The Westminster lensArchive · Written questions · 149 tabled · 140 answered

Written questions by Onn.

Every parliamentary written question tabled by Melanie Onn this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.

Department:All (149)Department of Health and Social Care (35)Department for Education (31)Department for Transport (18)Home Office (9)Treasury (8)Department for Work and Pensions (8)Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (8)Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (7)Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (7)Department for Business and Trade (6)Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (4)Department for Culture, Media and Sport (4)

Showing 18 of 8 · Department for Work and Pensions

13 May 2026·Department for Work and Pensions·Pending
Asked

What support is available to individuals that no longer qualify for the Motability scheme and lose access to a vehicle.

Reply

Awaiting answer.

13 May 2026·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What steps his department is taking to ensure the safety of DWP staff working at the Crown House in Grimsby.

Reply

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) take the safety of its staff very seriously, ensuring that through the relevant policies, procedures, training, risk assessments, and supervision, we allocate resources to manage risk and keep our people safe. Each site has a Senior Responsible Officer (SROs) who ensures risks are managed, incidents are investigated, and lessons learned, working closely with a national team of health and safety business partners.

21 Apr 2026·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of delays in the Access to Work scheme on disabled people’s ability to start or remain in employment.

Reply

To protect employment opportunities, case managers prioritise Access to Work applications where the customer is due to start a job within four weeks. In 2025, we allocated c. 96% of applications starting work within 4 weeks in 28 days. We have increased the number of staff working in this area by 29% from 500 in March 2024 to 648 in March 2026.We know from employee and employer feedback that we inherited issues in the scheme, which is why we’re working with disabled people and their representative organisations to improve it. Reforms are essential to ensure a better service for customers, to help disabled people start and stay in work, to provide clarity in what support should be provided and to ensure we are providing value for money for the taxpayer.

21 Apr 2026·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many Access to Work applications have been waiting longer than (a) three months, (b) six months and (c) twelve months for a decision.

Reply

Access to Work does not record the information in a way that allows data to be extracted by three, six or twelve month waiting periods. Providing the information requested would require manual examination of individual case records and would therefore incur disproportionate cost.

21 Apr 2026·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What steps he is taking to ensure that reimbursement rates under Access to Work reflect the real cost of support, including travel and specialist equipment.

Reply

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

22 Jan 2026·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of training provider capacity for the Fishmonger Apprenticeship Standard in meeting employer demand.

Reply

The Department actively monitors all registered apprenticeship training providers through compliance checks, performance reviews, and inspections to ensure quality standards are met. Where providers fail to meet these requirements, we take appropriate action, which can include applying conditions such as restricting delivery and even termination of agreements and removal from the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR). There are currently 4 registered training providers offering the Fishmonger Level 2 apprenticeship standard. The Department manages entry to the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register to ensure that new providers meet a gap in apprenticeship training provision or meet our strategic priorities in areas where we want to grow apprenticeships. Where an employer has provided evidence of a gap in the current apprenticeship training provision through the employer-led gap in provision policy, new training providers may enter the market.

25 Nov 2025·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

How many calls the Child Maintenance Service MP hotline has received in 2025.

Reply

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) MP hotline is available for MP offices or constituency staff who need to contact CMS regarding a general enquiry or a constituency case. This service is in addition to written correspondence routes. The hotline operates Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and is staffed by Complaint Resolution Managers. We aim to provide an immediate response to enquiries wherever possible. For more complex cases, we will arrange follow-up contact with the caller to provide additional information. For 2025, the CMS Parliamentary Line has received 1801 calls. Information is up to and including Tuesday 25th November 2025.

7 Oct 2024·Department for Work and Pensions·Answered
Asked

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of preparations made by Maximus for processing Personal Independence Payment claims.

Reply

Under the Functional Assessment Service (FAS) contracts which went live on 9 September 2024, assessment suppliers will deliver the Health Assessment Advisory Service on behalf of the department. These FAS contracts are central to the improvements we are making to health assessments. Individuals now only need to deal with one supplier for the assessment of their health condition or disability, providing a simpler and more straightforward service. Each supplier including Maximus, will be held accountable to the same service delivery performance standards set by the department. Over the longer term, this will enable us to introduce a new integrated Health Assessment Service, which is being developed and built by the DWP Health Transformation Programme. The department conducted an open and transparent procurement under the Public Contract Regulations in line with Government policies and considered the quality of assessments, the experience for individuals, as well as the value for money offered by each of the bids.

Sources
SourceUK Parliament Members API
MethodQuestion and answer text as published. Question preamble (“To ask the…”) trimmed for readability; answers shown in full.