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1690341

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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 Dashboard Programme
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 he has made of when he will receive an updated assessment of the pensions dashboard programme from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	14775
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The Infrastructure and Projects Authority is expected to carry out its next review of the Pensions Dashboard Programme in early summer.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/02/2024 12:02:30 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1690432

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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: Health and 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 his Department is taking to ensure worker safety for those working (a) shifts and (b) unsociable hours.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	14916
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents" target="_blank">Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974</a> (HSWA) and The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3242/contents/made" target="_blank">Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999</a> (MHSWR) both place general duties on employers with regard to managing the risks to health and safety of their employees. This includes health and safety risks associated with shift work and working unsociable hours.</p><p> </p><p>HSWA places a duty on all employers, so far as is reasonably practicable, to protect the health, safety, and welfare at work of all their employees. MHSWR places a duty on all employers to make an assessment of the risks to their employees from work activities and introduce measures that are ‘reasonably practicable’ to remove or control these risks.</p><p> </p><p>This includes any health and safety risks associated with the number of hours worked; how these hours are scheduled and hazards such as fatigue, and its likelihood of occurring because of shift working.</p><p> </p><p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published guidance for employers to support them in managing the health and safety of shift workers (<a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg256.pdf" target="_blank">Managing shift work [HSG 256</a>]) and <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/shift-workers.htm" target="_blank">Hints and tips for shift-workers (hse.gov.uk)</a> to improve sleep quality, increase alertness and reduce health risk.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/02/2024 12:13:11 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1690439

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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: Gender
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to close the gender pension gap.
tabling member constituency	Warrington North
tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
uin	14968
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2024 answer text <p>The gender pension gap is a complex issue tied to the labour market, the private pensions system and demographic differences, but one the government takes very seriously. Addressing the gender pensions gap will only be possible through the collective effort of government, employers and industry.</p><p> </p><p>The new State Pension was designed to correct some of the historic unfairness in the previous system, in particular for women. Our reforms are working, under the pre-2016 system women receive 85% of the amount received by men. This is currently 97% under the new State Pension.</p><p> </p><p>Automatic enrolment (AE) has helped millions more women to save into a pension, with pension participation rates among eligible women in the private sector rising from 40% in 2012 to 86% in 2022. The government is committed to build on this success and is making progress on implementing the measures as set out in the 2017 review of AE. The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 was introduced into Parliament with government support and provides the necessary powers.</p><p> </p><p>Once implemented, the measures will disproportionately increase the pension saving of lower earners; a woman working part-time earning National Living Wage could see her pension almost double as a result when saving over her career.</p><p> </p><p>Our labour market policies will also help. Working parents will soon be even better supported through the extension of free childcare announced in the Spring budget in 2023. DWP also announced generous additional financial help to encourage and support lead carers of children who are receiving Universal Credit to move into or progress in work.</p><p> </p><p>By 2027-28, the Government will expect to be spending in excess of £8bn every year on free childcare hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.</p><p> </p><p>And we are working with stakeholders across government to better understand the challenge of the gender pension gap. In June, DWP published an official measure of this wealth gap, which is currently 35% between men and women shortly before they retire. The wealth gap between men and women who are eligible for automatic enrolment is lower, at 32%. <br></p><p>The publication of an official annual measure will help us track the collective efforts of government, industry and employers to reduce the Gender Pension Gap.</p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 27/02/2024 15:24:41 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1690483

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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	Health and 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 his Department is taking to meet its obligations under the International Labour Organisation Convention on Occupational Safety and Health 1981.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	14874
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government takes seriously the obligation to provide a safe and healthy working environment in the United Kingdom (UK).</p><p>While the UK has not ratified the International Labour Organisation’s 1981 Convention on Occupational Safety and Health, there are already general and specific duties on employers, in our primary and secondary legislation, that require them to ensure the health and safety of their employees. Some of those duties predate the 1981 Convention, such as the well-established duties in Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/02/2024 12:15:33 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1690497

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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	Driving Licences and Passports
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many driving licences have been cancelled due to avoid order to disqualification; and how many passports have been cancelled due to lack of payment for child maintenance in each of the last 10 years.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	14856
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has an extensive range of Enforcement Powers and sanctions available to them to ensure parents meet their financial obligations to their children.</p><p>The CMS’ strategy is to tackle payment breakdowns at the earliest opportunity. The CMS attempts to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of its enforcement system, by deciding what is appropriate on a case-by-case basis. Sanctions are only used as a last resort when every other method of recovering unpaid child maintenance has been attempted.</p><p /><p>These include:</p><ul><li>referral to Enforcement Agents</li><li>registering a Paying Parent’s debt on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines</li><li>using an order for sale to sell a Paying Parent’s property or assets.</li><li>stopping the Paying Parent getting or keeping a driving licence or passport</li><li>sending the Paying Parent to prison</li></ul><p> </p><p>Statistics on sanctions are published as part of the CMS <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-the-2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme" target="_blank">quarterly statistics</a> in Table 7.2 of the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65771fed254aaa000d050a51/national-tables-child-maintenance-service-to-september-2023.ods" target="_blank">National tables</a>.</p><p> </p><p>This table contains information on court referrals which resulted in an outcome. It does not contain information on applications which were stopped before court. There are several potential reasons the CMS may not go ahead with a court case, including but not exclusively:</p><p> </p><p>• The Paying Parent paid in full before the hearing date</p><p>• The payment agreement was accepted</p><p>• The Receiving Parent no longer wishes to proceed with the enforcement action</p><p> </p><p>From the table, between July 2019 and September 2023, there have been 2 driving disqualifications and 3 passport confiscations.</p><p> </p><p>From the quarter ending September 2020 to the quarter ending September 2023, there have been 4,311 applications to the courts in England, Wales, and Scotland with the following out comes:</p><ul><li>735 suspended prison sentences</li><li>15 suspended disqualifications from driving</li><li>6 immediate prison sentences</li><li>2 immediate disqualifications from driving.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Following the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023, the Government proposes to bring into force a legislative change to accelerate the enforcement process, reducing current liability enforcement from 22 weeks to as low as 6 weeks. The change will introduce a simpler administrative process to obtain a liability order against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities. This will enable the Child Maintenance Service to take faster enforcement action, affecting at least 10,000 cases each year.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/02/2024 12:20:12 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1690526

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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	AEA Group: Pensions
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 Q329 of the oral evidence given by the Minister for Pensions to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 10 January 2024, HC 144, what discussions his Department has had with the Cabinet Office on adequate means of redress for individuals impacted by the collapse of the AEA Technology pension scheme.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	14895
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>Discussions between officials from my Department and Cabinet Office have not concluded. It would be unreasonable to pre-empt the outcome of those discussions. Wider considerations, such as potential routes of redress beyond the powers of the Pensions Ombudsman, fall outside the remit of my Department.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/02/2024 12:05:38 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1690539

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the consultation entitled Child Maintenance: Improving our enforcement powers through the commencement of curfew orders, published on 9 July 2022.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	14859
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance “Improving our Enforcement powers through the commencement of Curfew orders” consultation concluded on 12 August 2022. Several enforcement initiatives aimed at improving compliance are currently in train and we are considering our strongest enforcement powers more broadly and will consider the next steps and how curfews fit in as part of this.</p><p> </p><p>The Child Maintenance Service already has a suite of strong enforcement powers at its disposal. These include, using Enforcement Agents (previously known as bailiffs) to take control of goods, forcing the sale of property, removal of driving licence or UK passport, deductions directly from earnings and bank accounts or even commitment to prison.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/02/2024 14:35:47 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1690546

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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: Gender
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 is taking to close the gender pension gap.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Riverside
tabling member printed	Kim Johnson
uin	14980
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2024 answer text <p>The gender pension gap is a complex issue tied to the labour market, the private pensions system and demographic differences, but one the government takes very seriously.</p><p> </p><p>Addressing the gender pensions gap will only be possible through the collective effort of government, employers and industry.</p><p> </p><p>The new State Pension was designed to correct some of the historic unfairness in the previous system, in particular for women. Our reforms are working, under the pre-2016 system women receive 85% of the amount received by men. This is currently 97% under the new State Pension.</p><p> </p><p>Automatic enrolment (AE) has helped millions more women to save into a pension, with pension participation rates among eligible women in the private sector rising from 40% in 2012 to 86% in 2022.</p><p> </p><p>The government is committed to build on this success and is making progress on implementing the measures as set out in the 2017 review of AE. The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 was introduced into Parliament with government support and provides the necessary powers.</p><p> </p><p>Once implemented, the measures will disproportionately increase the pension saving of lower earners; a woman working part-time earning National Living Wage could see her pension almost double as a result when saving over her career.</p><p> </p><p>Our labour market policies will also help. Working parents will soon be even better supported through the extension of free childcare announced in the Spring budget in 2023. DWP also announced generous additional financial help to encourage and support lead carers of children who are receiving Universal Credit to move into or progress in work.</p><p> </p><p>By 2027-28, the Government will expect to be spending in excess of £8bn every year on free childcare hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.</p><p> </p><p>And we are working with stakeholders across government to better understand the challenge of the gender pension gap. In June, DWP published an official measure of this wealth gap, which is currently 35% between men and women shortly before they retire. The wealth gap between men and women who are eligible for automatic enrolment is lower, at 32%. <br></p><p>The publication of an official annual measure will help us track the collective efforts of government, industry and employers to reduce the Gender Pension Gap.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 27/02/2024 14:31:56 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4824 label Biography information for Kim Johnson

1690574

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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 Credit and State Retirement Pensions: Suffolk Coastal
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people receive (a) the state pension and (b) pension credit in Suffolk Coastal constituency.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	15000
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2024 answer text <p>There are currently 30,114 people in receipt of the State Pension in the quarter ending May 2023 in Suffolk Coastal Constituency.</p><p> </p><p>There are currently 1,977 people in receipt of Pension Credit in the quarter ending August 2023 in Suffolk Coastal Constituency.</p><p> </p><p>Figures are published and available via <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 26/02/2024 16:02:21 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey