Lee Anderson MP: written questions
942 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Universal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71043More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of foreign nationals receiving Universal Credit arrived in the UK in the last five years.
Answer: The Department does not hold this information for all claimants over the last five years.
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordImmigrationHome OfficeTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71042More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people will become eligible for indefinite leave to remain in the next five years.
Answer: Eligibility for indefinite leave to remain is assessed upon application, by individual caseworkers, and as such, there are no fixed estimates of the number of individuals who will become eligible at any point.
Answered 17 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsHome OfficeTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71041More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure coordination between her Department and the Department for Work and Pensions when monitoring foreign nationals' eligibility for Universal Credit.
Answer: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) applies strict compliance and benefit eligibility checks to all claimants regardless of their nationality. In addition to verifying a claimant’s identity, DWP always checks a person’s immigration status before pa...
Answered 22 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71040More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure compliance with benefit eligibility rules by foreign nationals.
Answer: The Department applies strict compliance and benefit eligibility checks to all claimants regardless of their nationality. In addition to verifying a claimant’s identity, DWP checks that claimants are habitually resident here before they can receive public...
Answered 8 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: FraudDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71039More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the estimated cost of (a) fraud and (b) error in Universal Credit claims was in each of the last five years.
Answer: Estimates of the overpayment cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK
Answered 4 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: AsylumDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71038More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the financial sustainability of the number of asylum seekers in receipt of Universal Credit.
Answer: People who are in the UK with no immigration status who are applying for asylum are not permitted access to public funds and therefore cannot claim Universal Credit.
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71037More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the (a) structure or (b) allocation of the welfare budget.
Answer: This Government is committed to a social security system which raises employment and living standards by supporting and incentivising people into work and to work more, reduces poverty by supporting people at times of higher cost and dependency, and promo...
Answered 7 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71036More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increasing number of people receiving Universal Credit to the British taxpayer.
Answer: This Government is committed to a social security system which raises employment and living standards by supporting and incentivising people into work and to work more, reduces poverty by supporting people at times of higher cost and dependency, and promo...
Answered 7 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71035More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Universal Credit expenditure on the sustainability of the overall welfare budget.
Answer: This Government is committed to a social security system which raises employment and living standards by supporting and incentivising people into work and to work more, reduces poverty by supporting people at times of higher cost and dependency, and promo...
Answered 7 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71034More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) make work pay and (b) stop long term dependency on Universal Credit.
Answer: Through our Make Work Pay reforms – and the increases we made in April to the National Living and Minimum Wages – we are working to put more money into the pockets of working people and ensure that work remains a reliable route to financial security. Our ...
Answered 7 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordWork Capability AssessmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71033More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Work Capability Assessment.
Answer: As we outlined in our Pathways to Work Green Paper, we are scrapping the controversial Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to end the dysfunctional process which drives people into dependency, delivering on the Government’s commitment to reform or replace it...
Answered 7 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71032More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the number of foreign nationals in receipt of each benefit across working age welfare spending.
Answer: There are no plans to start consistently collecting nationality data across all working age benefits. This is because DWP policy responsibility lies in establishing a customer’s eligibility to claim benefits. An individual’s specific nationality does not ...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUnemploymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71031More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of regional differences in economic inactivity rates by (a) gender, (b) age, (c) ethnicity and (d) religion.
Answer: (a)(b)(c): The information requested is published and available at:https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp Guidance for users can be found at:https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp (d): The most recent data is published and available at: Economic acti...
Answered 5 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71030More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure immigration status is recorded on digital systems when Universal Credit claims are processed.
Answer: Universal Credit records the immigration status of a claimant.
Answered 3 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71029More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of Universal Credit claims made by foreign nationals in each of the last five years.
Answer: Universal Credit awards are paid to households, which may include both British and foreign nationals who are eligible. Therefore, the information requested is not readily available at the required quality and to provide it would incur disproportionate cos...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUnemploymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71028More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of economic inactivity rates amongst (a) foreign and (b) UK nationals.
Answer: The latest inactivity rates for UK and non-UK nationals are published and available at:A12: Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by nationality and country of birth - Office for National Statistics
Answered 5 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71027More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data her Department holds on the proportion of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit who are exempt from the habitual residence test.
Answer: This information is not readily available and to identify, collate and provide it would incur disproportionate cost. British and foreign nationals who are fleeing persecution and humanitarian crises overseas are exempt from the normal requirement to be ha...
Answered 15 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71026More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the long term financial sustainability of the number of people on Universal Credit.
Answer: This Government is committed to a social security system which raises employment and living standards by supporting and incentivising people into work and to work more, reduces poverty by supporting people at times of higher cost and dependency, and promo...
Answered 7 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71025More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of foreign national Universal Credit claimants on the (a) delivery and (b) availability of employment support services
Answer: The Department considers migration trends when planning resources for delivering support including employment services and training to ensure that all claimants, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, can access this support if they are en...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71024More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit on future (a) public spending and (b) taxation.
Answer: The Department takes into account migration trends and benefit entitlement conditions when producing twice-yearly benefit expenditure and caseload forecasts as part of the fiscal event process, but these forecasts do not break down expenditure by national...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71023More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the long term financial sustainability of the (a) eligibility criteria for foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit and (b) the number of foreign nationals claiming Un
Answer: The Department takes into account migration trends and benefit entitlement conditions when producing twice-yearly benefit expenditure and caseload forecasts as part of the fiscal event process, but these forecasts do not break down expenditure by national...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71022More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) prevention and (b) detection measures used to identify fraudulent claims for Universal Credit by foreign nationals.
Answer: This government takes all cases of fraud seriously and has introduced the biggest package of measures in recent history to reduce welfare fraud, error and debt, which includes new legislation, the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. This ...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71021More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to evaluate demographic trends by nationality of Universal Credit claimants.
Answer: The Department regularly monitors demographic trends including publishing statistics on Universal Credit claims by Immigration Status and Nationality. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71020More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer on removing the current eligibility criteria for foreign nationals to
Answer: The Department is playing an active role in work across Government connected to the Home Office’s recent White Paper ‘Restoring Control Over the Immigration System’. This includes membership in the Labour Market Advisory Group alongside the Migration Advi...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment: Foreign NationalsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71019More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost of employment (a) services and (b) training for foreign nationals in each of the last five years.
Answer: The Department considers migration trends when planning resources for delivering support including employment services and training to ensure that all claimants, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, can access this support if they are en...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament record
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