Written questions by Duncan-Jordan.

Whether she has made an estimate of the number of new jobs that will be created as a result of the Pathways to Work Green Paper.

The proposals in the Green Paper to fix the broken welfare system and help more people into work are important to this Government’s number one mission to grow the economy and drive up living standards across the country. Pathways to Work is one of the largest ever investment in employment, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions. To maximise its impact we need the input of stakeholders and disabled people themselves and we will use a ‘collaboration committee’ to develop our thinking further.

What steps she is taking to ensure that adequate support is provided to help disabled people that can work into work before the implementation of reforms to (a) the levels of and (b) eligibility requirements for ill health benefits are introduced.

Disabled people and people with health conditions 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 programmes to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including some 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 and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, Support with Employee Health and Disability service, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.Additionally, under the Government’s new Get Britain Working Strategy, the forthcoming voluntary, locally led Supported Employment programme ‘Connect to Work’ will support disabled people, those with health conditions and other complex barriers including people with learning disabilities, to get into and on in work.With a phased rollout shaped by Local Authorities’ own timetables, we expect to see local areas starting to offer Connect to Work support through 2025, with the first areas going live in the Spring.

With reference to her Department's green paper Pathways to work: reforming benefits and support to get Britain working, published on 18 March 2025, what sanctions will be introduced for disabled people who decline to engage in the proposed support conversation.

The support conversation will enable individuals to set out their aspirations, needs and goals, so that they can better understand what early support might be available to them and be signposted towards it. Given the importance of the support conversation to ensuring individuals understand the help available to them, we are considering making participation a requirement (with exemptions) but we are consulting on how we should design and deliver it so that it is welcomed by individuals and is effective and, if mandated, who should be exempted.

Whether she plans to take steps to remove the role of the private sector in carrying out (a) PIP assessments and (b) PIP reassessments.

In September 2024, new five-year contracts for functional health and disability services commenced. In advance of the procurement of these contracts, a delivery model assessment was carried out in line with commercial best practice, which determined that outsourced delivery remained the best way of achieving value for money and service stability. The Department will conduct a further delivery model assessment in due course to inform decisions on future service delivery, beyond the current contracts.

What the evidential basis is for the proposition that reducing levels of disability benefits leads to increased levels of employment.

We have evidence that delivering better and more tailored employment support can get more people off welfare, and into work - alongside a higher expectation to engage with that support. Therefore, we are investing £1 billion a year by the end of the decade in new employment, health and skills support – one of the biggest packages of new employment support for sick and disabled people ever. In addition, corrective action is needed after the value of the basic unemployment benefit was run down to a 40-year low, while incapacity benefits continued to rise. Meaning the rate of Universal Credit for those on the health element is now double that for those on the standard allowance. As a result, all the incentives are to claim incapacity benefits and define yourself as incapable of work, with both the OBR and IFS suggesting this has been a factor in driving higher incapacity benefit claims.

With reference to her Department's green paper Pathways to work: reforming benefits and support to get Britain working, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her proposed policies on the causes of poverty among disabled people.

The latest available statistics show that full-time work substantially reduces the chances of poverty. In 2022/23, working age adults living in families where no adults work were around 6 times more likely to be in relative poverty after housing costs, than working age adults in families where all adults work. And the relative poverty rate (after housing costs) of children in households where both parents work in 2022/23 was 14%, compared to 75% for children living in households where no adults work. The latest available data shows that in 2022/23, only 6% of children in couple families were in relative poverty after housing costs where both adults work full time, compared to 66% where one or more adults in a couple were in part time work only. 70% of children in lone parent families where the adult did not work were in relative low income after housing costs in 2022/23 compared to 27% of children in working lone parent families.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of new Personal Independence Payment claimants who will not achieve a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element after November 2026.

The information is intended for publication alongside the Spring Statement.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of delaying access to the health element of Universal Credit until age 22 on relevant people.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

If she will make an assessment with her Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the proposals set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper on levels of poor mental health among (a) children aged 17 and under and (b) people aged 18 to 67.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of existing Personal Independence Payment claimants who will not achieve a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element after November 2026.

The information is intended for publication alongside the Spring Statement.

What estimate she has made of the amount of savings raised from (a) freezing the value of the health element of Universal Credit for existing claimants and (b) reducing the value of the health element of Universal Credit for new claimants.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

If she will make it her policy to fund (a) existing or (b) new programmes of support and training for people seeking employment from money raised from delaying the access to the health element of Universal Credit until someone is aged 22.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper is an important staging post on a journey of reform. It sets out our vision, strategy and proposals for change. Before any decisions are made, we are consulting on the design options for a work, health and skills support package. We are specifically seeking input on the proposal to raise the age of eligibility for the health element of the Universal Credit (UC) award to 22. The government will actively engage with a diverse range of stakeholders, including young people with health conditions and disabilities. As we set out at point 256 in the Pathways to Work Green Paper: “Delaying access to the UC health element would remove any potential disincentive to work during this time. Proceeding with this change would be on the basis that resources could be better spent on improving the quality and range of opportunities available to young people through the [Youth] guarantee, so they can sign up to work or training rather than long-term benefits.” Such a change could support the establishment of a distinct and active transition phase for young people, based on learning or earning for all.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity group on disabled people in residential care.

We will be publishing estimated impacts on claimants for the changes announced on 18 March 2025 on the day of the Spring Statement or shortly after.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of losing eligibility for Personal Independence Payment on the financial security of disabled people.

We will be publishing estimated impacts on claimants for the changes announced on 18 March 2025 on the day of the Spring Statement or shortly after.PIP is an important benefit to help contribute to the extra living costs of a disability or heath condition. We are clear it should neither be means-tested nor taxed. However, support needs to be more targeted to protect this safety net for future generations.

What steps she is taking through the child poverty strategy to ensure child poverty is lower in 2029 than 2024.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government and the Ministerial Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom in developing a Child Poverty Strategy. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted and complex, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. We have already taken steps to support families by tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increasing the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April to boost the pay of three million workers. To further support struggling households, funding of £742 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure advice sector staff receive adequate training to deal with potential changes to the welfare budget.

DWP is not responsible for funding the welfare advice sector which receives funding from a range of sources. DWP does fund Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver Help to Claim which provides support to people to make a new claim to Universal Credit. DWP provides Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. DWP constantly reviews the funding for Help to Claim and has increased Help to Claim funding to meet forecast additional demand from people in receipt of Employment Support Allowance who are being invited to move to Universal Credit. The funding includes money to train staff to deliver Help to Claim.DWP publishes benefit guidance in the House of Commons library so that it is available to individuals and organisations, and it can be used to develop appropriate training.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reductions to the welfare budget on the number of people seeking welfare advice; and what steps she is taking to ensure advice services are adequately funded to meet demand.

DWP is not responsible for funding the welfare advice sector which receives funding from a range of sources. DWP does fund Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver Help to Claim which provides support to people to make a new claim to Universal Credit. DWP provides Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. DWP constantly reviews the funding for Help to Claim and has increased Help to Claim funding to meet forecast additional demand from people in receipt of Employment Support Allowance who are being invited to move to Universal Credit. The funding includes money to train staff to deliver Help to Claim.DWP publishes benefit guidance in the House of Commons library so that it is available to individuals and organisations, and it can be used to develop appropriate training.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of ending the two-child benefits limit on levels of child poverty.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of ending the two-child benefits limit on levels of family incomes.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

Whether she has plans to take steps to reduce the number of questions on the Pension Credit application form.

As the Department continues to modernise the Pension Credit service, we review the user experience, balancing simplification of application with capturing the right information to ensure accuracy of award. A key objective of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme is to utilise end user research to understand how the application process should operate in the future and consider the opportunities on how services can be more user friendly and easily accessible for citizens. To that end we are streamlining all Pension Credit application routes by using information held internally to reduce the number of questions the citizen must answer. Claims for Pension Credit can be made online, by telephone or by post. By far, the most popular way to claim is online where a claim can be made 24/7 with the help of a family member, a friend or a third party. Via the online service, the maximum number of questions a person needs to answer is 48; for some customers it can be as few as 35 questions. As a result, the online claim form now takes just 16 minutes on average to complete, with 90 per cent of new customers applying using the simple online form, or over the phone. With the telephone service, the caller will be guided through the claim process. We will keep the Pension Credit application process under review.