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448448

	registered interest
	date	27/01/2016
	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	Pensioners: Poverty
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the triple lock pension policy of the number of pensioners living in poverty in (a) Windsor, (b) the South East and (c) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	24574
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>While we can’t draw a direct link between the triple lock and pensioner poverty, pensioner poverty is at one of the lowest rates since records began. Pensioners are less likely to be in relative and absolute low income after housing costs than the population as a whole. The Government continues to support the poorest pensioners and from April 2016, Pension Credit will top up income to a guaranteed minimum level of £155.60 for a single person and £237.55 for couples.</p><p>The Government wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. We are committed to the triple lock, the guarantee that the basic State Pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increase or 2.5%. From April 2016, the basic State Pension will be over £1,100 a year higher than at the start of the last Parliament. This will benefit many of the 18,000 recipients of State Pension in Windsor, the 1.7 million recipients in the South East and the 13 million recipients in the UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 17:06:54 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

449035

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2016
	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	Personal Independence Payment: Brighton
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information he holds on the average length of time allocated for face-to-face appointments for personal independence payment claimants attending the Queen's Road assessment centre in Brighton; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	24875
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>DWP does not set a time limit for face-to-face assessments. Consultations take as long as necessary in order to reach the evidence-based conclusions on individual cases. Atos Healthcare assumes for scheduling purposes an average length of 1.5 hours for the Health Professional to see the claimant and to write up the report.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 12:43:17 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

449540

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	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	Pension Protection Fund
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will implement the provisions of the Pensions Act 2014 on removal of the cap to the Pension Protection Fund.
	tabling member constituency	Swansea West
	tabling member printed	Geraint Davies
	uin	24981
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>The Government is committed to the implementation of the PPF long service cap. Before the primary legislation can be brought into force, a number of changes need to be made to secondary legislation, so that it will operate as expected in all cases. Therefore we cannot, at this time, commit to a particular implementation date.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 17:06:10 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	155 label Biography information for Geraint Davies

449302

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	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	Discretionary Housing Payments: Warrington
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the proportion of the actual cost of living in supported accommodation that will be met by discretionary housing payments in Warrington when housing benefit us capped at the rate of local housing allowance.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Helen Jones
	uin	25058
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>The information is not available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 12:10:14 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	432 label Biography information for Helen Jones

449529

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	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	Carer's Allowance
	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 oral contribution of 7 December 2015, Official Report, column 699, if he will place in the Library summary information on (a) earnings limits for recipients of carer's allowance and (b) the means by which claimants of that allowance are advised of those limits.
	tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
	tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
	uin	25143
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>Claimants who go online can find a summary of the Carer’s Allowance earnings rules on GOV.UK - <a href="https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility</a>. Those people who want to make their claim in writing are sent similar information on earnings with their claim pack. In addition, the letter claimants get when they are awarded Carer’s Allowance informs them of the need to report employment to the department and they are reminded of the need to report earnings and the relevant limits in the annual “uprating” letter.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 13:16:41 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

449525

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	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	Supported Housing: Local Housing Allowance
	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 Answers of 28 January 2016 to Questions 24029 and 24048, what (a) financial assessment, (b) cost-benefit assessment and (c) impact assessment his Department has carried out on the proposal to cap the cost of local housing allowance for people living in sheltered and supported housing.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
	tabling member printed	Mr Roger Godsiff
	uin	25127
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>The policy is still under development and full impact and equality assessments will be undertaken in due course.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 11:53:49 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	304 label Biography information for Mr Roger Godsiff

448763

	registered interest
	date	28/01/2016
	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	Housing Benefit: Reviews
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the contribution made by the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth on 27 January 2015, Official Report, column 259, what the terms for the one year review of cuts to housing benefit will be.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	24778
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>The evidence review commissioned by the Department will work closely with charities, landlords stakeholders etc. and will look at the shape, scale and cost of the supported housing sector.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 12:05:52 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

449524

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Legal Costs
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's legal costs were in the case Susan Rutherford, Paul Rutherford and Warren Todd and Appellant A v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
	tabling member constituency	Pontypridd
	tabling member printed	Owen Smith
	uin	25249
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>The Government has incurred approximately £50,626 in legal costs in the Court of Appeal proceedings in the case of <em>Rutherford and others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and A v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions</em> [2016] EWCA CIV 29.</p><p> </p><p>It should be noted that this figure includes VAT where this is payable (e.g. on Counsel’s fees) but does not include costs attributable to the time spent by Government advisory lawyers on this case, as time spent by such advisory lawyers is not recorded in a manner that allows it to be attributed to individual cases.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 16:59:42 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4042 label Biography information for Owen Smith

449536

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	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: Telephone Services
	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 28 January 2016 to Question 23991, whether calls to make a claim for benefit are free for all (a) pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, (b) monthly contract mobile telephones and (c) landline telephones.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	25175
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>All benefit new claims lines have 0800 numbers and are therefore free whether claimants call from mobile phones or landlines, with the exception of Universal Credit which has an 0345 number as the expectation is that claims are made online.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/02/2016 17:12:27 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

448215

	registered interest
	date	27/01/2016
	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	Pensions: Fees and Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure transparency of commission and other charges, levied by private pension funds on individuals.
	tabling member constituency	Tonbridge and Malling
	tabling member printed	Tom Tugendhat
	uin	24449
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>The Department has regularly commissioned surveys on the types and levels of charges faced by savers in defined contribution workplace pension schemes. The latest pension charges survey was published on 17 December 2015 and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-charges-survey-2015-charges-in-defined-contribution-pension-schemes" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-charges-survey-2015-charges-in-defined-contribution-pension-schemes</a></p><p> </p><p /><p> </p><p>It is important that savers know what costs and charges they are paying. As a first step towards achieving this, most occupational pension schemes offering money purchase benefits are now required to report the charges levied on members and, as far as they are able, transaction costs, via an annual Chair’s Statement. The Chair’s Statement, which must be given to beneficiaries and recognised trade unions on request, must also report the trustees’ view on the extent to which these costs present value for members.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Similarly, the Financial Conduct Authority have made rules requiring Independent Governance Committees to report annually on the value for money offered by workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account scheme charges and transaction costs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is also actively considering how to make the costs of pension schemes more visible to savers, and is committed, in line with the duties of the Pensions Act 2014, to make regulations which require information on transaction costs to be given to members and both costs and charges to be published. To help achieve this, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Financial Conduct Authority published a joint call for evidence last year on disclosure of transaction costs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In addition, the Chancellor recently announced that the Government will take action to limit early exit fees by introducing a new duty on the Financial Conduct Authority to cap early exit charges in relation to contract-based schemes, and will mirror these requirements in relation to trust-based schemes. This will ensure that individuals do not face financial barriers where they wish to access their pension benefits flexibly.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 24461 question first answered 04/02/2016 17:30:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4462 label Biography information for Tom Tugendhat