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747344

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	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: Tax Allowances
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government against whom a worker earning £11,500 can claim if they discover that their employer has used a workplace pension scheme operating on a Net Pay basis for auto-enrolment, in order to recover the 25% taxpayer bonus they could have received in a Relief at Source scheme.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL321
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not, therefore, hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The latest official analysis of the eligibility of workers for automatic enrolment was published on 13 October 2016 in ‘Workplace Pensions: Update of analysis on Automatic Enrolment’. Information on age and earnings breakdowns for all workers can be found in table 3a on page 6.</p><p> </p><p>The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax. Provided an employer has selected a qualifying pension scheme for automatic enrolment, they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties with respect to scheme choice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL320 HL322 HL323 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:55:57 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

747346

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	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: Tax Allowances
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of low paid workers' claims against their employers for the money they are due in tax relief if it is denied to them by their employer's choice of pension scheme.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL322
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not, therefore, hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The latest official analysis of the eligibility of workers for automatic enrolment was published on 13 October 2016 in ‘Workplace Pensions: Update of analysis on Automatic Enrolment’. Information on age and earnings breakdowns for all workers can be found in table 3a on page 6.</p><p> </p><p>The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax. Provided an employer has selected a qualifying pension scheme for automatic enrolment, they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties with respect to scheme choice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL320 HL321 HL323 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:55:57 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

747350

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost saving, in long-term expenditure on State Pensions, from changing the current triple lock into a double lock using the best of earnings or CPI inflation, from 2020 onwards.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL324
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p><br>The Government is committed to ensuring economic security for people at every stage of their life, including when they reach retirement. The Government is also clear that fairness between the generations must be maintained. We are committed to the Triple Lock for the remainder of this Parliament. Economic forecasts suggest that State Pensions will go up by at least 2.5% each year for the length of this Parliament and so maintaining the Triple Lock for this Parliament will cost no extra money.</p><p> </p><p>It is estimated that uprating the State Pension by a double lock (highest of earnings or inflation) from April 2020 would reduce State Pension expenditure by the following compared to the Triple Lock:</p><p>(1) 0.03% of GDP in 2029/30;</p><p>(2) 0.08% of GDP in 2039/40;</p><p>(3) 0.13% of GDP in 2049/50;</p><p> </p><p>It is estimated that in 2066/67, uprating by a double lock would reduce State Pension expenditure by around 0.2% of GDP compared to uprating by the Triple Lock.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL325 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:41:13 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

747351

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the cost saving over (1) 10 years, (2) 20 years, and (3) 30 years, of changing the current triple lock on State Pensions into a double lock consisting of the best of earnings or CPI inflation, from 2020 onwards.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL325
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p><br>The Government is committed to ensuring economic security for people at every stage of their life, including when they reach retirement. The Government is also clear that fairness between the generations must be maintained. We are committed to the Triple Lock for the remainder of this Parliament. Economic forecasts suggest that State Pensions will go up by at least 2.5% each year for the length of this Parliament and so maintaining the Triple Lock for this Parliament will cost no extra money.</p><p> </p><p>It is estimated that uprating the State Pension by a double lock (highest of earnings or inflation) from April 2020 would reduce State Pension expenditure by the following compared to the Triple Lock:</p><p>(1) 0.03% of GDP in 2029/30;</p><p>(2) 0.08% of GDP in 2039/40;</p><p>(3) 0.13% of GDP in 2049/50;</p><p> </p><p>It is estimated that in 2066/67, uprating by a double lock would reduce State Pension expenditure by around 0.2% of GDP compared to uprating by the Triple Lock.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL324 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:41:13 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

731003

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2017
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the finding by the Equality and Human Rights Commission review published on 3 April, Being disabled in Britain: a journey less equal, that across the UK 18.4 per cent of disabled people aged 16 to 64 were considered to be in food poverty in 2014 compared with 7.5 per cent of non-disabled people.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Deech
	uin	HL22
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2017 answer text <p>It is widely acknowledged that the reasons why people are in food poverty are complex and overlapping, and therefore would be misleading to link this to any particular cause. The Government’s approach has been about recognising the value and importance of work, to make work pay and to support people into work whilst protecting the most vulnerable in society. We are committed to ensuring that those in work are paid a fair wage; have opportunities to progress and achieve their potential. We are getting disabled people into employment and working to change attitudes, introducing reforms to make sure that work always pays and that we support people into work. Since June 2016 over 750,000 of people who were receiving incapacity benefits are now either preparing for or looking for work.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/07/2017 12:20:20 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3756 label Biography information for Baroness Deech

731062

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2017
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to simplify the benefits regime to reduce the extent of the form filling and assessment burdens on benefits recipients.
	tabling member printed	Lord Ouseley
	uin	HL70
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2017 answer text <p>The DWP is currently implementing Universal Credit. This flagship welfare reform policy simplifies the benefits regime for working-age people. It replaces 6 former benefits administered by DWP, HMRC and Local Authorities, with 1 single application process to DWP. Universal Credit also makes extensive use of digital services to reduce the extent of form filling for benefit recipients, who can interact with the Department using an online account.</p><p> </p><p>The introduction of the New State Pension on 6 April 2016 also provided a simpler and more straightforward benefit for pension-age customers. This is less open to misunderstanding and dispute. State Pension claims are supported by an, increasingly popular, online claims service alongside a well established telephony channel. These two channels account for the vast majority of claims and have significantly reduced form filling. DWP is currently testing a new claims portal for State Pension to further improve the citizen experience.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 03/07/2017 14:48:27 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2170 label Biography information for Lord Ouseley

746096

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2017
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Personal Independent Payment assessors receive appropriate training to allow them to take a holistic approach to a claimant's assessment.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
	uin	HL238
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2017 answer text <p>All Health Professionals (HPs) working on the delivery of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments must be either an occupational therapist, level 1 nurse, physiotherapist, paramedic or doctor. They must also be fully registered and have at least two years’ post full-registration experience. In addition to their profession, the Department recognises the importance of ensuring that individuals also have sufficient experience, skills and training to carry out their duties and PIP providers are required to ensure that the HPs carrying out assessments have knowledge of the clinical aspects and likely functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments.</p><p> </p><p>All new assessors complete one month of intensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions affect an individual’s ability to perform day-to-day activities. This is followed by on-going professional training and support which continues for the duration of their employment in the role.</p><p> </p><p>Final approval to work as a health assessor must be conferred by the Department for Work and Pension’s Chief Medical Adviser on behalf of the Secretary of State.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/07/2017 14:40:36 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

746098

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2017
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government whether there is enough flexibility in the Personal Independence Payments criteria to allow for claimants with unusual conditions.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
	uin	HL240
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>We are committed to ensuring that the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment works effectively for individuals with any health conditions or disability. This is achieved by measuring the impact on an individual’s ability to undertake a range of activities.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 11/07/2017 13:00:09 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

747343

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	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: Tax Allowances
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government whether they have estimated the number of workers earning below the personal tax threshold who have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme that operates on a Net Pay basis; and if not, why not.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL320
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not, therefore, hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The latest official analysis of the eligibility of workers for automatic enrolment was published on 13 October 2016 in ‘Workplace Pensions: Update of analysis on Automatic Enrolment’. Information on age and earnings breakdowns for all workers can be found in table 3a on page 6.</p><p> </p><p>The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax. Provided an employer has selected a qualifying pension scheme for automatic enrolment, they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties with respect to scheme choice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL321 HL322 HL323 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:55:57 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

731085

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2017
	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	Funerals: Costs
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to initiate a cross-departmental review of funeral poverty to make recommendations for reform.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Meacher
	uin	HL93
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2017 answer text <p>Bereavement is a very distressing and difficult time. The Government is committed to working with local authorities, funeral directors and groups helping bereaved people to ensure that funeral services meet the needs of vulnerable people. It will continue to consider this issue in the context of discussions with these organisations.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/07/2017 11:04:41 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3810 label Biography information for Baroness Meacher