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1133702

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to support women who have needed to stay in the workforce for longer because of changes to the state pension age.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	267334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The number of older women in employment is at a record high. There are now 4.9 million women aged 50 and over in the workforce compared to 4.2 million five years ago.</p><p>We will spend £55 billion [£55.4bn] this year (2019/20) on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. This is around 2.5% of GDP, and over 6% of government spending, and as a share of GDP, the UK’s public spending is second highest in the G7, bar Germany [OECD 2015 data].</p><p>To support women to remain and return to the labour market, the Government has removed the Default Retirement Age meaning most people can choose when to retire, and extended the right to request flexible working to all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer.</p><p>We have appointed a Business Champion for Older Workers to engage and influence employers both strategically and in terms of practical advice.</p><p>In February 2017, the UK Government published “Fuller Working Lives: a partnership approach” to set out the role employers, individuals and Government can play in supporting fuller working lives. <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587654/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587654/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach.pdf</a></p><p>Through the National Retraining Partnership, a strategic partnership between Government, the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress, Government is developing the National Retraining Scheme. The National Retraining Scheme will help prepare adults for the future changes to the economy, including those brought about by automation, and help them retrain into better jobs.</p><p>And in February this year, DWP launched an online web page which brings together money, job and health elements of the mid-life MOT. <a href="https://www.yourpension.gov.uk/mid-life-mot/" target="_blank">https://www.yourpension.gov.uk/mid-life-mot/</a></p><p>To support employers, Business in The Community has also created MOT guides that support businesses. <a href="https://age.bitc.org.uk/tools-impact-stories/toolkits" target="_blank">https://age.bitc.org.uk/tools-impact-stories/toolkits</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 25/06/2019 14:07:37 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1132823

registered interest
date	18/06/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 publish a response to Early Day Motion 2390, Pensions for women born in the 1950s.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	266154
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The approach of Labour, Conservative and the Coalition governments for the last 24 years since the 1995 pensions Act is the same. This Government’s position on the changes to State Pension age (SPa) remains clear and consistent.</p><p /><p>We have considered the alternative options offered by stakeholders and found there are substantial practical, financial and legal problems to all alternative options offered by stakeholders so far to mitigate the impact on those affected. During the passage of the 2011 Act, the Government listened to the concerns of those affected and subsequently introduced a concession worth £1.1 billion in order to limit the impact on those women who would be most affected by the changes.</p><p> </p><p>In the years after the 1995 legislation, equalisation was frequently reported in the media and debated at length in Parliament. The changes were communicated in a variety of ways, for example with leaflets, extensive advertising campaigns were carried out and later individual letters were posted out. Throughout this period, the Department has also provided individuals with their most up-to-date State Pension age when they have requested a Pension statement. Between April 2000 and the end of April 2019, the Department provided more than 28 million personalised State Pension statements to people who requested them (either online or by telephone or post). We continue to encourage people to request a personalised State Pension Statement as part of our on-going communications.</p><p> </p><p>This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament, and any amendment to the current legislation which creates a new inequality between men and women would be highly dubious as a matter of law. The Government has no plans to publish a response to EDM 2390.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 24/06/2019 16:54:58 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1131637

registered interest
date	12/06/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on advertising the state pension age increase for women.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	263828
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold a detailed record of the cost of advertising changes to men and women’s State Pension age since the passage of the Pensions Act 1995. The Department has previously provided information to the House of Commons in a multitude of ways that clearly demonstrate the extensive steps the Department of Social Security and then the Department for Work and Pensions, took to communicate State Pension age changes at a significant cost to those departments.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 20/06/2019 14:00:55 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1130746

registered interest
date	07/06/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women born in the 1950s and affected by the change of the state pension age received less than five years notice of that change.
tabling member constituency	Bishop Auckland
tabling member printed	Helen Goodman
uin	261488
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The Pensions Acts of 1995, 2007 and 2011 were fully debated in Parliament. The government undertook wide public consultation before the passage of the Acts. This included publishing Green and White Papers. The passage of the Acts and the changes they brought in were widely reported in the media throughout this period.</p><p> </p><p>The changes to State Pension age that the Pensions Act 1995 brought in started to come into effect from April 2010 giving a notice period of at least 15 years for those changes.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the DWP and others took extensive steps in the years following the 1995 Act to further communicate the changes to women born in the 1950s, as well as all others affected, by means such as leaflets, State Pension forecasts, media articles and personal letters.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 12/06/2019 16:33:16 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	1484 label Biography information for Helen Goodman

1125882

registered interest
date	10/05/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 8 February 2019 to Question 217138, what designation has been assigned to those complaints.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	252883
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>I refer the honourable gentlemen to the answer previously given in response to Question 217138. The Independent Case Examiner closed all live complaints concerning changes to women’s State Pension age when they became subject to legal proceedings, as is required under its governance contract. In the event the legal proceedings fall away or there is no determination on the matters which form the basis of this group of complaints, the Independent Case Examiner could consider reopening the cases at the request of the Department. The Department cannot evaluate the potential merits of making such a request until the legal proceedings have been concluded.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 252884 question first answered 15/05/2019 09:21:53 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

1125883

registered interest
date	10/05/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 8 February 2019 to Question 217138, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of her Department instructing the Independent Case Examiner to reopen complaints relating to the equalisation of the state pension age cases in the event that legal proceedings fall away.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	252884
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>I refer the honourable gentlemen to the answer previously given in response to Question 217138. The Independent Case Examiner closed all live complaints concerning changes to women’s State Pension age when they became subject to legal proceedings, as is required under its governance contract. In the event the legal proceedings fall away or there is no determination on the matters which form the basis of this group of complaints, the Independent Case Examiner could consider reopening the cases at the request of the Department. The Department cannot evaluate the potential merits of making such a request until the legal proceedings have been concluded.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 252883 question first answered 15/05/2019 09:21:53 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

1123701

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 took in response to the increased number of complaints to the Independent Case Examiner from women affected by the state pension age increase between October 2016 and November 2018.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	248717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2019 answer text <p>The Independent Case Examiner is by its nature and name, independent. It reviews complaints about the DWP and its contracted service providers, in those cases where the complainant has exhausted the relevant internal complaints process and remains dissatisfied with the final response to their complaint.</p><p> </p><p>The service provided by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office is demand led, and its resources are reviewed on an annual basis. The Independent Case Examiner’s Office received funding for thirteen additional staff in 2018/2019 financial year, during which productivity increased with the Independent Case Examiner’s Office clearing 1,246 complaints, compared to 955 in the previous reporting year.</p><p> </p><p>The Independent Case Examiner’s Office accepted the first complaint concerning communications associated with changes to women’s State Pension age in October 2016. Due to the volume of complaint referrals received from this group of complainants, the Independent Case Examiner Office took the decision to bring a lead case into investigation in January 2017, in order to familiarise itself with the issues underpinning the orchestrated complaints campaign. This investigation concluded in June 2017 – The Independent Case Examiner did not uphold the complaint.</p><p> </p><p>To deal specifically with this group of complaints, the Independent Case Examiner’s Office set up a team of three Investigation Case Managers in October 2017. This team concluded 192 investigations between October 2017 and November 2018, none of which were upheld on the main element of complaint. The Independent Case Examiner’s Office closed this group of complaints in December 2018, when they became subject to legal proceedings, as is required under its governance contract.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/05/2019 15:18:56 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1123144

registered interest
date	25/04/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 publish a response to EDM 2296 on providing financial restitution to born in the 1950s women.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	247728
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2019 answer text <p>The approach of Labour, Conservative and the Coalition governments for the last 24 years since the 1995 pensions Act is the same. This Government’s position on the changes to State Pension age (SPa) remains clear and consistent.</p><p> </p><p>The legislative changes to women’s SPa address the longstanding inequalities that had previously existed between men and women’s SPa. If State Pension age had not been equalised, women would be spending over 40 per cent of their adult life in retirement and this proportion would be continuing to increase. Even after equalising women's State Pension age with men's, women will spend on average around two years more in receipt of their State Pension because of their longer life expectancy.</p><p> </p><p>The overall trend in the percentage of pensioners living in poverty is a dramatic fall over several decades. We are forecast to spend over £120 billion on benefits for pensioners, including £99 billion on the State Pension (2019/2020). In 2019/20 we are spending £3.1 billion to increase benefit and pension rates for pensioners.</p><p> </p><p>The welfare system continues to provide a safety-net for those experiencing hardship, including that caused by unemployment, disability, and coping with caring responsibilities which affect those unable to work and therefore most in need in the run up to their State Pension age. Women who have had their State Pension age increased have the same eligibility to working age in-work, out-of-work and disability benefits as a man with the same date of birth.</p><p> </p><p>This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament, and any amendment to the current legislation which creates a new inequality between men and women would be highly dubious as a matter of law. The Government does not respond to individual EDMs.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 30/04/2019 12:18:46 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1088555

registered interest
date	13/03/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reinstate the deferred pensions of those women born in the 1950s who were meant to receive their pensions aged 60; and what assessment they have made of whether those women were given sufficient notice of the deferment.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL14515
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>Successive governments of different political persuasions have taken the same approach to increased life expectancy and equality between 1995–2019. The Government has no plans to revisit the policy on women’s State Pension age as brought forward by the 1995 pensions Act or the 2011 Pensions Act, and does not intend to make further concessions. The changes in the 2011 Act occurred following a public Call for Evidence and extensive debates in Parliament. A concession limiting the increase in State Pension age under the 2011 Act in any individual case to 18 months, relative to the 1995 Act timetable, has already been made during the passage Act (at the cost of £1.1 billion).</p><p> </p><p>In the years after the 1995 legislation (1995 to 2011) this equalisation was frequently reported in the media and debated at length in parliament. People were notified with leaflets, an extensive advertising campaign was carried out, and later individual letters were posted out.</p><p> </p><p>Evidence submitted to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee ‘Communication of state pension age changes’ in 2016 noted that there were more than 600 mentions of State Pension age equalisation in the national broadsheet and tabloid press between 1993 and 2006, an average of just under one per week between 1993 and 2006. There were 54 mentions in the press in 1995, the year in which equalisation was legislated for. This was a significant event to change the age at which women received their State Pension that had existed since 1940. This was news worthy, particularly to those that it affected. Further media coverage occurred around the Pension Acts 2007, 2011 and 2014.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 25/03/2019 13:57:39 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

1078508

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Attorney General on the legal implications of the judicial review into complaints in relation to the equalisation of state pension age on the handling of complaints by (a) her Department, (b) the Independent Case Examiner and (c) the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	226520
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>Since WW2 and beyond, it is a longstanding convention observed by successive governments that neither the fact that the Law Officers have (or have not) advised nor the content of their advice is disclosed outside government without their authority, which is rarely sought or given. This is also set out in <em>Erskine May, </em>and as a result it is not appropriate to comment on live litigation.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 04/03/2019 15:33:38 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham