Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is (1) the total number of Motability Scheme recipients, and (2) the total value of payments under the Motability Scheme, by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Operations state in their 2024 Annual Report and Accounts that there are approximately 815,000 customers on the Motability Scheme as of September 2024.
The information requested on the value of payments under the Motability Scheme by parliamentary constituency is not readily available. To provide this would incur a disproportionate cost. An indication of the value of payments for Great Britain can be found in the Motability Operation’s Annual Report and Accounts. In 2024, Motability Operations reported a rental revenue of £2,806m. This includes direct payments from lessees, and payments from organisations to Motability Operations on behalf of the lessees, including DWP, Social Security Scotland and Veterans UK.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total value of Personal Independence Payments by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The total value of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) by parliamentary constituency can be found (attached) in the ‘Benefit expenditure by parliamentary constituency, 2010/11 to 2023/24’ tables included in the Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK publication.
Navigate to the ‘PIP_(PC24)’ worksheet to view PIP expenditure figures broken down by 2024 parliamentary constituencies from 2010/11 to 2023/24.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what grounds can child maintenance be written off by the Child Support Agency.
Answered by Will Quince
The grounds on which child maintenance arrears may be written off are available in The Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) Regulations 2009.
Circumstances include where the receiving parent (or child in Scotland) has died, or requests that the arrears are written off; where the paying parent has died and there is no further action that can be taken to recover the arrears; and where the arrears fall under the circumstances detailed in the child maintenance Compliance and Arrears Strategy.
A comprehensive list of the grounds for write off is available in the link below:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/3151/part/PART4B
The response to the Compliance and Arrears Strategy consultation is available in the link below:
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people had child maintenance payments written off by the Child Support Agency in 2018.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not readily available and has not previously been published as official statistics, however we expect these statistics to be published in June 2019. Information on the planned changes to the Child Support Agency Quarterly Statistical Summary to incorporate this information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-support-agency-statistics-publication-strategy
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of claimants that have received less money as a result of moving from working tax credits to universal credit.
Answered by Lord Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Currently, claimants moving from existing benefits to Universal Credit will only do so because they will have had a change in their circumstances that would previously, under the legacy system, have triggered a new claim to benefits or tax credits. In such circumstances they would always have had their entitlement calculated based on the rules of their new benefit. This principle has been maintained for those moving to Universal Credit.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to minimise the extent of liabilities imposed on small business owners by the operation of section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Following a Call for Evidence on Section 75 Employer Debt in Non-Associated Multi-Employer Defined Benefit Pension Schemes we are introducing a deferred debt arrangement in April that will help small employers in managing an employer debt. On 26 February we published a response to the consultation on the draft Occupational Pension Schemes Regulations 2017 together with a final version of the regulations.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of changes to the liability of small and family business under s.75 of Employer Debt Regulations.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As I explained in the adjournment debate on 11 January, there are a number of parties whose needs must be considered and it would be wrong to look at one party’s issues in isolation. Government must carefully weigh the impact on the security of pensions members have worked hard for, the remaining employers in the scheme, the PPF and its levy payers, when considering whether any change to the current regime is justified.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timetable is for the publication of the White Paper on Security and Sustainability in Defined Benefit Pension Schemes.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Our upcoming White Paper is due to be published this spring and will set out our position on this issue of Employer Debt and what, if any, action Government may take.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the financial effect on members of the Plumbing and Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Pension Scheme of the operation of section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As I explained in the adjournment debate on 11 January our Green Paper sought views about the current Section 75 employer debt regime and we have considered carefully the evidence made available by a number of pension schemes who responded, including the Plumbing and Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Pension Scheme. We have also assessed the impact any changes in this area could have on pension scheme members, and all other sponsoring employers.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the equity of the arrangements for sharing pensions between divorced couples where the divorce took place more than 10 years ago.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Financial settlements following divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, including which assets are included and how they are divided, is a matter for the family and matrimonial law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The pension legislation which provides the mechanism for implementing a pension sharing order granted by the courts remains largely unchanged since the introduction of pension sharing in December 2000.