To ensure customers with complex barriers receive the right support from Jobcentres, our Disability Employment Advisers offer direct support (1-2-1) to customers on top of the help provided by their work coach or Pathways to Work Adviser. Using their knowledge of the local community, Disability Employment Advisers also collaborate with local organisations (e.g. GPs, NHS, charities) to facilitate support that meets customer needs.

Throughout the customer health journey, Disability Employment Advisers assist work coaches and Pathways to Work Advisers with tailoring their support to help disabled customers and those with long-term health conditions move closer to and into the labour market. This includes ensuring that the customer’s support needs are noted in the additional support record on the Universal Credit live service operating system.

DWP has established processes to identify, record and share relevant information about claimants’ circumstances, including vulnerabilities, so staff can provide appropriate support.

Colleagues carry out vulnerability checks and record outcomes on DWP systems, considering health conditions, disabilities, life events and personal circumstances.

Where additional needs are identified, information is recorded on relevant systems, including the Customer Information System and Universal Credit, covering complex needs, reasonable adjustments and support arrangements. Managers also assure themselves that processes are operating correctly.

Claimants can advise us verbally of any health conditions and vulnerability needs, or they can update digitally via their Journal on their Universal Credit. This helps staff tailor appointments and contact.

Frontline Jobcentre staff are trained to identify and support vulnerable customers, including through mental health awareness and reasonable adjustments guidance. More complex cases can be escalated where needed.

Together, these measures help ensure relevant information is captured and accessible, enabling personalised support.

The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee, to ensure that all 16–24-year-olds in Great Britain can access support to find work, training, or an apprenticeship. We have launched Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announced funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and we recently launched an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

We are now going further through an expansion of the Youth Guarantee. This expansion is backed by a £820 million investment over the Spending Review period to reach almost 900,000 young people, including through Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24 –year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training and provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

The national rollout of the Youth Guarantee Gateway will start in April 2026 and follow a phased implementation to ensure adequate provision and infrastructure are in place to meet demand.

Detailed planning is underway to deliver both the Youth Guarantee Gateway and expansion of Youth Hubs. The Government will ensure Jobcentres are resourced to deliver the Youth Guarantee.

DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.

We have established Youth Hubs already set up in the West Midlands.

The West Midlands is a Youth Guarantee trailblazer area working in partnership with seven local authorities and a network of providers, to provide programmes focusing on subsidised Work Experience, pre-apprenticeship training and NEET prevention.

Accurate information on the number of level 6 and 7 qualified careers advisers employed by the National Careers Service is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Following a Written Ministerial Statement made on 16th September 2025 (HCWS930), responsibility for adult skills in England transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The current National Careers Service contracts with the Department for Education (DfE) are due to expire on 30th September 2026 and adult careers advice will be brought in house to DWP from 1st October 2026.

The implications of this change in service arrangements will be worked through carefully with the relevant organisations, and where the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) TUPE Regulations apply, they will be followed.

Consequently, we will not know the number of level 6 and 7 advisers under the new Jobs and Careers Service until the process is complete and the new service starts.

We recognise that as a department we come into contact with some claimants who have complex needs or are vulnerable. The department already has processes in place to support and safeguard people who use our services, and we will continue to provide this support as changes are taken forward.

The Department continually impacts and assesses the service being offered to customers. Staff numbers, including the number of Work Coaches, and demand for Jobcentre services are reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the latest economic and benefit forecasts.

The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Department continually impacts and assesses the service being offered to customers. Staff numbers, including the number of Work Coaches, and demand for Jobcentre services are reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the latest economic and benefit forecasts.

The Home Office does not provide specific funding for the offices of Police and Crime Commissioners. Core funding for policing is determined annually through the Police Funding Settlement. Total direct funding in 2025-26 is up to £17.6 billion.

It is for PCCs to determine the level of support they need to exercise their statutory functions and deliver their objectives. The size and composition of the Office of the PCC and decisions as to salaries are also a matter for PCCs.

PCCs are under a duty to publish certain information to ensure transparency in their decision-making and enable the public to hold them to account. This includes information relating to budgets and the composition of their office.

The Home Office regularly meets with the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to discuss policing issues facing the capital.

This year (2025/26), the Metropolitan Police Service will receive a total of up to £3.8 billion of funding, as set out in the police funding settlement. This is a £262.1 million increase when compared with the 2024-25 settlement, equating to a 7.4% cash increase and 4.9% real terms increase. There will also be a £65 million increase to the National and International Capital City grant to reflect the challenges faced in London.

Forces are operationally independent, and it is for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to make local operational decisions on how best to deploy officers and staff to secure public safety. However, the Government is committed to restoring neighbourhood policing to local communities through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. In 2025/26 the Metropolitan Police Service was allocated £45,639,456 and has set out a delivery plan to grow neighbourhood policing this year by 420 (FTE) police officers and 50 (FTE) Police Community Support Officers.

The Home Office regularly meets with the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to discuss policing issues facing the capital.

This year (2025/26), the Metropolitan Police Service will receive a total of up to £3.8 billion of funding, as set out in the police funding settlement. This is a £262.1 million increase when compared with the 2024-25 settlement, equating to a 7.4% cash increase and 4.9% real terms increase. There will also be a £65 million increase to the National and International Capital City grant to reflect the challenges faced in London.

Forces are operationally independent, and it is for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to make local operational decisions on how best to deploy officers and staff to secure public safety. However, the Government is committed to restoring neighbourhood policing to local communities through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. In 2025/26 the Metropolitan Police Service was allocated £45,639,456 and has set out a delivery plan to grow neighbourhood policing this year by 420 (FTE) police officers and 50 (FTE) Police Community Support Officers.

Assaults against a person are already an offence (Common Assault) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and are covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public

Paragraph 5.35 of the Spending Review document, published on 11 June, sets out the overall financial allocation for policing in England in Wales.

As usual, more detail on force funding allocations will be set out in the police settlement later this year.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has met with the Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention to discuss local policing numbers and has also attended meetings chaired by the Minister along with other PCCs to discuss delivery on a broader scale.

The Government is committed to delivering the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, and investing £200 million to kick start the process of putting an extra 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles to ensure policing visibility in every community and deter, prevent and respond to crime.

West Midlands Police has been allocated £12,210,903 from the £200 million fund for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for West Midlands Police over 2025/26 will be 289 police officers (FTE) and 20 Police Community Support Officers (FTE).

Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides a power for police officers to demand the removal of disguises in certain circumstances to prevent crime. In addition, if the officer believes that someone is wearing an item for the purpose of concealing identity there is also a power to seize such items.

Statutory guidance on the use of this power is set out in Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). The College of Policing is responsible for providing operational guidance to police on the use of their powers.

We will also use the Crime and Policing Bill to introduce a new offence to use a face covering to conceal identity in an area the police assess a protest is likely to occur that may involve the commission of offences.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

My officials have met with UK Finance and Barclays Bank to discuss the issue of assaults on bank and building society staff, which is an issue we also take extremely seriously.

Assaults against workers in the bank and building society sectors are already an offence (common assault) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and are covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in banks and building societies.

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in banks and building societies.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has also introduced a specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years, and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This Government is committed to tackling retail crime. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

Assaults against delivery drivers are already an offence (common assault) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and are covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public. This includes those delivering goods to customers and other public-facing roles.

This Government is committed to tackling retail crime. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

Assaults against delivery drivers are already an offence (common assault) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and are covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public. This includes those delivering goods to customers and other public-facing roles.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

Our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work. The Government does not plan to include bank, building society or banking hub workers within the new offence.

Assaults against workers in these sectors are already an offence (common assault) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and are covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in banks and building societies.