Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 7 August (HL344), how many staff in the Government Equalities Office are permitted to undertake diversity-related network time during core working hours; what is the percentage of overall working time they are permitted to spend on such network activity; how many hours are allocated in total; which networks are being funded; and whether they have any plans alter such funding.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government Equalities Office is part of the Cabinet Office for management and staffing purposes. The EDI Expenditure Guidance published in May 2024 remains in place.

Data on the specific number of working hours used for network activity is not held centrally. The majority of staff time spent on diversity staff networks is voluntary and unpaid.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 7 August (HL344), how many staff in the Cabinet Office are permitted to undertake diversity-related network time during core working hours; what is the percentage of overall working time they are permitted to spend on such network activity; how many hours are allocated in total; which networks are being funded; and whether they have any plans alter such funding.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government Equalities Office is part of the Cabinet Office for management and staffing purposes. The EDI Expenditure Guidance published in May 2024 remains in place.

Data on the specific number of working hours used for network activity is not held centrally. The majority of staff time spent on diversity staff networks is voluntary and unpaid.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether simpler pension fund statements are being produced and sent to clients by all pension providers as required.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

From October 2022, new requirements were introduced for schemes used for automatic enrolment to provide a simpler annual benefit statement. The Department continues to work with the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator to ensure compliance. Additionally, the Department plans to monitor/review the regulations within 5 years of being introduced as per the regulations (Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) (Statements of Benefits: Money Purchase Benefits) (Amendment) Regulations 2021)).

The Department publishes annual official statistics on workplace pension participation and saving trends. This provides estimates on the total amount saved into workplace pensions for those eligible for Automatic Enrolment, which was over £131bn in 2023. The table below holds the estimates of the total amount saved over the last 5 years, in 2023 earnings terms, which are also found in the official statistics noted above. As requested, the breakdowns by DB and DC schemes and other/unknown are also shown.

Notes: Estimates of amounts saved into workplace pensions are derived from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data. The saving attributed to ‘other/unknown’ is a result of respondents answering ‘unknown’ or failing to answer when asking what their workplace pension scheme type was, despite reporting a positive value of pension saving.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total contributions into (1) defined contribution, (2) defined benefit, and (3) other, pension schemes for the past five years.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

From October 2022, new requirements were introduced for schemes used for automatic enrolment to provide a simpler annual benefit statement. The Department continues to work with the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator to ensure compliance. Additionally, the Department plans to monitor/review the regulations within 5 years of being introduced as per the regulations (Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) (Statements of Benefits: Money Purchase Benefits) (Amendment) Regulations 2021)).

The Department publishes annual official statistics on workplace pension participation and saving trends. This provides estimates on the total amount saved into workplace pensions for those eligible for Automatic Enrolment, which was over £131bn in 2023. The table below holds the estimates of the total amount saved over the last 5 years, in 2023 earnings terms, which are also found in the official statistics noted above. As requested, the breakdowns by DB and DC schemes and other/unknown are also shown.

Notes: Estimates of amounts saved into workplace pensions are derived from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data. The saving attributed to ‘other/unknown’ is a result of respondents answering ‘unknown’ or failing to answer when asking what their workplace pension scheme type was, despite reporting a positive value of pension saving.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the policy of the Pensions Regulator for using the term "gender" in place of the Equality Act 2010's terms of (1) "sex", and (2) "gender reassignment" in its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR’s) strategy is wide-ranging, to ensure that it is fully inclusive and includes groups beyond the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, that encompass sex and gender reassignment. TPR uses ‘gender’ as was defined by the Office of National Statistics at the time the strategy was published, and will review their EDI Policy at the point of strategy refresh or when ONS issue new guidance, if earlier.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of discrimination against older people, especially in the workplace; and whether the Office for Equality and Opportunity is reviewing this area.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Unlawful age discrimination is unacceptable, whether occurring in employment, the provision of services or any other context covered by the Equality Act 2010. Any differential treatment based on age must be objectively justifiable, otherwise it will rightly be unlawful.

In a workplace context the abolition of the default retirement age has helped older workers and where unlawful treatment is alleged, the employee may take their case to an employment tribunal. As a first step in any dispute, the parties may consult Acas which operates a Government-funded helpline for people with employment disputes and early conciliation by Acas is required before a claim reaches a tribunal hearing.

The Government keeps all aspects of the Equality Act 2010 under review, to ensure they remain fit for purpose.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any of the Ministers or Parliamentary Under Secretaries responsible for equalities are responsible for dealing with ageism.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The Minister for Women and Equalities and the Minister of State for Women and Equalities both have responsibility for ensuring that older people are protected from unlawful ageism (age discrimination) by maintaining the existing strong protections in the Equality Act 2010. These protections make it unlawful for an employer, service provider or someone exercising public functions to treat a person less favourably because of age, unless this can be objectively justified.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants work in (1) the Race Equality Unit, (2) the Disability Unit, (3) the Women and Equalities Unit, and (4) the Office for Equality and Opportunity.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Overall staff figures for the Office for Equality and Opportunity total 133.8 Full Time Equivalents, of which the Race Equality Unit total 6 FTE, the Disability Unit total 19.8 FTE and the Women and Equalities Unit total 36.5 FTE. This excludes any temporary time limited resource from wider Cabinet Office.

Found: private member ’s bill, the Alternative Investment Fund Designation Bill [HL] introduced by Baroness Altmann

Found: private member ’s bill, the Alternative Investment Fund Designation Bill [HL] introduced by Baroness Altmann