Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions during the debate on Defined-Benefit Pension Schemes of 17 January 2024 Official Report, column 329WH, whether the Minister has had discussions with the Pensions Regulator.
Answered by Paul Maynard
I know this is an important issue for many people and I am intending to meet with the Pensions Regulator when diaries allow. This will help me to look at the situation, try to understand what has happened and take a view on whether the arrangements currently in place are working as intended.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of reciprocal agreements on state pensions with other countries.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Government does not have a policy to increase the number of countries with which the UK has reciprocal agreements on state pensions. For this reason, no steps are being taken to this end.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a comparative assessment of the number and proportion of women affected by the increase in state pension age for women born in the 1950s who died before receiving their state pension (a) between1948 and 31 December 2015 and (b) since 31 December 2015; and whether there are statistically significant differences in those mortality rates.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
We have not undertaken the requested analysis and therefore do not hold the information you have requested.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of the women born in the 1950s affected by the increase in state pension age have died before reaching their state pension age since 31 December 2015.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
We have not undertaken the requested analysis and therefore do not hold the information you have requested.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential benefits of factoring in windchill in the calculation of temperature for the distribution of Cold Weather Payments.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Cold Weather Payments are intended to contribute towards the additional cost of heating a home during periods of severely cold weather, in England and Wales. The Scottish Government has introduced the Winter Heating Payment scheme to replace Cold Weather Payments for claimants living in Scotland.
Changing the eligibility criteria, or altering the temperature calculation, would significantly increase the cost, complexity and uncertainty of the scheme. We continually monitor the delivery of Cold Weather Payments to ensure it meets the policy intent.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve her Department's response times to correspondence from members of the public.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is currently experiencing high volumes of customer complaints, and it is taking us longer than usual to reply as we start to recover from the challenges of the pandemic.
DWP now triage complaints giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues. We aim to contact customers within 15 working days to clear the complaint or agree how to investigate it if it will take longer.
We continue to look into all complaints as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process, we write or call those customers where there may be a delay in answering their complaint.
We are in the process of designing the future operating model for DWP complaints and correspondence. As part of this we will be looking for further opportunities to drive efficiency in the process whilst ensuring that vulnerable customers are prioritised.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether problems that may cause delays in Winter Fuel Payments were identified in relation to the new Seasonal Payment System; and what mitigation was put in place to avoid such delays.
Answered by Guy Opperman
99.9% of customers were paid by the 23rd of December, with the remaining 0.1% paid by the 31st March which is the end of the winter fuel published timeframe. There are no outstanding annual Winter Fuel Payments for the winter 2020-21 exercise.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many delayed Winter Fuel Payments were caused by incorrect address transfers in the new Seasonal Payment System.
Answered by Guy Opperman
No payments were delayed due to data transfer between the systems.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what risk assessments took place before the transfer to the new Winter Fuel Payments database (Seasonal Payment System).
Answered by Guy Opperman
The decision to move to the Seasonal Payment System was based on a number of factors including best use of technology, commercial and operational considerations as we strive to deliver a modern and effective welfare system. Risk assessments took place before the start of the exercise.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the new Winter Fuel Payments database (Seasonal Payment System) was chosen.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The decision to move to the Seasonal Payment System was based on a number of factors including best use of technology, commercial and operational considerations as we strive to deliver a modern and effective welfare system. Risk assessments took place before the start of the exercise.