Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Harrington of Watford Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mary Robinson (Cheadle) (Con)]

11. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that people have accurate and clear information to inform decisions on the use of their pension investments.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions (Richard Harrington)]

The Government are committed to providing free impartial guidance through Pension Wise to help people make informed and confident decisions about how they use their defined-contribution pension savings in retirement.

[Mary Robinson]

What further steps is the Department taking, working with other Departments, to ensure that protections are in place for those in receipt of their pensions who may be at risk of falling foul of financial scams in their retirement?

[Richard Harrington]

I thank my hon. Friend for that really important question. She can be reassured that a cross-Government consultation on further measures to tackle pension scams closed very recently—on 13 February —and it included a proposal to ban all cold calling in relation to pensions. We will announce our next steps once we have considered the responses we have received to the consultation, but I assure her that we will take action as soon as possible.

[Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)]

13. For what reason his Department did not carry out an impact assessment prior to the announcement of the proposed closure of Jobcentre Plus estates on 26 January 2017.