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968410

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Self-employed: Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of self-employed people participating in a private pension scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	170737
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2018 answer text <p>As part of its review of automatic enrolment, published in December 2017, the Government looked at the position of the self-employed and private pension saving. The review established that the 4.8 million people who are self-employed in the UK are a hugely varied population with different income and savings needs for their retirement. Overall, participation rates for the self-employed have been on the decline in recent years, falling from 31 per cent in 2006/7 to 14 per cent in 2016/17. While pension participation rates have fallen for the self-employed, analysis has shown that the self-employed have, on average, broadly comparable levels of total assets to employees’ (PPI report on policies for increasing long-term saving of the self-employed). However, analysis has shown the distribution of assets to be different for employees compared to the self-employed – employees tend to have a higher level of private pension wealth compared to the self-employed and the self-employed tend to have higher levels of property wealth relative to employees.</p><p> </p><p>The review found that there is currently no single or simple and straightforward mechanism to bring self-employed people into workplace pension saving. Nor is there any consensus or evidence about the best approach to increasing pension saving among this group.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to work towards implementing our manifesto commitment to improve retirement savings among the self-employed by testing targeted interventions to understand what works in practice. We will provide more information about the trial areas later this year, following our feasibility work.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 170738 question first answered 11/09/2018 16:15:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

968412

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Self-employed: Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage self-employed individuals to participate in a private pension scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	170738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2018 answer text <p>As part of its review of automatic enrolment, published in December 2017, the Government looked at the position of the self-employed and private pension saving. The review established that the 4.8 million people who are self-employed in the UK are a hugely varied population with different income and savings needs for their retirement. Overall, participation rates for the self-employed have been on the decline in recent years, falling from 31 per cent in 2006/7 to 14 per cent in 2016/17. While pension participation rates have fallen for the self-employed, analysis has shown that the self-employed have, on average, broadly comparable levels of total assets to employees’ (PPI report on policies for increasing long-term saving of the self-employed). However, analysis has shown the distribution of assets to be different for employees compared to the self-employed – employees tend to have a higher level of private pension wealth compared to the self-employed and the self-employed tend to have higher levels of property wealth relative to employees.</p><p> </p><p>The review found that there is currently no single or simple and straightforward mechanism to bring self-employed people into workplace pension saving. Nor is there any consensus or evidence about the best approach to increasing pension saving among this group.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to work towards implementing our manifesto commitment to improve retirement savings among the self-employed by testing targeted interventions to understand what works in practice. We will provide more information about the trial areas later this year, following our feasibility work.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 170737 question first answered 11/09/2018 16:15:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

968413

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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: Consumer Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the progress of the delivery of the Pension Dashboard.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	170739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2018 answer text <p>On Tuesday 4 September 2018, I published a written statement providing an update on pensions including the Pensions Dashboard. This statement can be found here: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-04/HCWS933/" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-04/HCWS933/</a></p><p>An industry-led Dashboard, facilitated by Government, will harness the best of industry innovation. We will continue to engage with industry, consumer groups and other stakeholders on this model and Government will protect pension savers and personal information by legislating where necessary.</p><p> </p><p>We will shortly report on the findings of the Feasibility Study.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/09/2018 16:11:21 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

968429

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Inflatables: Safety
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that small businesses improve the safety standards of bouncy castles.
	tabling member constituency	Romford
	tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
	uin	170724
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/09/2018 answer text <p>The Health and Safety at Work Act applies to the supply, hire and use of inflatables for commercial purposes. The Act is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or by Local Authorities, depending upon where the inflatable is being used.</p><p> </p><p>This legislation is supported by guidance published by HSE (<a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/fairgrounds/inflatables.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/fairgrounds/inflatables.htm</a>) which sets out the steps that should be taken by operators to control the risks of operating and using this equipment; and by an annual inspection scheme for inflatables run by the industry’s two inspection bodies, the Pertexa Inflatable Play Accreditation (PIPA) and the Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme (ADIPS).</p><p> </p><p>Following two recent and tragic incidents in which children died, HSE is reviewing these arrangements to ensure that the high standard of safety for children using bouncy castles and similar play equipment is maintained. This work will encompass small businesses operating inflatables and inflatables used at funfairs.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 170953 question first answered 13/09/2018 14:05:28 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

968783

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Families
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Department for Work and Pensions policies have been assessed against the Family Test; and whether they will publish any such assessments.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Eaton
	uin	HL10067
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2018 answer text <p>The government is committed to supporting families. To achieve this, in 2014 we introduced the Family Test, which aims to ensure that impacts on family relationships and functioning are recognised early on during the process of policy development and help inform the policy decisions made by Minsters. There is no requirement for departments to publish the results of assessments made under the Family Test.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 11/09/2018 15:38:19 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4184 label Biography information for Baroness Eaton

968825

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Office for Disability Issues
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what projects the Office for Disability Issues are currently working on.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
	uin	HL10109
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/09/2018 answer text <p>The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) works across government to support and develop policies that deliver the Government vision - to create a society that works for everyone, where all can participate fully, and be included in society.</p><p> </p><p>Departments have a responsibility to make sure their policies take account of disabled people and we are supporting a wide range of Departments across Government to fulfil their obligations to disabled people.</p><p> </p><p>As well as seeking to support a range of departments on issues such as built environment, employment, transport, social care, education, sport etc - current ODI led projects include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Developing and supporting the new Disability and Society Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), chaired by the Rt Hon Esther McVey – to drive forward action across government to tackle the barriers disabled people face to realise their full participation in society, including increasing disability employment rates and improving access to culture, sport and transport.</li><li>Working across departments to further the implementation of the UN Convention Rights of Disabled People, reviewing the recommendations from the UN review in 2017 to address key issues and report as required to the UN.</li><li>Reinvigorating Government stakeholder engagement to ask disabled people what issues they want Government to address as priorities, and input at the right stages to inform policy development and delivery. This includes delivering new face to face and online forums across England, enabling and encouraging individuals and user led organisations across England to play an active part in shaping government policy.</li><li>Working with fourteen Ministerial appointed Sector Champions to work within their sector identifying barriers disabled people face and working pro-actively to remove them where possible.</li><li>OpenLab – curating a website and virtual community that promotes technology and technological developments for disabled people.</li><li>Accessible communications – leading a project to help other departments fulfil their obligations under the Equality Act and raise awareness in Government of the need for information to be provided in alternative communications formats for some disabled people. Producing guidance for all departments to support them.</li><li>Working with the assistance dog sector to design a standard to address issues concerning access to services</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 19/09/2018 10:52:19 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

968272

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of women (a) receiving jobseeker's allowance and (b) in rent arrears as a result of changes to the state pension age.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne North
	tabling member printed	Catherine McKinnell
	uin	170874
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>Equalisation of the State Pension age affects all women born after 6th April 1950. Data on claimants in receipt of jobseekers allowance by age band and gender is available on NOMIS:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>The data can be found by accessing the link and clicking ‘Query data’ followed by ‘Jobseeker’s Allowance’ and ‘Jobseeker’s Allowance by age and duration’. The gender and age bands of interest can then be selected and the data accessed by completing the selections desired and clicking ‘Download Data.’</p><p> </p><p>The information requested regarding rent arrears is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/09/2018 15:41:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4125 label Biography information for Catherine McKinnell

968273

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Women against State Pension Inequality
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2018 to Question 162589 on WASPI, whether she plans to meet with representatives of the WASPI campaign in the future.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne North
	tabling member printed	Catherine McKinnell
	uin	170875
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has no plans to meet with representatives of the WASPI campaign.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 10/09/2018 13:00:33 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4125 label Biography information for Catherine McKinnell

968338

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	Pensioners: British Nationals Abroad
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that British citizens receiving a UK pension while living elsewhere in the EU continue to receive that pension after the UK leaves the EU.
	tabling member constituency	Upper Bann
	tabling member printed	David Simpson
	uin	170750
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2018 answer text <p>The UK State Pension will remain payable worldwide under domestic legislation following our departure from the EU.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 14/09/2018 13:48:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	1597 label Biography information for David Simpson

968339

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to reduce waiting times for payments of universal credit to help ensure that tenants do not fall into rent arrears.
	tabling member constituency	Upper Bann
	tabling member printed	David Simpson
	uin	170751
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2018 answer text <p>Research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears.</p><p>Arrears are usually temporary and the majority of claimants do succeed in paying their rent, managing their monthly payments and clearing their arrears over time. However, this year following the Autumn 2017 Budget, we have abolished waiting days and now provide 2 weeks of extra housing support to claimants moving to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit.</p><p>The assessment period and payment structure of Universal Credit is integral to the overall design, which requires an assessment period of a month to assess earnings. Support is available in the first assessment period through the system of advances. We have also made changes to improve advances, and they can now be repaid over a course of 12 months and can consist of up to 100 per cent of the indicative monthly award from day one.</p><p> </p><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, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. Whilst their verification is on-going, many claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been resolved.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 14/09/2018 14:21:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	1597 label Biography information for David Simpson