Topical Questions
Monday, 12 October 2026
Contributions
Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)Conservative
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden)Labour
Since our last oral questions session, we have announced an agreement with the British Retail Consortium to hire 100,000 young people not in education, employment or training over the next few years; we have announced an extension of disability bus pass usage to cover peak hours; we have rolled out more of the youth guarantee; and, as has been referred to, we have announced our intention to adjust the triple lock, ensuring rising and sustainable pensions for the future and also releasing funds for a new national care service, which is a matter of huge importance to pensioners and their families.
This morning, The Times has reported that over two thirds of those on sickness benefits are awaiting their reassessment and remain unchecked, with average waits being over two years. What is the Secretary of State’s Department doing to meet its moral duty to help those who can work back into employment and its economic duty to save the taxpayer billions of pounds, with only those who genuinely need help receiving it?
I am glad that the hon. Member has given me the opportunity to point out what we inherited—exactly what was set out in The Times this morning—which was a backlog of 2 million people awaiting reassessment. As he knows, the Tories left a system with almost no face-to-face assessments. Since then, we announced at the Budget last year a plan to tackle the backlog in work capability assessments and reassessments. The Office for Budget Responsibility has costed that activity at saving over—
Mr SpeakerSpeaker
Order. Secretary of State, please, I am trying to get your Back Benchers in. Obviously, you do not want to get the questions in, even if I do.
Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)Labour
T2. Parents of neurodivergent young people in my community readily tell me about the barriers their children face in accessing work opportunities. I am delighted that a youth hub is opening in Aldershot and Farnborough this year, but how will the Government ensure that every young person in my community receives all the support they need as that hub opens?
The Minister for Employment (Andrew Western)Labour
I welcome the plans for a youth hub in my hon. Friend’s constituency and thank her for the work she has done on campaigning for it. The core blueprint for youth hubs ensures that every hub provides access to employment support alongside mental health, housing skills and employer engagement, and aims to support all young people in a locality to address their barriers to work on an individual basis, including those with neurodivergent conditions.
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Helen Whately (Faversham and Mid Kent) (Con)Conservative
The working-age welfare bill is set to reach £170 billion by the end of this Parliament, up £45 billion on the welfare party’s watch. All around the country, the residents of “Benefits Street” are doing better under Labour. The welfare Secretary is always across his brief, so can he tell me the benefits bill for his constituency?
The welfare budget rose twice as fast during the hon. Lady’s party’s last Parliament in power as it is during this Parliament. We are reforming the system through changes to universal credit, more personalised employment support and the youth guarantee that we have referred to a number of times during this session.
I am surprised that the right hon. Gentleman did not know the answer, but I can help him. It is £400 million a year. That is why he is dragging his heels on welfare reform. The number of personal independence payment claimants in his constituency exceeds his majority, and the same can be said for 203 of his fellow Labour MPs. It is no wonder all his colleagues ask him who they can tax in order to spend more on benefits. Will this month’s Budget just be more of the same—hiking taxes on working families to pay for “Benefits Street”?
I remind the hon. Lady that the system she criticises is the one designed, created and legislated for by her Government and her party. We are changing the system through the changes in universal credit announced in April this year, through more personalised support for the people with long-term health conditions who were signed off and written off by her party, and through more intervention on youth opportunity for the young people who were neglected while the NEET numbers went through the roof on their watch.
Paul Davies (Colne Valley) (Lab)Labour
T3. Earlier this year, I met Benenden Health, a healthcare provider that offers support to women going through the menopause. Its research shows that 17% of women in Yorkshire who have experienced menopause symptoms have reduced their working hours, and that 7% have left their jobs due to these symptoms and a lack of support. In the light of this, will the Minister commit to assessing whether the menopause aspects of employer action plans are improving retention and reducing workforce exits among women experiencing menopause?
We recognise the significant impact that menopause symptoms can have on retaining women in the workforce. That is why we launched evidence-informed action plans to help employers provide effective menopause support. We have published guidance to help employers monitor their progress, and we are committed to evaluating the impact of action plans, including through a post-implementation review.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Whether it is processing access to work claims or reassessing sickness benefits, the Department for Work and Pensions has a culture of dither and delay when processing such matters. Can the Secretary of State advise us when the Department will get a grip on this?
The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)Labour
We are getting a grip. The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that we are recruiting 500 extra staff to process access to work applications. Those staff are being recruited and trained at the moment and as a result of that, we will eliminate the access to work backlog that we inherited from the previous Government by September next year.
Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)Labour
T5. I am delighted that North Kensington will soon be opening a youth hub to support young people back into work. One challenge that people tell me we have locally is hidden NEETs—those who might be enrolled in college and not attending, or not claiming universal credit—so can the Minister explain what expectation there will be for the youth hubs to reach this hard-to-reach cohort of young people?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the challenge of hidden NEETs. Youth hubs are open to all young people aged 16 to 24, regardless of benefit status, and we expect them to work closely with local authorities, schools, colleges and community organisations to identify and engage young people who may be missing out on support. There is a particular challenge with hidden NEETs, and I expect that we will be able to bear down on that problem through such place-based intelligence sharing.
Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)Liberal Democrat
T4. In answer to the earlier question from my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), the Minister confirmed that his ongoing review into parental leave and pay explicitly includes self-employed people. He will be aware of the gap whereby self-employed adopters are not eligible for the support for which birth parents and employed adopters are eligible. Is his review looking at closing that gap, so that potential future adopters are not prevented from growing their families and giving some of our most vulnerable young people the families they deserve?
I am happy to check that point with the team doing the work, and will drop the hon. Lady a line to confirm.
Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)Labour
T8. The Government’s recent investment in Connect to Work and the youth hub in Newport is welcome. Will the Minister assure my constituent, who raised with me the struggle her son, who is neurodiverse, has had in finding support into work, that these initiatives will be long-term, meaningful commitments?
I can give my hon. Friend that reassurance. The Government are investing an additional £2.5 billion in the youth guarantee, which includes funding for youth hubs and the growth and skills levy by 2029, supporting almost 1 million young people and creating up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn. Connect to Work, which will support around 300,000 people, is intended to run until March 2030, with multi-year grant agreements to support long-term local planning and delivery.
Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)Conservative
T6. I recently met Lesley and her adult daughter Alice, who has profound disabilities and requires two carers around the clock. Lesley loves caring for her daughter, but she is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit skilled carers, leaving her filling exhausting gaps and unable to earn a living. What is the Minister doing to ensure that families like Lesley’s receive the support that they desperately need?
We owe an enormous debt to carers right across the country who carry the kind of burden that the hon. Lady describes. We are doing some important work at the moment on carer’s allowance, which is the benefit that provides support in these circumstances, and have consulted on some ideas for change. We particularly want to make it easier for people to combine work and caring. That may well help in the situation the hon. Lady describes.
Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)Labour
Young workers are facing real challenges in their living standards, particularly because their housing costs dwarf those faced by the generations that came before them. That is leading many to reduce the contributions they make to their workplace pensions, or even to forgo making them entirely, at the risk of having inadequate pensions when they retire. Will the Pensions Commission make recommendations on how to address those challenges?
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Torsten Bell)Labour
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise the challenges facing younger workers. They face exactly the same cost of living challenges as the rest of society, but often with added pressure when it comes to housing. The good news is that between 2012 and 2025, participation among employees aged 22 to 25 who are eligible for automatic enrolment increased from 28% to 85%. He is completely right that there is much more to do, and I can confirm that the Pensions Commission is exploring exactly these long-term questions.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)Conservative
My constituents are facing extremely large delays in getting a response from the DWP. One of my constituents has now been waiting for two months for a response with regard to his dispute with the Child Maintenance Service, despite receiving a final letter before action. Another constituent has been waiting for four months for a response to his PIP review claim. Why are we seeing such long delays, what is the Minister doing to resolve them, and why have my constituents not had a response in months?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Lilian Greenwood)Labour
We know that increased volumes and more complex cases have led to increased response times, and we are working hard to bring those down by deploying additional resources, strengthening oversight and improving case management. I agree that this is not acceptable. We are working to improve the situation.
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Highgate) (Lab)Labour
It took the DWP hotline 29 working days to respond to me about a constituent’s PIP arrears, and 39 working days to reply to a email about a reduction in state pension for one of my constituents. Can the Minister help me with this, please?
As I have said, we recognise that response times are not good enough, and I am putting extra resources in to improve them. Of course, if my hon. Friend wants to raise particular cases with me, I will look into them and ensure that she gets a speedy outcome.
John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)Conservative
In Scotland, benefit crime has effectively been decriminalised, and the Scottish Conservatives have raised the case of people being coached on how to fiddle the system. When I have asked the DWP about it, the reply has basically been, “Nothing to do with us, guv.” Is there not a moral imperative to do something about that issue?
Yes, there is. We are looking at some of the developments in social media and at the kinds of coaching, including where people are being charged for advice that they could obtain for free and without difficulty. We are looking at all of that at the moment.
Al Carns (Birmingham Selly Oak) (Lab)Labour
Birmingham has been piloting a jobs guarantee scheme since April. An employment roundtable that I ran in Selly Oak saw lots of young people who lack confidence in their communication skills to enable them get back into work after being on universal credit for 18 months. Will the Secretary of State commit to publishing how many pilot participants are still in work once the six months is over?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend; I enjoyed the visit to his constituency a few weeks ago to support young disabled people. He is right in what he says about long-term youth unemployment. That is why we have the jobs guarantee, and we will publish a full evaluation of its effects.
Lara Bird (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) (SNP)Scottish National Party
It is always very obvious when a Labour Government are in place, because the first thing a Labour Prime Minister will do is take a swing at pensioners—so it is not at all surprising that the Prime Minister is already abandoning his promises to WASPI women. How can pensioners, WASPI women and the public in general trust the DWP when the Prime Minister seems to find it so easy to say yes and make grand promises, when there are no consequences and those promises seem to have absolutely no meaning in practice?
This Government promised in our 2024 manifesto to ensure that the state pension in Scotland, England and Wales would rise every single year, and that is exactly what this Government are getting on with doing.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)Labour
I established the “Get Hyndburn Working” group, and together we are looking at how we can bring our youth hub into a town centre location and also bring health, training and education services all under one roof. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how the Government can support us to make that a reality?
We should all be behind “Get Hyndburn Working”. I am certainly behind it, and I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5413434.