Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered question first ministerially corrected answering member label attachment file name title previous answer version answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

947127

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their plans to address payment errors and delays for people attempting to claim Universal Credit.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL9817
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Around 80 per cent of new claims are paid in full and on time. In many cases, where full payment is not made on time by the end of the first assessment period, this is as a result of unresolved issues such as: some claimants have not signed their Claimant Commitment or passed identity checks, and the others have outstanding verification issues, such as for housing and self-employed earnings. Whilst their verification is on-going, many of these claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been resolved. Within five weeks of the payment due date, 95 per cent of claims are paid in full.</p><p>DWP continues to monitor payment timeliness and we have made changes to improve payment timeliness. For example, we have built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify information such as their housing costs.</p><p> </p><p>Advances are available to provide financial support until the first payment and these can now be repaid over a course of 12 months and can consist of up to 100 per cent of the indicative monthly award. We have also abolished waiting days and now provide 2 weeks of housing support to claimants moving to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claim has been delayed due to error, DWP can also consider awarding an ex-gratia payment, as set out in the guide of Financial Redress for Maladministration, available on gov.uk, and which is attached.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 13:50:40 question first ministerially corrected 31/07/2018 14:41:10 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name HL9817 Financial Redress for Maladministration FR.PDF title Financial Redress for Maladministration previous answer version 72633 answering member printed Baroness Buscombe answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

944434

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Older Workers
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to (1) encourage more people over 50 years old to participate in the work place, and (2) increase training and skills opportunities available for this age group.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL9669
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The number of workers aged 50 and over currently in employment is at a record high of 10.1 million - an increase of 1.4 million over the last 5 years and an increase of 2.2 million over the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality Act 2010, already provides strong protection against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer or an employment service provider such as a recruitment agency, to discriminate against an older employee or job applicant because of their age, and this applies both where the employer is making arrangements to fill a job, and in respect of anything done during the course of a person’s employment. DWP continues to work with businesses and stakeholder organisations to support older workers to remain in and return to work and challenge outdated perceptions about older workers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to supporting people aged 50 and over to remain in and return to the labour market and in Feb 2017, published a new strategy ‘Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach’. The Strategy is led by employers, but also sets out the case for action by individuals, and the role of Government in supporting older workers to remain in and return to work. The Strategy and supporting evidence base are available on the gov.uk website. Additionally, the Government announced a National Retraining Scheme in the Autumn Budget 2017 - an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult learning and retraining. The National Retraining Scheme will give individuals the skills they need to progress in work, redirect their careers and secure the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future, focusing on those individuals and places who need it most.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL9614 question first answered 31/07/2018 12:11:40 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

943401

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Older Workers: Discrimination
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to address age discrimination in the workplace and to ensure that older workers remain competitive.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL9614
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The number of workers aged 50 and over currently in employment is at a record high of 10.1 million - an increase of 1.4 million over the last 5 years and an increase of 2.2 million over the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality Act 2010, already provides strong protection against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer or an employment service provider such as a recruitment agency, to discriminate against an older employee or job applicant because of their age, and this applies both where the employer is making arrangements to fill a job, and in respect of anything done during the course of a person’s employment. DWP continues to work with businesses and stakeholder organisations to support older workers to remain in and return to work and challenge outdated perceptions about older workers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to supporting people aged 50 and over to remain in and return to the labour market and in Feb 2017, published a new strategy ‘Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach’. The Strategy is led by employers, but also sets out the case for action by individuals, and the role of Government in supporting older workers to remain in and return to work. The Strategy and supporting evidence base are available on the gov.uk website. Additionally, the Government announced a National Retraining Scheme in the Autumn Budget 2017 - an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult learning and retraining. The National Retraining Scheme will give individuals the skills they need to progress in work, redirect their careers and secure the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future, focusing on those individuals and places who need it most.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL9669 question first answered 31/07/2018 12:11:40 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

904287

	registered interest
	date	14/05/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Employment: Disability
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps are they taking to promote a more inclusive work environment for people with disabilities and increase their participation in the workforce.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL7861
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2018 answer text <p>Our Disability Confident scheme aims to help and encourage more employers to become good employers of disabled people. Nearly 6,000 employers have already signed up to Disability Confident.</p><p> </p><p>Access to Work provides support of up to £57, 200 per annum in addition to any other benefits that disabled claimants may be entitled to, so that they can stay in work and progress to senior levels, while having their support needs met.</p><p> </p><p>As set out in the recent Command Paper, <em>Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability</em>, we want to work in partnership with employers to help them draw fully on the talents of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions and build workplaces that promote the health and wellbeing of their workforce. We are taking a number of steps to do this, including improving advice and support for employers and exploring how to achieve the right balance of incentives and expectations.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 23/05/2018 12:20:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

513459

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Fraud
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to protect people against fraud as they are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, in the light of the recent cuts to the pensions watchdog.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL7716
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2016 answer text <p>The resources allocated to the Pensions Regulator to cover its regulatory responsibilities, together with those for automatic enrolment compliance activity, increased by £3.4m to £79.5m for the financial year 2016/17.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Schemes that can be used by employers to meet their automatic enrolment duties are subject to specific quality requirements. The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority both play an active role in monitoring schemes used for automatic enrolment to ensure that they meet these standards. The Pensions Regulator has also published a list of independently audited ‘master trusts’ pension schemes that employers may wish to use for automatic enrolment.</p><p> </p><p>Both Regulators carry out targeted activity to investigate and mitigate risks, including indicators of possible fraud.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 26/04/2016 13:00:35 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

897109

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to support those businesses that will find it difficult to manage the increase in minimum contributions for automatic enrolment pensions for their staff.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL7533
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2018 answer text <p>Automatic enrolment was introduced to address the fact that millions of people were not saving enough for their retirement, and with the aim of making saving for later life normal for most people in work. It has been a great success with over 9.5 million workers enrolled into pension saving and more than 1.1 million employers having met their duties to date. Reforms on this scale represent significant change, and we particularly recognise the crucial role that employers of all sizes are playing in delivering them.</p><p> </p><p>The independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work review in 2010 specifically considered the impact of the policy on employers and changes to reduce burdens were implement in the Pensions Act 2011.</p><p><br>The planned increases to the statutory minimum contributions - known as <em>phasing</em> - were built into the automatic enrolment reforms from the start. The initial minimum employer contribution of 1 per cent increased to 2 per cent in April 2018. An employer is free to pay more than the minimum at any time, and many are already doing so. There has been a long lead in time to enable employers and individuals to prepare for these increases, with support and communications from the Pensions Regulator and DWP. The increased contributions were scheduled to coincide with changes to take home pay which normally take place at the start of the tax year, to help minimise the administrative burden for employers.</p><p><br>Government is closely monitoring the impact of the increases on both employers and individuals to inform our approach to supporting the second planned increase in contributions from April 2019.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 09/05/2018 13:29:00 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

895221

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Pensions: Self-employed
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to address the decline in the proportion of self-employed people who are actively saving into a pension.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL7481
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2018 answer text <p>We are working to deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to improve pension participation and retirement outcomes amongst self-employed people. In December 2017, we published a review of automatic enrolment (AE), <em>Maintaining the Momentum,</em> setting out our position on the self-employed and retirement saving.</p><p>The self-employed represent a highly diverse group of around 15 per cent of the workforce amongst whom pension coverage varies significantly. The December Review recognised that while a significant proportion of the 4.8 million self-employed individuals in the UK have good levels of saving and preparation for later life, there are significant numbers of self-employed people are under saving, or at risk of under saving for retirement.</p><p>We are investigating the most effective ways to address this, learning from the principles and successful roll-out of AE to appropriately target interventions and understand what works, and we are utilising pensions’ industry expertise. DWP and HMT held a recent innovation event with the Association of British Insurers (ABI), exploring how technology and existing financial products could be part of the solution to enabling self-employed people to build retirement savings for their later life.</p><p> </p><p>Government will continue to test and develop targeted interventions for the self-employed before setting out our proposals to implement workable solutions at scale.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 09/05/2018 13:27:51 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

510265

	registered interest
	date	11/04/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	State Retirement Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is being done to ensure there is clear communication to people about the new state pension.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL7471
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2016 answer text <p>The Department undertakes extensive research to ensure our communications are clear, targeted and effective.</p><p>The ‘Know the Facts’ campaign, launched in November 2014, uses radio, print and digital advertising to raise awareness of the changes to the State Pension. It directs people to detailed information and material including blogs, videos and resource packs on GOV.UK, and encourages those closest to State Pension age to get a new State Pension statement.</p><p>We continually improve all our communications, based on regular evaluation and feedback, to ensure messages are clear and informative. We also work closely with key intermediaries and stakeholders to share our messages widely.</p><p>The new State Pension campaign includes specific messages to those who may benefit from ways to increase their State Pension; those who may be most at risk of not meeting the minimum qualifying period; and to explain the impact of past periods of contracting-out. We have also reassured pensioners on the old system that they are not affected by these changes.</p><p>People can now also get a personalised State Pension statement online. They will be given a forecast of how much they could get when they reach State Pension age, and find out how to increase this amount. People who do not want to, or cannot use the online service, can continue to request a statement by phone or post.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 22/04/2016 11:31:10 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

480060

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Disability
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they propose to cut £4.4 billion from benefits for disabled people over the course of the Parliament.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL7164
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2016 answer text <p>We spend around £50bn every year on benefits alone to support people with disabilities or health conditions, with spending on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) having increased by more than £3 billion since 2010.</p><p> </p><p>The government has no further plans to make welfare savings, beyond those already announced. The government is committed to talking to disabled people, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers to ensure the welfare system works better with the health and social care systems and provides help and support to those who need it most.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/04/2016 13:31:36 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

384472

	registered interest
	date	22/06/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Welfare State
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of the impact of any shrinking of the welfare state on access by individuals to their communities and work.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL683
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2015 answer text <p>The Government’s commitment to reduce welfare spending was set out in its election manifesto. Further details will be given in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 24/06/2015 14:49:57 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick