local services and priorities. The programme will primarily help economically inactive disabled people, people with long term conditions and people with additional barriers, to help them find and fulfil their potential to work. We will shortly be launching the grant guidance for the programme, after which local authorities will work with DWP and local partners to design their local programmes. It is anticipated that some areas will begin delivery of the new programme from spring 2025 but this will be a phased roll out, led by local authorities.

How much funding has been allocated to the Universal Support programme for each financial year from 2023-24 onward, broken down by local authority area.

Universal Support money has been allocated to a new Supported Employment Programme. Figures from the most recent Business Case approved by HMT in October 2024 show a total spend of c.£1.4bn from 2023/24 to 29/30. However funding beyond the current spending review is not confirmed.Annual breakdowns of spend will be determined by local delivery plans. This information is not available at this point in time while planning work continues with Local Authorities.

What recent progress she has made on (a) rolling out the WorkWell programme and (b) implementing (i) trailblazers and (ii) other reforms to the fit note process.

The WorkWell pilot areas began to go live from October 1st. The majority of the 15 pilot areas are now taking referrals, with the remaining areas expected to begin over the coming weeks. We launched a Call for Evidence to seek views on how the current fit note process works and the support required to facilitate meaningful work and health conversations to help people start, stay and succeed in work. It closed on the 8 July 2024. We received over 1,900 responses that are now being reviewed and will inform our approach moving forward. As part of our Get Britain Working plan, more disabled people and those with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

With reference to the Responses to Freedom of Information requests on Equality Impact Assessments produced for targeting Winter Fuel Payment, published on 13 September 2024, for what reason the assessment undertaken by HM Treasury concluded that women will be disproportionately impacted and the assessment undertaken by her Department concluded that men will be disproportionately impacted by changes to the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment; whether she plans to update her Department's equality impact assessment; and whether processes are in place to ensure equality analyses by different Departments are consistent.

The assessments undertaken by the Department and HM Treasury do not contradict each other. They are on a different basis. HM Treasury analysis is based on Census 2011 data and compares pensioners to the non-pensioner population. Whereas the Department’s analysis uses pensioner benefit administrative data to assess pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit at November 2023, compared to those who received a Winter Fuel Payment in 2022/23. Where both documents consider the likelihood of receiving Pension Credit, both show that women are less likely to be impacted by changes to the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment, due to them being more likely to claim Pension Credit. The HM Treasury assessment states that “PC specifically is disproportionately claimed by older, single women.” Older, single women are, therefore, more likely to retain their eligibility for a Winter Fuel Payment and, as a result, are less likely to be affected by the policy. This chimes with the Department’s conclusion that “this policy will have the highest proportional impact on couples, and a marginally greater impact on men than women.” As part of the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Department will continue to monitor and review the impact of the policy, using this to inform future decisions.

Whether she plans to implement the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published on 15 March 2023.

This government is committed to breaking down the barriers to opportunity for disabled people and people with health conditions, improving our employment and health support offer and tackling rising levels of economic inactivity. We will replace or reform the Work Capability Assessment alongside putting in place a proper plan to support disabled people into work, and continue to engage with stakeholders to keep the views of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of what we do. We will be considering our own approach to social security in due course.