Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding has been provided to the (a) Pension Advisory Service and (b) Citizens Advice Bureaux for providing the Pension Wise service since the introduction of that service was announced.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All guidance specialists working for Pension Wise will receive high quality and rigorous training, whether they are delivering guidance face to face or over the phone. They will be required to pass a certificated test to demonstrate they have the necessary technical knowledge and guidance skills to deliver the guidance. The training programme is designed in accordance with FCA standards, and will be accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute, a well-respected professional standards body in the financial services industry.
HM Treasury’s delivery partners, TPAS and Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland are currently recruiting guidance specialists. Recruitment strategies and the setting of pay scales is the responsibility of individual delivery partners.
At Budget 2014, the Chancellor allocated a development fund of up to £20m to establish the initial guidance service. Spending on advertising will be published as part of the government’s Transparency Agenda. Initial funding to The Pension Advisory Service (TPAS) and the Citizen Advice organisations will be included in the HM Treasury Accounts to be published in July.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on issues arising from the measures contained in the Football Governance Bill.
Answered by Helen Grant
I have had no such discussions. It would be for the Scottish Government to work with the key football bodies in Scotland on governance matters as they saw fit. I continue to encourage the football authorities in England to introduce improved measures around regulation and governance to their sport.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any additional resources will be available to HM Revenue and Customs for conducting due diligence on newly-registered pension schemes.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has an active compliance programme to tackle all attempted abuse of the pension tax rules. As part of this, they continue to work to identify promoters and schemes which seek to abuse the pension tax rules. The fit and proper person test for scheme administrators introduced in September 2014 is another important tool to help HMRC tackle these schemes and to protect members’ funds. HMRC takes a risk based approach to compliance which allows it to match resource at the right time to tackle this abuse. This resource includes pension specialists, and where appropriate, staff from many other areas across HMRC. HMRC is also working with other Government Departments to ensure that appropriate action is taken to stop any abuse.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 222173, what the locations are of the Citizens Advice Bureaux in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland where trained staff deliver the Pension Wise service.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The figure of 300 trained guidance specialists is an estimate across the whole of the service. It is the responsibility of our delivery partners to determine exactly how many trained guidance specialists they will need in each area. HM Treasury has plans in place to boost capacity, particularly to deal with any initial surge of demand.
Citizens Advice has published the names of 44 bureaux which are in the first tranche of participating bureaux in England and Wales. Bureaux will use also a range of satellite locations to deliver guidance. Details of a further tranche of bureaux and satellite locations will be published shortly, along with announcements from Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland of their participating bureaux.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 222173, how many of the 300 trained staff working to deliver the Pension Wise guidance will provide face to face sessions in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The figure of 300 trained guidance specialists is an estimate across the whole of the service. It is the responsibility of our delivery partners to determine exactly how many trained guidance specialists they will need in each area. HM Treasury has plans in place to boost capacity, particularly to deal with any initial surge of demand.
Citizens Advice has published the names of 44 bureaux which are in the first tranche of participating bureaux in England and Wales. Bureaux will use also a range of satellite locations to deliver guidance. Details of a further tranche of bureaux and satellite locations will be published shortly, along with announcements from Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland of their participating bureaux.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 222173, how many of the 300 trained staff working to deliver the Pension Wise service will be delivering telephone sessions via the Pensions Advisory Service based at its headquarters in London.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The figure of 300 trained guidance specialists is an estimate across the whole of the service. It is the responsibility of our delivery partners to determine exactly how many trained guidance specialists they will need in each area. HM Treasury has plans in place to boost capacity, particularly to deal with any initial surge of demand.
Citizens Advice has published the names of 44 bureaux which are in the first tranche of participating bureaux in England and Wales. Bureaux will use also a range of satellite locations to deliver guidance. Details of a further tranche of bureaux and satellite locations will be published shortly, along with announcements from Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland of their participating bureaux.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether armed forces recruiting staff are required to meet in person the parents or legal guardians of potential recruits aged under 18, before consent to enlistment is granted.
Answered by Julian Brazier
It is Ministry of Defence policy that all three Services must obtain the written consent of a parent or guardian for candidates under the age of 18 before an application to join the Armed Forces can be processed.
Thereafter, proof of consent is checked at different points during the application process before a young person can enlist. Where a parent or guardian wishes to meet recruiting staff, they are given the opportunity to do so.
Recruiting staff are required to ensure that all candidates under the age of 18 and their parents or guardians have access to a full explanation of the terms and conditions of service during the application process and before entry into the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what measures are in place to ensure that the parents or legal guardians of armed forces recruits aged under 18 are fully informed of the nature of enlistment into military service before they grant consent to enlistment.
Answered by Julian Brazier
It is Ministry of Defence policy that all three Services must obtain the written consent of a parent or guardian for candidates under the age of 18 before an application to join the Armed Forces can be processed.
Thereafter, proof of consent is checked at different points during the application process before a young person can enlist. Where a parent or guardian wishes to meet recruiting staff, they are given the opportunity to do so.
Recruiting staff are required to ensure that all candidates under the age of 18 and their parents or guardians have access to a full explanation of the terms and conditions of service during the application process and before entry into the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that asylum seekers resident in Scotland are able to submit evidence on their claim to offices in Scotland.
Answered by Mike Penning
The changes to the further submissions process only apply to failed asylum seekers whose claims have already been carefully considered and refused and, where applicable, had any appeal against that decision rejected by an
independent court. Asylum seekers who are yet to receive a decision on their claim are unaffected by the new arrangements. They are given every opportunity to disclose all relevant evidence and remain able to submit it by post or at
offices in Scotland.
Home Office officials meet asylum partners on a regular basis through the National Asylum Stakeholders Forum (NASF) and several sub-groups of this forum. The Government is familiar with the range of views about the asylum
system and how it is operated and these views were considered when developing this policy change. NASF were notified of the change in a letter dated 13 January and Home Office officials met partners on 22 January to discuss their
concerns. We will continue to discuss these issues with partners and have scheduled forthcoming meetings for this purpose. We are not aware of any direct approach from Scottish stakeholders.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on asylum seekers in Scotland of the recent changes to rules which provide that evidence related to asylum claims must be submitted in Liverpool.
Answered by Mike Penning
The changes to the further submissions process only apply to failed asylum seekers whose claims have already been carefully considered and refused and, where applicable, had any appeal against that decision rejected by an
independent court. Asylum seekers who are yet to receive a decision on their claim are unaffected by the new arrangements. They are given every opportunity to disclose all relevant evidence and remain able to submit it by post or at
offices in Scotland.
Home Office officials meet asylum partners on a regular basis through the National Asylum Stakeholders Forum (NASF) and several sub-groups of this forum. The Government is familiar with the range of views about the asylum
system and how it is operated and these views were considered when developing this policy change. NASF were notified of the change in a letter dated 13 January and Home Office officials met partners on 22 January to discuss their
concerns. We will continue to discuss these issues with partners and have scheduled forthcoming meetings for this purpose. We are not aware of any direct approach from Scottish stakeholders.