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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

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

1284768

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: Coronavirus
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 the one calendar month deadline to request a mandatory reconsideration to allow claimants sufficient time to compile necessary information in the context of delays caused by the covid-19 (a) outbreak and (b) lockdown announced in January 2021.
tabling member constituency	York Outer
tabling member printed	Julian Sturdy
uin	150792
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2021 answer text <p>The law provides that if an application is made outside the one month time limit but within 13 months of the decision being disputed, the application will be admitted as in time where the claimant can show there were special circumstances for the late application.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants do not have to submit all of the supporting information within one month. When they apply for a Mandatory Reconsideration, they can inform the Decision Maker they intend to provide further information. In these cases, more time will be allowed for this to be provided and no decision will be made until it is received.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 12/02/2021 14:20:34 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4079 label Biography information for Julian Sturdy

1284809

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, whether she plans to change the measure for the Cold Weather Payment scheme from the actual temperature to the feels like temperature.
tabling member constituency	Gateshead
tabling member printed	Ian Mearns
uin	150766
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2021 answer text <p>There are no plans to use the “feels like” temperature as a basis for Cold Weather Payments. Feels like temperature is the perception of external temperature rather than a measured air temperature. Cold Weather Payments are designed to contribute to the additional costs of heating homes in unseasonably cold weather, while “feels like” temperature does not impact on the amount of heating that homes require.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/02/2021 15:32:20 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4000 label Biography information for Ian Mearns

1284846

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	Child Maintenance Service: Correspondence
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 average response time to hon Members' offices regarding Child Maintenance Support enquiries; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	150809
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not measure timings as described in the question and to determine this request, we would need to examine each individual case, which the Department considers to be cost prohibitive to provide.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has a 15 working day target for MP to Director General Correspondence and a 20 working day target for Private Office correspondence. These timescales are in line with Cabinet Office directives.</p><p> </p><p>As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department had to make changes to its complaints and MP correspondence model to allow staff to be deployed to support processing benefit claims and payments. From 9 July 2020, the Department now triage complaints and MP Correspondence giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to look into all complaints and MP correspondence as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process used to determine priority, we write or call those customers and MPs where there may be a delay in answering their complaint or enquiry.</p><p> </p><p>We are reviewing the effectiveness of the approach we have taken throughout the pandemic as part of an ongoing review into complaints and MP correspondence handling.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/02/2021 15:29:51 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis