Written questions by O'Brien.

How many and what proportion of departmental staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.

DWP’s performance management policy utilises a team-based approach. The policy requires the performance of every employee to be robustly assessed on an ongoing basis. However, the approach does not involve employees below the Senior Civil Service being assigned a performance rating. Consequently, we are unable to provide data on employees rated in a top performance category. For Senior Civil Servants (SCS) there are four performance ratings available within the Performance management framework for the Senior Civil Service: Exceeding, High Performing, Achieving and Partially Met. In 2024-25, the DWP Pay Committee agreed to use three of the four performance ratings available for SCS1 and SCS2s, and the ‘top’ performers were recorded as high performing. Exceeding was used for SCS3s / Director Generals (DGs), following instruction from the Senior Leadership Committee for Director General performance management which set specific criteria for the assessment of DGs to improve consistency between departments. The number and proportion of SCS in each grade rated in the top performance categories for 2024-25 was as follows: RatingSCS1SCS2SCS3 Number%Number%Number%Exceeding00%00%<30--%High Performing6728%<30--%<30--%

What proportion of total benefit income received by the average benefit-capped household is accounted for by (a) Universal Credit excluding child elements, (b) the Universal Credit child element, (c) Housing Benefit, (d) Incapacity Benefit, (e) Employment and Support Allowance, (f) Income Support, and (g) Jobseeker’s Allowance.

The information is not available. This is because, whilst there are different elements in the determination of the gross entitlement, Universal Credit is paid as one single payment. As such it is not possible to quantify the amount of Universal Credit excluding child elements or the amount of Universal Credit child element that the average benefit-capped household would receive after reductions due to earnings for example.

How many additional households will become subject to the Household Benefit Cap following the removal of the two-child limit on the Universal Credit child element.

The requested information is not available.

How many households are exempt from the Household Benefit Cap solely as a result of receiving (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Carer’s Allowance by region.

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

How many households are exempt from the Household Benefit Cap solely as a result of receiving (a) Disability Living Allowance and (b) Attendance Allowance by region.

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

How many households with total benefit entitlement above the level of the Household Benefit Cap have entitlement above (a) £30,000, (b) £40,000 and (c) £50,000 per year, or the equivalent weekly and monthly amounts.

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

What assessment he has made of the impact of each exemption from the Household Benefit Cap on (a) the number of households subject to the cap and (b) overall welfare expenditure.

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

What estimate his Department has made of the number of additional households that would become subject to the Household Benefit Cap following the removal of the two-child limit on the Universal Credit Child Element.

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

How many households currently subject to the Household Benefit Cap are living in (a) council housing and (b) housing association accommodation.

There were 540 households on Housing Benefit affected by the benefit cap in May 2025. Of these, 40 were living in council housing and 100 were living in housing association accommodation.There were 123,000 households on Universal Credit affected by the benefit cap in May 2025. Accommodation data in Universal Credit does not identify housing association accommodation separately from council housing. Of the 123,000 households on Universal Credit affected by the benefit cap in May 2025, 45,000 were living in council housing or housing association accommodation.

How many Disability Living Allowance claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the North East, (b) the North West, and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.

Information on Disability Living Allowance claimants with an active Motability Scheme is not held centrally for analytical purposes. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

How many Disability Living Allowance claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) London, (b) the South East, (c) the South West, and (d) Wales in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.

Information on Disability Living Allowance claimants with an active Motability Scheme is not held centrally for analytical purposes. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

How many Disability Living Allowance claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the East Midlands, (b) the West Midlands, and (c) the East of England in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.

Information on Disability Living Allowance claimants with an active Motability Scheme is not held centrally for analytical purposes. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

If he will provide the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants in a contract with the Motability Scheme to receive a vehicle, broken down by primary medical condition in a) the East Midlands, b) East of England, c) London, d) North East, e) North West, f) South East, g) South West, h) West Midlands, i) Yorkshire and the Humber j) Wales k) Scotland l) Northern Ireland.

We will be publishing data to answer this question in due course.

How many PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) London, (b) the South East, (c) the South West and (d) Wales in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.

The information requested is provided in the table below as a snapshot of the PIP caseload with active Motability contracts in July of each of the last 5 years. Jul-21Jul-22Jul-23Jul-24Jul-25North East21,50022,40025,10030,30034,500North West58,80061,30068,90083,90096,400Yorkshire and The Humber34,20035,70040,30050,10057,900East Midlands34,40036,10040,40048,40054,600West Midlands45,20047,10053,10063,70072,000East of England30,30032,00036,60045,00052,600London32,00034,70040,50052,20063,500South East36,50038,70044,30054,90065,000South West29,00030,40033,70040,60046,600Wales34,00035,20038,70045,20050,300 Notes- Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.- Figures include both Normal Rules and Special Rules for End of Life claimants.- Yearly figures are a snapshot of the PIP caseload with an active Motability contract in July of each of the last 5 years.

How many PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the North East, (b) the North West and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.

The information requested is provided in the table below as a snapshot of the PIP caseload with active Motability contracts in July of each of the last 5 years. Jul-21Jul-22Jul-23Jul-24Jul-25North East21,50022,40025,10030,30034,500North West58,80061,30068,90083,90096,400Yorkshire and The Humber34,20035,70040,30050,10057,900East Midlands34,40036,10040,40048,40054,600West Midlands45,20047,10053,10063,70072,000East of England30,30032,00036,60045,00052,600London32,00034,70040,50052,20063,500South East36,50038,70044,30054,90065,000South West29,00030,40033,70040,60046,600Wales34,00035,20038,70045,20050,300 Notes- Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.- Figures include both Normal Rules and Special Rules for End of Life claimants.- Yearly figures are a snapshot of the PIP caseload with an active Motability contract in July of each of the last 5 years.

How many PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the East Midlands, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the East of England in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.

The information requested is provided in the table below as a snapshot of the PIP caseload with active Motability contracts in July of each of the last 5 years. Jul-21Jul-22Jul-23Jul-24Jul-25North East21,50022,40025,10030,30034,500North West58,80061,30068,90083,90096,400Yorkshire and The Humber34,20035,70040,30050,10057,900East Midlands34,40036,10040,40048,40054,600West Midlands45,20047,10053,10063,70072,000East of England30,30032,00036,60045,00052,600London32,00034,70040,50052,20063,500South East36,50038,70044,30054,90065,000South West29,00030,40033,70040,60046,600Wales34,00035,20038,70045,20050,300 Notes- Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.- Figures include both Normal Rules and Special Rules for End of Life claimants.- Yearly figures are a snapshot of the PIP caseload with an active Motability contract in July of each of the last 5 years.

How many staff in his Department had their probationary period extended in the last 12 months.

The information requested is not held centrally and due to the additional activity that would be required to provide it, would incur disproportionate cost.

How many staff in his Department did not retain employment following the completion of their probationary period in the last 12 months.

The information requested is not held centrally and due to the additional activity that would be required to provide it, would incur disproportionate cost.

How many (a) Equality Impact Assessments and (b) equality screenings have been produced by his Department in the last three months.

The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many people were employed by the (a) Pensions Regulator and (b) Health and Safety Executive in each year since 2005.

The Pensions Regulator and Health and Safety Executive are directly accountable to Parliament. The information requested is published in their respective annual report and accounts, which are laid before the House of Commons and publicly available.