Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rebecca Long Bailey this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1–20 of 25 · Department for Work and Pensions
What estimate he has made of the further legal costs that may be incurred by the Department in relation to ongoing litigation concerning compensation for women affected by maladministration in State Pen
Women Against State Pension Inequality Ltd (WASPI) are seeking permission from the High Court to bring a Judicial Review on our response to the Ombudsman’s report. We do not comment on live litigation.
What assessment he has made of the comparative cost to the public purse of (a) compensating women affected by maladministration in State Pension Age communications and (b) losses to the Department arisi
Women Against State Pension Inequality Ltd (WASPI) are seeking permission from the High Court to bring a Judicial Review on our response to the Ombudsman’s report. We are not able to comment on live litigation, but full details of our decision in this cas...
Whether the Department has considered participating in Alternative Dispute Resolution or mediation in relation to the ongoing legal proceedings brought by WASPI.
Women Against State Pension Inequality Ltd (WASPI) are seeking permission from the High Court to bring a Judicial Review on our response to the Ombudsman’s report. We are not able to comment on live litigation, but full details of our decision in this cas...
On how many occasions Ministers or officials from his Department have met representatives of the WASPI Campaign since September 2024.
During this time, the previous Minister for Pensions met with representatives, the first Minister to do so in eight years.
Whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of safeguarding measures for in-person work experience placements at i) outlets centrally owned by and ii) franchisee-owned stores operated by McDonald'
The Department is pleased to work with employers such as McDonald’s UK to provide work experience opportunities. All employers hosting placements are required to comply with relevant legislation and are expected to provide a safe working environment inclu...
What consideration he has made of joining inclusive mediation with 1950s born women about the maladministration of state pension age changes.
Awaiting answer.
Whether he has had discussions with McDonalds UK on the adequacy of safeguarding measures in relation to the "in-person work experience placements" at (i) outlets centrally owned by McDonald's UK and (ii) franchisee-owned stores operated by McDonald's UK in relation to the potential risk of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Awaiting answer.
If he will publish a list of organisations represented at his Department's conference on food poverty on 14 and 15 January 2026.
The DWP Food Poverty Conference took place at the Abbey Centre on 15 January 2026.Our aim was to bring together a range of local authorities, other government departments, charities and academics to share and discuss a range of good practice happening on the ground to respond to increasing need in relation to food poverty. We received a high level of interest in the conference. Due to venue capacity, places were offered on a first come first served basis. We saw over 30 local authorities represented from different regions across England. Examples include the Greater London Authority, Medway Council, Bristol City Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, North Yorkshire Council, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and East Lindsey District Council. Local government sat alongside over a dozen national third sector organisations – such as Trussell, Feeding Britain, Sustain and Community Shop – as well as officials from across five government departments, including DWP, DfE, Defra, DHSC and MHCLG. We’ve been encouraged by the positive feedback on the conference and the strong engagement shown across sectors. As a result, we are exploring the possibility of hosting a second conference online later in the year to enable more organisations to participate. We will provide further details as plans materialise.
What plans he has to allow for an adequate level of parliamentary scrutiny of the delivery of the planned child poverty strategy.
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Strategy publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate delivery of the strategy from this year and in future years.
Whether the Child Poverty Strategy will end the two-child limit on Universal Credit.
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Strategy will look at all available levers, including social security changes, across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. The commitments we have made at the 2025 Spending Review and since are a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, which will build on the expansion of free breakfast clubs, extension of free school meals to all households claiming Universal Credit, national minimum wage boost and the cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.
Whether he plans to include targets on reducing child poverty within the planned child poverty strategy.
The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy from this year and in future years. Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change. More details will be set out in the strategy publication.
What steps the Health and Safety Executive is taking to help tackle incidents of workplace sexual harassment; and what procedures it follows to identify workplace sexual harassment during workplace inspections.
Whilst the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 could apply to harassment offences in the workplace, the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) long standing position is that it does not seek to regulate or apply health and safety at work legislation where another regulator has specific responsibility or there is more directly applicable legislation. A specific purpose of The Equality Act 2000 is to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace and from 26 October 2024, employers are under a new legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of staff at work. The Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service have published extensive guidance on sexual harassment in the workplace, provide advice to individuals and organisations, and will help individual people with their legal cases in seeking civil remedies to instances of sexual harassment. HSE works closely with other regulators to promote co-operation, share intelligence and where appropriate, co-ordinate on joint regulatory activities. Workplace sexual harassment is unlawful under legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) directly addresses incidents of discrimination and sexual harassment under the Equality Act 2010, ensuring that employers meet their obligations to prevent these issues. As there are other better placed regulators, HSE inspectors do not raise the issue during workplace inspections.
Which enforcement body is responsible for ensuring that employers are in compliance with Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; and what steps her Department has taken to assess the effectiveness of that body.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (alongside Local Authorities) is responsible for ensuring that employers are in compliance with Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) assesses the effectiveness of HSE by various means, including quarterly accountability reviews, at which HSE’s performance measures are considered. Furthermore, DWP has carried out a full review of each of its arm’s-length bodies, employing an independent reviewer. This review examines in detail how the body is performing across various areas, and is published on gov.uk. The last review was completed in 2023.
What (a) equality and (b) human rights impact assessments have been conducted on the proposed changes to the operational delivery of Access to Work.
Since the beginning of this Parliament the Department for Work and Pensions has taken steps to improve operational guidance and process to ensure Access to Work grants are awarded consistently and as quickly as possible. No significant changes have been made which would entail a consultation or impact assessment. As part of our Plan for Change, and as set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published in March, we are consulting on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the programme to help more disabled people into work and support employers, ensuring value for money for taxpayers. We will review all aspects of the Scheme following the conclusion of the consultation and carefully assess the impact of any proposed changes. We encourage people to have their views and voices heard on how they think the programme and the welfare system could be improved.
What consultation her Department has conducted with (a) users, (b) support workers and (c) deliverers of Access to Work before implementing changes to the operational delivery of Access to Work.
Since the beginning of this Parliament the Department for Work and Pensions has taken steps to improve operational guidance and process to ensure Access to Work grants are awarded consistently and as quickly as possible. No significant changes have been made which would entail a consultation or impact assessment. As part of our Plan for Change, and as set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published in March, we are consulting on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the programme to help more disabled people into work and support employers, ensuring value for money for taxpayers. We will review all aspects of the Scheme following the conclusion of the consultation and carefully assess the impact of any proposed changes. We encourage people to have their views and voices heard on how they think the programme and the welfare system could be improved.
By how much has the level of funding for the Access to Work scheme changed in the last 12 months.
Access to Work expenditure data is published in the annual Access to Work Official Statistics publication. The most recently available data available is for the financial year 2023/24: Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2024 - GOV.UK. The Department intends to publish expenditure data for the financial year 2024/25 in the next official statistics release which we expect to publish in September or October 2025. Forecast expenditure for this period, which includes some outturn data, is published in the Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables 2025: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK
What steps she has taken to reduce wait times for Access to Work support.
We are committed to reducing waiting times for Access to Work and are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. Delivery practices have been streamlined, and the number of staff processing claims increased. Since May 2024, 118 additional staff have been redeployed to support Access to Work. We prioritise applications from customers due to start a role within four weeks. In March 2025, the department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, to consult on the future of Access to Work. We will review all aspects of the Scheme following the conclusion of the consultation.
If she will publish the number and proportion of 2006 Attitudes to Pension Survey participants who (a) were women, (b) were born in the 1950s and (c) reported awareness of the changes to the State Pensi
Our response to the PHSO report on the communication of changes to State Pension age was based on evidence of awareness of the change from two key reports. The Public Awareness of State Pension Age Equalisation, published in 2004, was conducted as part of...
How many and what proportion of the 2006 Attitudes to Pension Survey participants aged between 18 and 69 were women born in the 1950s.
Our response to the PHSO report on the communication of changes to State Pension age was based on evidence of awareness of the change from two key reports. The Public Awareness of State Pension Age Equalisation, published in 2004, was conducted as part of...
If she will publish the data her Department holds from the 2006 Attitudes to Pension Survey on the levels of awareness of the proposed increase in State Pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Our response to the PHSO report on the communication of changes to State Pension age was based on evidence of awareness of the change from two key reports. The Public Awareness of State Pension Age Equalisation, published in 2004, was conducted as part of...