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1147257

	registered interest
	date	30/09/2019
	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	Pension Funds
	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 to ensure pension funds consider the impact of climate change when taking investment decisions.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	292199
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that climate change is a defining national and international emergency, and we have introduced three key measures to ensure that pension schemes understand their responsibilities in responding to it.</p><p> </p><p>Firstly, since January 2019 those running single employer occupational pension schemes have been required to establish an effective system of governance including consideration of environmental, social and governance factors related to investment assets in investment decisions.</p><p> </p><p>Secondly, also since January 2019 schemes with 100 or more members must carry out and document a risk assessment of their system of governance including risks relating to climate change, the use of resources and the environment and risks relating to the depreciation of assets as a result of regulatory change (known as transition risk).</p><p> </p><p>Thirdly, as of 1st October, trustees of occupational pension schemes must state their policy on how they take account of the financial risks of climate change when developing their investment strategies. Defined contribution pension schemes are also required to publish their policy online.</p><p> </p><p>As the Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion I have spoken extensively about the new requirements and made clear this Government’s expectations of pension schemes.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/10/2019 11:42:36 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1233027

	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, what assessment her Department has made of the potential increase in pension scams since the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87524
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>Through Project Bloom, DWP works with other government departments, regulators, enforcement agencies and the pensions industry to monitor the evolution of scam typology and respond with a collective and coordinated response. Project Bloom is examining the range of measures that all agencies including providers and financial professionals could take to help prevent scams.</p><p> </p><p>At the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, the Department convened a cross-government and regulator group to closely monitor and respond to any increase in transfers and scams. The group includes DWP, HMT, both the Pensions Regulator and the FCA as well as the Money and Pensions Service and the Pension Ombudsman. This is supported by cross government and regulator gathering, monitoring and evaluating of data in order to develop as complete and robust a picture as possible. At this point the Department doesn’t yet have any robust evidence showing an increase in pension scams activity but will continue to monitor across the industry.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to active monitoring, 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 out the warning signs of a scam. A <a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">joint statement</a> was issued 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> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/09/2020 15:35:38 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1233030

	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, how many people have contacted Action Fraud on potential pension scams since the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87526
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>The Government continues to work with Regulators and the Police to prevent scams and this has continued during Covid-19. In the period March – July 2020, 116 reports of pension fraud were received by Action Fraud, compared to 179 for the same period in 2019.</p><p> </p><p>In recognition of the potential impact of Covid-19 on individual’s pensions savings the Department convened a cross-government and regulator group, to closely monitor and respond to any increase in transfers and scams. Regulators, Police and Action Fraud have confirmed that to date no evidence has emerged to demonstrate an increase in either transfers or scams, based on their internal monitoring of the industry. Although this is encouraging Government recognises it needs to continue to monitor and react to the changing environment.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/09/2020 11:08:01 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1233031

	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: Advisory Services
	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 have booked a Pension Wise guidance session since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87527
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/09/2020 answer text <p>Between March 1<sup>st</sup> and September 9<sup>th</sup> 2020, the number of Pension Wise guidance sessions booked totalled 64,221.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 16/09/2020 12:31:32 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1233033

	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	Financial Services: Advisory Services
	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 implementing a training programme for pension and finance professionals to ensure they can more readily identify scam risks.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87528
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to working closely with industry, regulators and pension scheme providers to help identify and prevent scams, it is working with Project Bloom, the Pension Regulator led taskforce, to stop scams and co-ordinate action against offenders.</p><p> </p><p>Through Project Bloom, DWP works with other government departments, regulators, enforcement agencies and the pensions industry to monitor the evolution of scam typology and respond with a collective and coordinated response. Project Bloom is examining the range of measures that all agencies including providers and financial professionals could take to help prevent scams.</p><p> </p><p>DWP will consider with Project Bloom, industry and the regulators the feasibility of how a training programme could be developed. This would build on training individual providers already provide for their people.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/09/2020 15:52:40 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1233035

	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, what discussions her Department has had with HMRC on its investigation of tax rule breaches arising from pension scams.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87529
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>Tax liabilities relating to unauthorised payments and HMRC’s investigation of tax rules arising from pension scams are the responsibility of HMT. DWP will continue to work closely with HMRC to understand their position and how these may impact the Pensions Schemes Bill and savers.</p><p> </p><p>Government continues to work with regulators and industry to protect consumers and find the best ways of preventing pension scams. HMRC and DWP have held regular discussions relating to the enhanced protection measures in the Pension Scheme Bill 2020.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/09/2020 10:54:22 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1233037

	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, what discussions her Department has had with (a) pension regulators, (b) pension providers and (c) HMRC on encouraging victims of pensions scams to report that scam.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87530
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>Through Project Bloom, DWP works with other government departments, regulators, enforcement agencies and the pensions industry to monitor the evolution of scam typology and respond with a collective and coordinated response. Project Bloom is examining the range of measures that all agencies including providers and financial professionals could take to help prevent scams.</p><p> </p><p>DWP consistently works with other organisations to raise awareness of pension scams and encourage reporting, including regular campaigns, from the Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator, conducted through the ScamSmart branding. Alongside promoting what to look out for to recognise a pension scam, the ScamSmart campaigns and website encourage people to report when they think they have been scammed. These messages are proving effective, in the most recent campaign prior to Covid-19, June to September 2019 over 222,000 visited the ScamSmart website to find out how to identify a scam scheme and report a scam.</p><p> </p><p>The Government, working with the regulators and the Money and Pension Service communicates with pension savers to alert them to the risk of scams in the current climate. DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media to set out the warning signs of a scam and has made 18 posts referencing Pension Scams and ScamSmart in total across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in the period March to September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>A <a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">joint statement</a> was issued by The Pension Regulator, Financial Conduct Authority, and Money Advice and Pension Service on 7 April pointing to the actions members should take to help safeguard against 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> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/09/2020 15:48:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1236621

	registered interest
	date	22/09/2020
	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	Pension Wise: Coronavirus
	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 have had a (a) telephone and (b) digital appointment with the Pension Wise service since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	93571
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/09/2020 answer text <p>Between 1 March 2020 and 22 September 2020, the following number of Pension Wise appointments were held:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Total combined complete/incomplete telephone appointments: 53,370</li><ul><li>Fully completed telephone appointments: 46,928</li><li>Incomplete telephone appointments: 6,442</li></ul><li>Digital appointments (self-service): 30,443</li></ul><p> </p><p>An incomplete appointment is where a customer attended an appointment, but it was not completed fully due to a variety of reasons.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 30/09/2020 15:23:31 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1565678

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2023
	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: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department’s review into economic inactivity will take into account the barriers to employment faced by disabled people and the support needed to overcome them.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	119989
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2023 answer text <p>The review will identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a key focus of the review.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 18/01/2023 14:13:03 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1623196

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2023
	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: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on supporting disabled people into work.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	904583
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2023 answer text <p>It was a pleasure in February to visit Crawley Job Centre and meet the Work Coaches with My Honourable Friend.</p><p>He will know we have helped over one million more disabled people into work and our Health and Disability White Paper and the budget support will do so much more.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 24/04/2023 16:06:34 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith