Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rebecca Smith this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1–20 of 22 · Department for Work and Pensions
Pursuant to the answer of 20 April 2026 to Question 126865 on Motability: Rural Areas, what estimate his Department has made of the average annual mileage driven by Motability Scheme customers living in rural areas, and if he will make a statement.
Awaiting answer.
How many households in receipt of Universal Credit have (a) no member of the household in employment, (b) no member of the household in receipt of a (i) health and (ii) disability related benefit and (c) at least one child aged four and under.
Awaiting answer.
How many resident parents in receipt of Universal Credit receive Child Maintenance from more than one paying parent.
Awaiting answer.
What assessment Skills England has made of the aviation sector’s reliance on overseas-based licensed engineers.
Awaiting answer.
Whether Skills England has undertaken an assessment of current and projected workforce shortages in aviation engineering, including the implications of new apprentice registrations remaining below pre-pandemic levels.
Awaiting answer.
How many veterans with amputations or other permanent injuries were reassessed for disability-related benefits in each of the last three years.
Awaiting answer.
Whether he has made an assessment of the impact of treating Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments as income for means-tested benefit assessments.
Lump sum compensation from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is not treated as income, rather as capital which Universal Credit disregards for 12 months and may be disregarded indefinitely when it is held in a trust or used to purchase an annuity. The ...
What the (a) mean and (b) median average waiting time was between application for Access to Work and an initial assessment, in each of the past two years, broken down by region.
Access to Work does not record the information requested in a way that allows data to be extracted by region. Providing this would require manual examination of individual case records and would therefore incur disproportionate cost. Access to Work applic...
How many Access to Work applicants waited more than (a) six months, (b) nine months and (c) one year for approval of their application in each of the past two years, broken down by region.
Access to Work does not record the information in a way that allows data to be extracted by six, nine, or twelve month waiting periods.Providing the information requested would require manual examination of individual case records and would therefore incu...
What assessment he has made of differences in waiting times for Access to Work, including (a) initial assessment, (b) approval and (c) commencement of support between regions.
The Department does not hold the information in a format that allows waiting times to be analysed by region. Access to Work applications are managed through a national queue and processed in date order, meaning that a customer’s region does not determine ...
With reference to the Answer of 20 April 2026 to Question 125945 on Universal Credit, what data his Department holds on the relationship between hours worked and reductions in Universal Credit awards th
The department does not hold information about Universal Credit awards reduced by the earnings taper at claimant level. UC awards are affected by the amount that households earn, rather than the number of hours that they work. The department holds informa...
What the average waiting time was between approval of an Access to Work application and commencement of support in each of the past two years, broken down by region.
Information on the average time between approval of an Access to Work application and the commencement of support is not held. Providing this information would require a manual review of individual case records, which would incur a disproportionate cost.
How many Universal Credit claimants had their award reduced through the earnings taper in each of the last five years; and how many claimants experienced monthly reductions of (a) less than £100, (b) £1
The department does not hold information about Universal Credit awards reduced by the earnings taper at claimant level. UC awards are affected by the amount that households earn, rather than the number of hours that they work. The department holds informa...
With reference o the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75830 on Access to Work Programme, how many of the 118 staff remain assigned to Access to Work.
Of the 118 staff referred to in the answer to Question UIN 75830 of 16 September 2025, 94 remain assigned to Access to Work. DWP recently announced the recruitment of additional staff into Access to Work (AtW), aimed at addressing the backlog in this vita...
If he will publish figures for the percentage of Universal Credit claimants who are working, broken down by hourly increments, in each of the past five years.
Statistics on the number of people on Universal Credit are regularly published on Stat-Xplore, with the latest statistics by employment status available to February 2026. As there is no limit to how many hours a person can work and still get Universal Credit, information on the number of hours worked for those in employment is not collated.
What recent assessment he has made of the potential economic impact of levels of underemployment among refugees with a right to work; and what steps his Department is taking to improve skills recognition and employment matching for such individuals.
The government agrees that we need to make full use of the skills and qualifications of refugees. We want everyone who can to succeed in work, contribute to economic growth and have roles which align with their potential. That is why DWP work coaches are trained to support claimants, including refugees, into work looking both at how their existing skills can be best matched to employment vacancies as well as identifying any skill gaps and providing support to address these. For those who have qualifications obtained overseas, work coaches signpost to the European National Information Centre (ENIC), who provide guidance and advice on getting foreign qualifications recognised in the UK. In addition, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. As part of this, we will improve our support for employers to help them find the right candidates to fill their vacancies.
Whether his Department has made a recent evaluation of the effectiveness of the under-occupation deduction policy for social rented housing.
The Department has not recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy. Information on the number of households subjected to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, by nations and regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Households on Universal Credit dataset, and the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset, and are currently available to August 2025. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.
Whether his Department will publish (a) national and (b) regional breakdowns of under-occupied social rented housing.
The Department has not recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy. Information on the number of households subjected to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, by nations and regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Households on Universal Credit dataset, and the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset, and are currently available to August 2025. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of naming supported lodgings as specified accommodation under housing benefit regulations.
No such assessment is planned.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of disregarding payments from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme when calculating eligibility for Pension Credit.
I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 18 November 2024 to question UIN 14156.