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385303

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2015
	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	Pension Funds
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 7 January (HL Deb, col 432), when they plan to consult on improving transparency for pension savers regarding where their money is invested and how rights attached to it are being exercised; and when they plan to consider how secondary legislation could be used to ensure greater transparency for pension savers.
	tabling member printed	Lord Harrison
	uin	HL786
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The Government is committed to ensuring greater transparency for pension savers.</p><p> </p><p>From April this year, workplace schemes are required to report on the value delivered by costs and charges in their scheme for the first time. Building on this, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Financial Conduct Authority ran a joint Call for Evidence ‘Transaction Cost Disclosure: Improving Transparency in Workplace Pensions’, considering how transaction costs could be disclosed in a standardised way. This is the first phase of work required to meet duties under Section 44 of the Pensions Act 2014 to require transaction costs to be disclosed to members and others; and transaction costs and administration charges to be published. The Government is currently considering responses to the Call for Evidence.</p><p> </p><p>Transparency is not just about costs and charges. Earlier this year the Government consulted on changes to the Occupational Pension Schemes Investment Regulations requiring trustees to report how they take financial and non-financial factors into account when investing, and their schemes stewardship policy. The Government is currently considering responses to the consultation.</p><p> </p><p>The Government intends to consult on any secondary legislation required following these exercises later this year, and will consider what further proposals may be needed to ensure greater transparency for pension savers including consideration both of its duties under the Pensions Act 2014 and the remarks made in debates on 7 January.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 06/07/2015 12:06:11 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	2488 label Biography information for Lord Harrison

386104

	registered interest
	date	29/06/2015
	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	State Retirement Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest estimate of the percentage of pensioners who will receive the full amount of the flat-rate State Pension from April 2016.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bradley
	uin	HL903
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2015 answer text <p>Nearly 90% of people reaching State Pension age in 2016/17 would have the full rate of the new State Pension, or more, if we include the amount of additional State Pension they opted out of or were opted out of when contracted out of SERPS or State Second Pension (S2P) (additional pension).</p><p> </p><p>The percentage of pensioners reaching State Pension age in 2016/17 estimated to receive the full amount of the new State Pension directly from the state is around 37%. By 2020 this percentage will reach around 50% and by 2035 around 84%. Most people who contracted out of SERPS or S2P were required, as a condition of contracting out, to accrue an alternative private pension. This replaced the additional State Pension, which they were contracted-out of.</p><p> </p><p>This reflects the fact that when contracted out they have either paid National Insurance Contributions at a lower rate, or some of the National Insurance contributions they paid were used to contribute to a private pension instead of the additional State Pension. They paid lower National Insurance into the National Insurance system, which reflected the fact that they were contributing to a private pension instead.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 13/07/2015 16:47:38 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	452 label Biography information for Lord Bradley

386489

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2015
	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	Employment: Autism
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts they are making to raise awareness of employing people with autism.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Uddin
	uin	HL984
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2015 answer text <p>The Government is acting to raise awareness regarding employment of people with autism and to support people on the autism spectrum to take up employment. For example,</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s Disability Confident campaign works with employers at a national and local level to help them to understand the benefits of employing disabled people, and promote good practice in recruitment and employment of disabled people, including people with autism.</p><p> </p><p>DWP has worked in close partnership with the Hidden Impairment National Group (HING), a national network of disabled people, medical professionals/ academics and disability specific organisations to produce an ‘Uncovering Hidden Impairments’ toolkit. This resource supports organisations in both the private and public sectors to confidently recruit and retain talented individuals with hidden impairment conditions.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education is funding <em>Ambitious about Autism </em>(2015-16) to explore innovative ways of supporting young people with Autism to make the transition from school to further education, and the <em>Autism Education Trust</em> (2015-16) to promote the availability of training on Autism to schools, early years and further education staff, and to revise national standards for Autism provision and a competency framework for those who work with children with Autism.</p><p> </p><p>Government has supported the development by NIACE of an employer toolkit that includes information to help employers to understand the benefits of employing apprentices with disabilities, and to access support.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently working with Autism charities to build an autism network across DWP Jobcentre Plus Offices to ensure we can provide the best possible service to those with autism.</p><p> </p><p>We have worked with Community Service Volunteers to introduce the Job-Shadowing Work Placement Initiative for young disabled people. The first tranche was very successful with 65% of young people having autistic spectrum conditions</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s Autism Strategy, and the updated Statutory Guidance published in March 2015, sets out in detail how Government will support the autism agenda nationally.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann grouped question UIN HL985 question first answered 14/07/2015 12:34:45 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	1827 label Biography information for Baroness Uddin

386490

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2015
	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	Employment: Autism
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that organisations in the private sector employ people with autism.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Uddin
	uin	HL985
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2015 answer text <p>The Government is acting to raise awareness regarding employment of people with autism and to support people on the autism spectrum to take up employment. For example,</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s Disability Confident campaign works with employers at a national and local level to help them to understand the benefits of employing disabled people, and promote good practice in recruitment and employment of disabled people, including people with autism.</p><p> </p><p>DWP has worked in close partnership with the Hidden Impairment National Group (HING), a national network of disabled people, medical professionals/ academics and disability specific organisations to produce an ‘Uncovering Hidden Impairments’ toolkit. This resource supports organisations in both the private and public sectors to confidently recruit and retain talented individuals with hidden impairment conditions.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education is funding <em>Ambitious about Autism </em>(2015-16) to explore innovative ways of supporting young people with Autism to make the transition from school to further education, and the <em>Autism Education Trust</em> (2015-16) to promote the availability of training on Autism to schools, early years and further education staff, and to revise national standards for Autism provision and a competency framework for those who work with children with Autism.</p><p> </p><p>Government has supported the development by NIACE of an employer toolkit that includes information to help employers to understand the benefits of employing apprentices with disabilities, and to access support.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently working with Autism charities to build an autism network across DWP Jobcentre Plus Offices to ensure we can provide the best possible service to those with autism.</p><p> </p><p>We have worked with Community Service Volunteers to introduce the Job-Shadowing Work Placement Initiative for young disabled people. The first tranche was very successful with 65% of young people having autistic spectrum conditions</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s Autism Strategy, and the updated Statutory Guidance published in March 2015, sets out in detail how Government will support the autism agenda nationally.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann grouped question UIN HL984 question first answered 14/07/2015 12:34:45 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	1827 label Biography information for Baroness Uddin

386491

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2015
	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	Access to Work Programme
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the availability of Access to Work grants for those who especially need them to start working.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Uddin
	uin	HL986
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2015 answer text <p>Access to Work grants are available for those who meet the eligibility criteria for the scheme including those who are about to start working. Access to Work has specialist teams to ensure more complicated cases are processed as quickly as possible and fast track applications for those who know their circumstances or have a prior assessment enabling support to be put in place quickly.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 08/07/2015 11:37:14 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	1827 label Biography information for Baroness Uddin

388028

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2015
	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 Assistance Schemes: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to make the planned further £74 million of funding available to upper tier local authorities for local welfare assistance schemes in 2016–17.
	tabling member printed	Baroness King of Bow
	uin	HL1154
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Future arrangements for all local authority funding are a matter for the next Spending Review period and Local Government Finance Settlement consultations, which are led by DCLG. The outcome of these discussions will be made clear at the appropriate time.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 21/07/2015 16:13:16 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	143 label Biography information for Baroness King of Bow

390085

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2015
	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	Workplace Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average sum held in the pension funds of people who were enrolled in a pension scheme as part of the auto-enrolment process.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Greengross
	uin	HL1497
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The information is not available in the format requested.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Findings from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Wealth and Asset survey show that overall, the average (median) amount of wealth held in pensions not yet in payment was £33,000 in 2010/12. There is no breakdown available to show wealth held in funds created due to Automatic Enrolment.</p><p> </p><p>DWP’s annual official statistics on workplace pension participation found that in 2014, the annual total amount saved in workplace pensions by employees eligible for Automatic Enrolment was £80.3 billion, an increase of £6.6 billion from 2012.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 21/07/2015 14:04:34 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	2518 label Biography information for Baroness Greengross

391323

	registered interest
	date	20/07/2015
	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	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies <i>Living Standards, Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2015;</i> and how they plan to respond to the findings that nearly 63 per cent of British children living in poverty are in working families.
	tabling member printed	Lord Tyler
	uin	HL1667
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2015 answer text <p /> <p><strong> </strong></p><p>The recent IFS report is positive about the Government’s new approach to tackling the root causes of poverty: they said that “focusing on a broad range of inputs into life chances and causes of poverty is sensible.” They also add that “family worklessness certainly is a sensible thing to track if one wants to reduce the prevalence of low living standards.”</p><p> </p><p>This Government knows that work remains the best route out of poverty. Research shows that around three-quarters of poor children in families that move into full employment exit poverty. We are committed to supporting parents to move into work, increase their earnings, and keep more of what they earn. Universal Credit, our investment in childcare and the introduction of the National Living Wage will all play an important part.</p><p> </p><p>The Government also recognises that improving skills and progression is the key to making work pay. That is why under this Government we intend to create three million more apprenticeships over the next five years, and to help people move on to better jobs by improving qualifications and providing additional support through Jobcentre Plus.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 30/07/2015 13:27:22 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	225 label Biography information for Lord Tyler

392000

	registered interest
	date	21/07/2015
	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	Employment: Autism
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the rate of full-time employment of adults with autism above the current level of 15 per cent.
	tabling member printed	Lord Turnberg
	uin	HL1763
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/08/2015 answer text <p /> <p>DWP produced an Autism action-plan in 2013 to support the improvement of service provision and increase work opportunities for people with autism.</p><p> </p><p>DWP is a member of the Autism Programme Board and in response to the Think Autism strategy, we are working co-productively with a large number of stakeholders to implement a range of activities to support this remit - and ensure that staff are providing the best possible support to people with autism when looking for work.</p><p> </p><p>Promoting the employment of people with autism is also being taken forward as part of the Disability Confident campaign.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 04/08/2015 10:56:43 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	2537 label Biography information for Lord Turnberg

392023

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2015
	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	Workplace Pensions: LGBT+ People
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Altmann on 13 July stating that the total cost of equalising survivor benefit payments would amount to £3.3 billion (HL Deb, col 343), what assessment they have made of the cost of equalising payments specifically on the grounds of sexual orientation; and whether they consider those costs to be prohibitive.
	tabling member printed	Lord Cashman
	uin	HL1778
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/08/2015 answer text <p>The capitalised cost of eliminating all differences in survivor benefits because of sexual orientation is estimated at £120 million, as set out in the Review of Survivor Benefits in Occupational Pension Schemes.</p><p> </p><p>Although all differences because of sexual orientation in the provision of survivor benefits would be eliminated, differences because of sex would remain. This would mean that there would be differences in treatment between male same sex couples and female same sex couples. This is because male same sex couples would receive survivor benefits based on accruals from 1988 (in line with widowers of an opposite sex marriage), with female same sex couples receiving them based on accruals from 1978 (in line with widows of an opposite sex marriage).</p><p> </p><p>The Government must take into account the costs and all other effects of reducing or eliminating differences before deciding on whether the law should be changed.</p> answering member printed Baroness Altmann question first answered 04/08/2015 10:57:32 answering member 4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann
	tabling member	4340 label Biography information for Lord Cashman