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1285275

registered interest
date	09/02/2021
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	Poverty: Coventry
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the level of pensioner poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	151732
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2021 answer text <p>No such assessment has been made.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/02/2021 16:01:32 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1284610

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	Pension Funds: Human Rights
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they take to ensure that pension funds and other institutional investors comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL13038
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>The Government has taken action to ensure that environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are taken into account by institutional investors.</p><p> </p><p>2018 changes to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations require occupational pension schemes to have policies on financially material ESG factors and on stewardship of their investments. Trustees are also required to report annually on how these policies have been implemented. These policies may include considerations such as those set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and in relation to issues such as crimes against humanity and genocide.</p><p>There are also similar expectations on providers of contract-based pensions in respect of their pension investments. The Independent Governance Committees (IGCs) of these firms are expected to consider and report on their firm’s policies on ESG issues and stewardship for the products that the IGCs oversee.</p><p>The importance and growth of investing in line with ESG considerations is a focus area of the Asset Management Taskforce – a regular forum chaired by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury bringing together Government, industry, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other stakeholders. On 24 November 2020, the Asset Management Taskforce published “Investing With Purpose: placing stewardship at the heart of sustainable growth”. This report’s clear recommendations, which apply across the investment chain, will further enhance the UK’s stewardship regime aim to ensure that asset managers are focused on delivering long-term, sustainable benefits for investors, the economy, the environment and society.</p><p> </p><p>The UK Stewardship Code, which was strengthened in 2020, also sets out at Principle 7 the expectation that its investor signatories systematically integrate material social issues into stewardship and investment. Stewardship by asset owners and asset managers involves making informed decisions about where to invest, and proactive oversight of assets once invested. The FCA’s disclosure of commitment rule to the Stewardship Code, as well as rules promoting disclosure of asset managers’ engagement and investment strategies under Revised Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II), holds asset managers accountable and promotes the importance of stewardship. Consistent with the FCA’s objective to make relevant markets function well, stewardship activities improve market quality and integrity, and help create sustainable, long-term value for clients and beneficiaries, while having wider economic, environmental and societal benefits.</p><p> </p><p>The Government would also expect institutional investors to be monitoring risks to their investments posed by breaches of international human rights law.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some investors have not focused on social factors as much as environmental factors such as climate change. The Department for Work and Pensions has therefore written to 40 large schemes to understand their current practices. It also intends to seek views on whether occupational pension schemes’ policies and practices on social risk factors are sufficiently robust and what the Government could do to ensure that trustees are able to meet their legal obligations in this respect.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott grouped question UIN HL13039 question first answered 12/02/2021 13:03:53 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1284611

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	Pension Funds: Crimes against Humanity
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they take to ensure that the investment strategies of pension funds and other institutional investors take into account (1) crimes against humanity, and (2) genocide, as social risk factors.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL13039
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>The Government has taken action to ensure that environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are taken into account by institutional investors.</p><p> </p><p>2018 changes to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations require occupational pension schemes to have policies on financially material ESG factors and on stewardship of their investments. Trustees are also required to report annually on how these policies have been implemented. These policies may include considerations such as those set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and in relation to issues such as crimes against humanity and genocide.</p><p>There are also similar expectations on providers of contract-based pensions in respect of their pension investments. The Independent Governance Committees (IGCs) of these firms are expected to consider and report on their firm’s policies on ESG issues and stewardship for the products that the IGCs oversee.</p><p>The importance and growth of investing in line with ESG considerations is a focus area of the Asset Management Taskforce – a regular forum chaired by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury bringing together Government, industry, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other stakeholders. On 24 November 2020, the Asset Management Taskforce published “Investing With Purpose: placing stewardship at the heart of sustainable growth”. This report’s clear recommendations, which apply across the investment chain, will further enhance the UK’s stewardship regime aim to ensure that asset managers are focused on delivering long-term, sustainable benefits for investors, the economy, the environment and society.</p><p> </p><p>The UK Stewardship Code, which was strengthened in 2020, also sets out at Principle 7 the expectation that its investor signatories systematically integrate material social issues into stewardship and investment. Stewardship by asset owners and asset managers involves making informed decisions about where to invest, and proactive oversight of assets once invested. The FCA’s disclosure of commitment rule to the Stewardship Code, as well as rules promoting disclosure of asset managers’ engagement and investment strategies under Revised Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II), holds asset managers accountable and promotes the importance of stewardship. Consistent with the FCA’s objective to make relevant markets function well, stewardship activities improve market quality and integrity, and help create sustainable, long-term value for clients and beneficiaries, while having wider economic, environmental and societal benefits.</p><p> </p><p>The Government would also expect institutional investors to be monitoring risks to their investments posed by breaches of international human rights law.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some investors have not focused on social factors as much as environmental factors such as climate change. The Department for Work and Pensions has therefore written to 40 large schemes to understand their current practices. It also intends to seek views on whether occupational pension schemes’ policies and practices on social risk factors are sufficiently robust and what the Government could do to ensure that trustees are able to meet their legal obligations in this respect.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott grouped question UIN HL13038 question first answered 12/02/2021 13:03:53 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1284682

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	Cold Weather Payments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the accuracy of using fixed Met Office Weather Stations to determine payment under the cold weather payment scheme.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	150982
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2021 answer text <p>The Met Office reviews the scheme annually to assess whether the linkages between postcode areas and weather stations remain the best available. Any necessary changes are made prior to the start of the following Cold Weather Payment season.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 150983 150984 question first answered 11/02/2021 15:25:18 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1284683

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	Cold Weather Payments
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 review the criteria for cold weather payments in situations where the relevant Met Office Weather Station records higher temperatures than that experienced by people whose eligibility for payment is determined by that station.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	150983
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2021 answer text <p>The Met Office reviews the scheme annually to assess whether the linkages between postcode areas and weather stations remain the best available. Any necessary changes are made prior to the start of the following Cold Weather Payment season.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 150982 150984 question first answered 11/02/2021 15:25:18 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1284684

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	Cold Weather Payments
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 review the locations of the Met Office Weather Stations used to determine eligibility for the cold weather payment to ensure that the measurements taken to activate those payments accurately reflect the temperatures where people live.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	150984
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2021 answer text <p>The Met Office reviews the scheme annually to assess whether the linkages between postcode areas and weather stations remain the best available. Any necessary changes are made prior to the start of the following Cold Weather Payment season.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 150982 150983 question first answered 11/02/2021 15:25:18 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1284712

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	Access to Work Programme: Applications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what targets her Department has in place for processing an Access to Work application for each stage of that process; whether her Department keeps a record of such targets that have not been met; and what steps her Department takes to inform disabled workers of the status of their application in the event that the processing their application has been delayed.
tabling member constituency	Leeds East
tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
uin	150872
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>Access to Work does not have any formal targets for elements of the journey as it offers a personalised service which involves regular contact with customers at the appropriate points throughout their application. Customers are provided with updates on the progress of their case, via their agreed method (letter, e-mail, text or phone). If there is any delay to their case customers will be updated via their communications with the nominated adviser, or through accessing information available on the inbound telephony line.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 12/02/2021 14:23:17 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon

1284713

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	Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her planned timescale is for the consultation on the National Strategy for Disabled People; and when her Department plans to begin consultation with (a) disabled people's organisations, (b) representatives of disabled workers and (c) trade unions as part of that process.
tabling member constituency	Leeds East
tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
uin	150873
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to transforming the lives of disabled people, and will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year.</p><p> </p><p>It will be informed by insights from the lived experience of disabled people, and will focus on the issues that disabled people say are most important across all aspects of life, from transport to education, and housing to employment. On Friday 15th January, we launched the online UK Disability Survey, which complements the range of engagement already undertaken and ongoing, including lived experience research with disabled people, discussions with the Disabled Charities Consortium, the Regional Stakeholder Networks and others. Contributions to the survey will feed not only into the development of the strategy but also its delivery.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 12/02/2021 14:25:47 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon

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

1284732

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	Motability Scheme: Terminal Illnesses
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 potential merits of extending eligibility to the Motability scheme for people in receipt of attendance allowance who have also been diagnosed with a terminal illness after state pension age.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	150927
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>The Motability Scheme was designed to provide people entitled to mobility welfare payments with access to a vehicle. The Scheme is open to anyone who qualifies for the higher rate mobility component for Disability Living Allowance, the enhanced rate of the mobility component for Personal Independence Payment, the Armed Forces Independence Payment or War Pensioners Mobility Supplement.</p><p> </p><p>Attendance Allowance is intended to help those with a severe disability who have long term care or supervision needs which arise after reaching State Pension age. It has never included a mobility component, and so cannot be used in payment for a leased Motability scheme vehicle. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life; developing mobility needs in older life is a normal consequence of ageing, which non-disabled younger people have had opportunity to plan and save for.</p><p> </p><p>Special rules apply to people considered to be terminally ill when applying for AA, DLA or PIP. However, there is no automatic entitlement to a mobility component of either DLA or PIP, and, while there would be no qualifying period, an eligible claimant would need to satisfy conditions for this entitlement.</p><p> </p><p>Benefits such as DLA or PIP can continue beyond State Pension age for as long as the individual remains entitled. This would allow an individual with existing entitlement to retain their Motability vehicle.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 12/02/2021 14:28:21 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury