Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 July 2026
Timms Review: Interim Report
With permission, I would like to make a statement on the Timms review of the personal independence payment—to make it fair and fit for the future, both for the disabled people who need it and for the taxpayer.
Today, the Government are publishing an interim report on behalf of the review’s steering…
Commons
Debate
6 July 2026
Employment and Training
I beg to move,
That the draft Industrial Training Levy (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2026, which was laid before this House on 1 June, be approved.
In my view, the provisions in this statutory instrument are compatible with the European convention on human rights.
The s…
Commons
Oral Questions
29 June 2026
3 contributions
Universal Credit: Care Leavers
We have been reminded already this afternoon of the experiences of Fatima Whitbread. Work is under way across Government to give care leavers access to the skills and wider support for sustained employment and career progression. Lower universal credit rates for younger claimants strengthen work inc…
It is very important that we do not weaken the incentives for care leavers to start work and to progress once they are in work. At the moment, 40% of young care leavers are not in employment, education or training. That is a horrific statistic, so our response is to provide tailored Jobcentre Plus s…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
29 June 2026
4 contributions
Benefit Cap
Being in work is the best way to avoid poverty. The benefit cap gives a modest but significant incentive to start work and then to progress in work. Some people cannot work, so the cap does not apply to people out of work on disability or caring benefits, but for others it remains in place.
We will certainly keep the policy under review, but at the moment too many people are in poverty through being out of work, and the cap does help by increasing the incentive to work. My hon. Friend is right to highlight the scrapping of the two-child limit—2 million children will gain overall from t…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
29 June 2026
Topical Questions
As the hon. Member knows, we are working through the cases of those who were required to repay an overpayment over recent years. I am receiving an update every week on the number of cases that have been gone through and the number of people who have had an overpayment reduced or cancelled, and I wou…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 June 2026
3 contributions
Workplace Exposure to Silica Dust
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Dr Allin-Khan. I congratulate the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Liz Jarvis) on securing this important debate. I also pay tribute to her for her consistent work on this issue in supporting her constituent, Caroline Hudson, whose brother-…
Not just at the moment. I may be able to later.
Last month, the HSE launched a campaign specifically on this area of risk, with dedicated pages and resources on the HSE’s Work Right website. Media activity supported the launch; there was coverage in national publications and trade media, as well as…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
7 contributions
Topical Questions
As the hon. Gentleman has rightly said, we have now started reviewing those 200,000 cases. We anticipate that there will probably be 25,000 people among the 200,000 who could have debts cancelled, or could possibly be refunded. If carer’s allowance has been overpaid and should not have been, we will…
I can certainly reassure my hon. Friend that we are ensuring genuine co-production. Two co-chairs, Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson, were appointed last October. The three of us have recruited a steering group of 12; they are almost entirely disabled people. Our fifth full-day steering grou…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
5 contributions
Disabled People: Benefits Reassessments
We are determined that disabled people should have the confidence to try work. Our “right to try” legislation will come into force on Thursday. People claiming universal credit, new style employment support allowance and personal independence payment can take steps towards employment and be confiden…
There is an urgent need to address the big rise in the number of young people not in work, education or training that took place before the last general election. We think that better support might help young people more than extra cash. Alan Milburn’s review on the NEET problem more broadly will re…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
2 contributions
Disability Living Allowance for Children
In the six months up to March last year, we appointed an additional 111 case managers to help deal with increased demand for child DLA. The current target is to clear 90% of new child DLA claims in 45 days. Performance has steadily improved, and I am pleased to say that in March we did hit that targ…
As I said to the hon. Member, we did hit the 90% target last month. That reflects a steady improvement over the last few months. We are also introducing a new online evidence portal to improve evidence gathering, in particular from schools and people in education professions. That will also reduce d…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
21 April 2026
4 contributions
Draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026.
I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I welcome all Members to the Committee. I am very pleased to introduce this…
I am grateful for the Committee’s support for this statutory instrument. I will have a go at answering the questions raised. Is there a possibility that any of these 173 substances will be banned at some point? Did I understand that correctly?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 April 2026
3 contributions
Carer’s Allowance Overpayments
I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Sir Roger. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) on securing this extremely timely debate, which is a welcome opportunity to set out some of the work that the Government have been doing in response to the conce…
My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I will come on to that, because there is some progress in that area.
As my hon. Friend said, having made the change to the earnings limit, we commissioned the independent review led by Liz Sayce, the former chief executive of Disability Rights UK and a well-r…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
9 March 2026
6 contributions
Topical Questions
The new disability advisory panel—chaired by Zara Todd, whom the hon. Gentleman may know—will be working with us on reform of Access to Work. We have increased the number of staff working on this from 500 to 650 in the past couple of years, which is reducing some of the delays that we saw as a resul…
My hon. Friend is right to raise this matter. She might know of the Connect to Work service we have introduced, which will be available across the whole country by summer. The methodology for it has been designed centrally, but it is being commissioned entirely locally. The feedback we are seeing so…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
9 March 2026
2 contributions
Work Capability Assessments
The hon. Lady’s hon. Friend, the Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) raised this important concern in a Westminster Hall debate last week. A backlog of reassessments for the work capability assessment did build up during 2024. I am pleased to say that that backlog will have been almost en…
The hon. Lady is right to raise this matter. She is also right that the Department prioritises initial assessments, so that people without any support at all get it as soon as possible. Reassessments are then carried out when there is capacity. As I said, the backlog that built up towards the end of…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
9 March 2026
3 contributions
Worker Protection: Hazardous Medicinal Products
The Health and Safety Executive is working to ensure that employers know their duties under COSHH—the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2022, as amended. Those regulations require a risk assessment and the prevention of, or adequate control of, exposure of employees to hazardous …
My hon. Friend make an interesting suggestion, and I know there has been some campaigning around this issue. The Health and Safety Executive has not seen evidence that the current arrangements are inadequate. They appear to be robust and well established, and they seem to be doing the job that is ne…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
Work Capability Assessment Timescales
I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship this morning. I congratulate the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) on securing this debate.
I welcome the opportunity to consider journey times in the work capability assessment, both for initial assessments and reassessments. I take…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
10 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
It is a privilege to bring this Bill back before the House. This Government believe that everybody should have opportunity in life: opportunity to achieve their potential and their ambitions, whatever their background. However, at the moment too many children are held back by the scourge of poverty,…
We are confident that we can do that from April onwards. Reinstating support for all children in universal credit is a key step to tackling the structural drivers of child poverty. This Bill, combined with other measures in our child poverty strategy, will lift over half a million children out of po…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
10 February 2026
9 contributions
Pensions and Social Security
I beg to move,
That the draft Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2026, which was laid before this House on 12 January, be approved.
In my view, the provisions in the instruments are compatible with the European convention on human rights. The draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order will increase relevant state pension rates by 4.8%, in line with the growth in average earnings in the year to May to July 2025. It will incre…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
4 February 2026
5 contributions
Construction Industry Training Board: Funding
Let me start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Steve Race) on securing this debate and welcoming the interest in it. I also welcome the opportunity for the House to consider the reforms that the Construction Industry Training Board is making with the aim of strengthening the sk…
I think on this topic there will be less difference across the Dispatch Boxes than was the case with the topic we debated yesterday. The pilots with the mayoral strategic authorities will try out new approaches, and the idea is that the successful approaches can be rolled out wherever appropriate, n…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
4 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Like the shadow Minister, I will start by quoting my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. At the start of the debate, he said that this Government have chosen to reject the politics of division and of rage. Instead, we have chosen to seek to bring the country together and …
I will not just at the moment. Poverty does immense harm, as we have heard, to children and their future prospects. In the classroom, children eligible for free school meals are on the wrong end of an education gap that reaches 19 months by age 16. They earn around 25% less at age 30. Recent researc…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
28 January 2026
3 contributions
Access to Work: People with Disabilities
Our Pathways to Work guarantees will tackle the unnecessary barriers that keep disabled people out of work, Connect to Work employment support will be nationwide by April, last week we expanded WorkWell, and regular meetings of the lead Ministers on disability ensure cross-Government working.
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the disability employment gap is too big. Every Department has a lead Minister on disability and I chair regular meetings. The Minister for Roads and Buses champions disabled people at the Department for Transport, and the rail accessibility road map sets out plan…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
6 contributions
Topical Questions
I think the hon. Gentleman would agree that Liz Sayce did a superb job. We commissioned her review straight after the general election, and we have accepted all but two of the recommendations that she made in her report. We are working through the detail of how to implement those recommendations, an…
I am sorry to hear of the hon. Gentleman’s experience. We are in the most difficult part of the transition, as people who were previously on employment and support allowance move over to universal credit. We have introduced an enhanced support journey to try to simplify it, and I am keeping a very c…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
PIP Review: Musculoskeletal Conditions
As I have said, the review will be co-produced with disabled people to put lived experience at its heart. It will engage widely to bring together the full range of voices, including those of people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions.
The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting suggestion, and I will be happy to have the roundtable he has called for.
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
3 contributions
Personal Independence Payment Review
My two co-chairs, Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson, were appointed in October. We have appointed a firm to facilitate the co-production of the review, and, drawing on an open expression of interest, we have appointed a steering group of 12, which will come together for the first time this w…
The steering group that we have appointed is made up overwhelmingly of disabled people, many of whom currently claim PIP or have done so in the past, so the perspective that my hon. Friend rightly asks about will be at the heart of the review. The review is co-produced, and effective co-production n…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
4 contributions
PIP: Number of Claimants
There were 2 million working-age personal independence payment claimants before the pandemic. That number is now over 3 million and is set to exceed 4 million by the end of the decade. My review will aim to make sure that PIP is fair and fit for the future.
As the hon. Gentleman will appreciate, I have not seen the details of that particular case, but I would be happy to have a look at it if he would like me to. There is, of course, the opportunity for mandatory reconsideration and in due course for appeal, but I would be happy to look at those details…
+2 more contributions in this session