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1714968

registered interest
date	30/04/2024
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Local Transport Fund
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's timescales are for making Local Transport Fund payments to local authorities.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	24293
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/05/2024 answer text <p>The Local Transport Fund is a £4.7 billion fund beginning in 2025 for seven years. The money will start to be paid from early next year, giving councils time now to prepare. The Department will shortly publish advice for local authorities. We will ask local authorities to determine their local transport priorities and develop delivery plans so that they are ready to deliver improvements with Local Transport Fund funding from April 2025.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/05/2024 10:06:32 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1455977

registered interest
date	30/03/2022
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: Redundancy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there will be any redundancies following the closure of the offices in her Department's estate from which staff will not be relocated to an alternative premise.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	150259
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2022 answer text <p>The Department’s priority will be to retain, retrain, and redeploy staff either within DWP, or within other Government Departments in the area.</p><p> </p><p>Redundancies will be only considered as a very last resort, and only after all efforts to redeploy within DWP or other Government Departments in the area have been fully exhausted.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 25/04/2022 13:52:03 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1419286

registered interest
date	02/02/2022
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: Cost of Living
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with Chancellor of the Exchequer to help support pensioners with increases in the cost of living.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	117059
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2022 answer text <p>This country has never paid our pensioners more. This year, we will spend over £129 billion on the State Pension and benefits for pensioners in Great Britain. From April,</p><p> </p><p>The Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Act 2020 raised the State Pension by 2.5% from April 2021 although CPI was 0.5% and earnings were negative. From April, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension will be around £720 more in 2022/23 than if it had been up-rated by prices since 2010. That’s a rise of over £2,300 in cash terms.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, around 1.4 million eligible pensioners across Great Britain receive around £5 billion annually in Pension Credit, which tops up their retirement income and act as a passport to other financial help, such as support with housing costs, council tax, heating bills and a free TV licence for those over 75.</p><p> </p><p>Cold weather payments are payable to those in receipt of Pension Credit and the warm home discount - a rebate of £140 on a customer’s energy bill - is available to those in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit. From 2022/23 the eligibility criteria for the warm home discount scheme will be extended to a greater number of Pension Credit customers and the payment increased to £150.</p><p> </p><p>Customers of State Pension age are also entitled to an annual Winter Fuel payment worth up to £300. This winter we will pay over 11m pensioners a winter fuel payment at an annual cost of £2bn which is a significant contribution to winter fuel bills.</p><p /><p>The Chancellor’s announcement on 3 February of a package of support to help households with rising energy bills, worth £9.1 billion in 2022-23, will also be available to eligible pensioners.</p><p> </p><p>Further support for pensioners includes free eye tests and NHS prescriptions worth around £900m every year and free bus passes worth £1bn every year.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/02/2022 13:06:00 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1382271

registered interest
date	25/11/2021
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: Weaver Vale
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of pensionable age people in Weaver Vale constituency who are still awaiting payment of their state pension.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	82064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/12/2021 answer text <p>DWP does not have any claims outstanding. Those where we are awaiting additional information to process a customer’s claim are actioned on receipt of the required information, in the usual way.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/12/2021 14:11:45 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1305582

registered interest
date	24/03/2021
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will bring forward legislative proposal to ensure that employers affected by the covid-19 outbreak cannot retain employee pension deductions as cashflow rather than pay into the relevant pension scheme.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	174959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/04/2021 answer text <p>No. Employers are not permitted to hold pension contributions as cash flow.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 13/04/2021 13:14:03 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1284731

registered interest
date	08/02/2021
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: Cancer
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of welfare support available to people receiving a cancer diagnosis after reaching state pension age.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	150926
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>Welfare support for pensioners, including those with cancer, could include Attendance Allowance which is intended to help those who have long term care or supervision needs. Pension Credit is also available to help those pensioners on low incomes, and as we set out in our Manifesto, this Government remains committed to a range of other pensioner benefits including the Winter Fuel Payment and free prescriptions, ensuring that older people have the security and dignity they deserve.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 12/02/2021 12:50:10 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1232974

registered interest
date	09/09/2020
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: Fraud
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 finding of the Financial Conduct Authority that pension scammers take on average £91,000 from each of their victims, what assessment her Department has made of additional protections required to protect UK pensioners (a) in the UK and (b) overseas from pension transfer scams.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	87643
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2020 answer text <p>Action was taken by the Pension Regulator, Financial Conduct Authority, and Money Advice and Pension Service on 7 April pointing to the actions members should seek to take to safeguard against becoming victims of scams. Additional guidance was issued to trustees, and providers from both The Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator to support them to produce suitable communications during the Covid-19 outbreak.</p><p> </p><p>Please see links below for more information about the joint statement from Regulators and the Money Advice Service, and help available, produced by the Pension Protection Fund and supported by government.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>All of Government is committed to safeguarding consumer savings amongst those based in the UK and living overseas with UK based pension savings. We have adopted a layered approach building from interventions to assist all pension savers seeking to access their pensions to those who are most at risk of scams.</p><p> </p><p>For all pension savers aged 50 and over, in the lead up to accessing their pension savings, our aim is to support them make informed choices about their retirement income. We are therefore committed to replicating measures introduced by the FCA for contract based schemes for occupational pension schemes and requiring trustees to provide information to pensions savers from the age of 50, in a simpler format, to encourage savers to think about their retirement savings, choices and raise awareness of Pension Wise.</p><p> </p><p>We want to encourage savers with to take appropriate guidance (currently provided by MAPS under the Pension Wise brand) when they exercise their Pension Freedoms by applying to access savings. Recent trials showed a nudge to guidance during the application process is effective. We want to present taking guidance as a natural part of the journey when individuals access their pension savings. We are working with the FCA on rules that would require managers of private pension schemes to Introduce parallel provisions.</p><p> </p><p>Although the majority of transfers are to safe destinations there are still fraudsters who try to entice individuals to transfer to schemes for the purposes of relieving them of their pension savings.</p><p>To help protect people from pension scams, government has introduced an amendment to clause 125 in the Pension Schemes Bill 2020 limiting the statutory right to transfer The clause achieves two things:</p><p> </p><ul><li>it meets the Government’s third commitment in the Pension Scams consultation, namely to introduce in legislation provisions that enable members to be required to provide evidence of an employment link or, if transferring abroad, residency before a statutory transfer can take place; and</li><li>it enables legislation to require people to confirm they have received information or taken guidance about the risk of scams in certain circumstances before a transfer can proceed. We are and will continue to work with industry and regulators to identify the circumstances that cause trustees most concern when a transfer request is received and set those out in the legislation. Where any of these circumstances are identified we will require members seeking to transfer to confirm to trustees that they have obtained information or guidance on the risks of transfer to scam schemes.</li></ul><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government, working with the regulators and the Money and Pension Service, has been communicating with pension savers to alert them to the risk of scams in the current climate. DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media about the warning signs of a scam.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 22/09/2020 12:31:04 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1178769

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
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	Winter Fuel Payment: British Nationals Abroad
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department made of the number of winter fuel payments made to UK citizens residing in African countries in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	15118
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2020 answer text <p>Winter fuel payments are only payable to people at or above state pension age who are resident in the UK or certain EEA countries and Switzerland during the qualifying week, which is the third week of September.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 25/02/2020 13:22:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1166642

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
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	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the debt incurred by individuals as a result of being scammed into claiming an advance for universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	6511
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>On the 18<sup>th</sup> September 2019 we brought in changes to the application process for Universal Credit advances to protect innocent people from these scams.</p><p> </p><p>In order to determine whether an individual is liable to repay an advance, we look at the strength of evidence provided. Our investigations play an important part in establishing whether a claimant has had any involvement. In some cases, we will be able to establish that a claimant was entirely innocent and did not benefit from the payment, in which case we would not seek to recover the money from them.</p><p> </p><p>As each case is different and is judged solely on its merits, and as our investigations are still ongoing, it is not possible to accurately estimate the amount individuals could be asked to repay.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 30/10/2019 16:46:49 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1166654

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
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	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of universal credit claimants who have been referred for fraud relating to advance claims made after 18 September 2019.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	6512
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2019 answer text <p>It is not possible to answer this question. This answer could only be provided by accessing a substantial number of referrals to ascertain how many relate to advances claimed after 18<sup>th</sup> September 2019. As a result, we estimate providing this information would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/11/2019 10:59:45 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury