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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

755134

	registered interest
	date	20/07/2017
	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	Social Security Benefits: EEA Nationals
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what evidence they have, if any, that EEA migrants come to the UK for the specific purpose of claiming benefits.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hain
	uin	HL1142
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/08/2017 answer text <p>While the Government checks the immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud, the Department does not collect information of an individual’s specific purpose for coming to the UK and so this information is not available.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 03/08/2017 15:40:49 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	567 label Biography information for Lord Hain

753299

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2017
	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 the budget for the Health and Safety Executive for 2017–18; how many inspectors it expects to employ in 2017–18; and how many inspectors it employed in each of the last five years.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jolly
	uin	HL987
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/07/2017 answer text <p>HSE’s net budget for 2017-18 is £136 million (which includes planned expenditure of £232 million, offset by planned income of £96 million).</p><p> </p><p>During 2017-18 we are seeking to maintain inspector numbers at or around the level as at 31 March 2017 which is stated below, along with the four previous years.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Number of HSE inspectors at 31 March</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>31 March 2013</p></td><td><p>31 March 2014</p></td><td><p>31 March 2015</p></td><td><p>31 March 2016</p></td><td><p>31 March 2017</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1,115</p></td><td><p>1,051</p></td><td><p>1,038</p></td><td><p>1,037</p></td><td><p>988</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 28/07/2017 11:12:54 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4203 label Biography information for Baroness Jolly

747992

	registered interest
	date	04/07/2017
	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 assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lester of Herne Hill
	uin	HL446
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/07/2017 answer text <p>The Agency collects and shares good practice information on national and European Union priorities for safety and health at work, working with national contact points in all Member States. Its activities are particularly valuable to recent and proposed EU entrants and those with less well developed health and safety systems.</p><p> </p><p>The European Court of Auditors publishes annual reports on the accounts of the Agency that are automatically deposited with Parliament for scrutiny purposes. For the latest report (financial position as of 31 December 2015), the budget was €16.9 million and the auditors stated that the Agency’s accounts were reliable and transactions were legal and regular.</p><p> </p><p>Our relationship with the European Union's decentralised bodies upon exit, including the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, will be evaluated in light of delivering the twelve objectives outlined by the Prime Minister to achieve a deep and special positive and constructive partnership between the UK and the European Union.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/07/2017 14:24:18 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2037 label Biography information for Lord Lester of Herne Hill

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

749916

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2017
	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	Plastics: Waste
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to continue with the plans to address parental conflict in workless families set out in Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families, published in April.
	tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
	uin	HL601
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2017 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families set out our plans to tackle the root causes of disadvantage, with a focus on workless families. As part of this approach, we announced an innovative new programme of support to help parents, whether they are together or separated, to reduce conflict. This is based on the most recent evidence, which tells us that children who are exposed to frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict are at risk of experiencing poorer long term outcomes. Plans are currently underway to develop this support, and more details of this will be announced in due course.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 17/07/2017 15:25:21 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

747348

	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 low paid workers who earn less than the personal tax threshold may claim against the Pensions Regulator for failing to ensure that employers use a suitable auto-enrolment scheme that does not force them to pay more than they should for their pensions.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL323
	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 HL322 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