Oral Answers to Questions

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

6. What steps her Department has taken to ensure that claiming universal credit online is accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

The online system has been designed with accessibility in mind, and it has been audited and approved by the Royal National Institute of Blind People for all accessibility needs. Face-to-face and telephone support are in place for those vulnerable claimants who cannot self-serve online.

[Liz Twist]

Many disabled people are already having problems claiming universal credit. With the regulations for managed migration expected shortly, the Disability Benefits Consortium fears that many people with disabilities will fall through the cracks and lose transitional protection. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that people with physical or mental disabilities are given the specialist help they need to migrate, and should we not delay migration until that is sorted?

[Guy Opperman]

There is extensive engagement with the various organisations, and the Department is working hard to ensure there is full support for the disabled claimant, whether that is through the severe disability premium or our recently announced universal support fund.

[Stephen Kerr (Stirling) (Con)]

7. What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the advice and support offered to recipients of universal credit in Scotland.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con)]

16. What steps the Government have taken to enable industry to deliver the pensions dashboard.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

An industry-led pensions dashboard, facilitated by Government, will harness industry innovation and provide an opportunity for the pensions industry to step up and take a leading role. We have engaged with the industry and are assessing the feasibility of a dashboard. We will report shortly on the findings.

[David Warburton]

Ten thousand of my constituents have been automatically enrolled on the pensions dashboard under this Government. Will the Minister confirm that this is one of many options for my constituents for receiving pensions information, and that the dashboard will remain firmly in place?

[Guy Opperman]

My hon. Friend is right. The dashboard will transform how his constituents keep track of their growing number of pensions. This, along with the Single Financial Guidance Body, which the Government set up last year, will provide free and impartial information and guidance to help people plan for their retirement.

[Nigel Huddleston]

Will the Minister explain how the development of this online system will benefit my constituents?

[Guy Opperman]

Some 15,000 people in my hon. Friend’s constituency have been auto-enrolled thanks to the 2,010 employers supporting the system. As auto-enrolment expands, there will be a number of different pension pots, and having an online tool that everybody can access will be a massive addition for his constituents.

[Mr Speaker]

If the Minister could be good enough to face the House, it would be hugely appreciated.

[Mike Wood]

Does the Minister agree that for the pensions dashboard to be effective, it must be comprehensive, which means enjoying support right across the sector? If so, what is he doing to achieve this?

[Guy Opperman]

It was a pleasure to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency in the summer and to meet many of the 10,000-plus people there who are auto-enrolled. We are in daily contact with industry figures as we prepare our feasibility report and plan for the roll-out of the dashboard.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give us a date for full implementation of the dashboard?

[Guy Opperman]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be pleased to await the feasibility report that is pending.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Will the pensions dashboard be clear about all the costs related to its production?

[Guy Opperman]

That is part of the feasibility study and something that we are looking at on an ongoing basis, but I am happy to discuss this in more detail with the hon. Gentleman.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

It is nothing short of astonishing that the Secretary of State sought to pull the plug on the groundbreaking cross-party pensions dashboard, designed to help workers know what they have saved and what they have to save to ensure a decent income in retirement, and all easily accessible in one place. Will the Minister now ensure an obligation on providers to supply the necessary information to the pensions dashboard, and can we be confident that the Secretary of State, whose capacity to get it wrong knows no bounds, will not make a renewed attempt to thwart the pensions dashboard?

[Guy Opperman]

Is it not rich that the Labour party, which never came up with or implemented a pensions dashboard, is criticising us, who are doing exactly that? Let me make it acutely clear that this is a party that works together, and that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I, and all the members of the DWP team, are completely behind the pensions dashboard.

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

13. What progress she has made on the roll-out of universal credit throughout the UK.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

T9. How many people in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine have benefited from automatic enrolment thus far?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

Some 10,000 of my hon. Friend’s constituents are benefiting from automatic enrolment, with thanks to the 1,800 employers involved, and nationally workplace pension provision for women and young people has now doubled in the last five years.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

T8. Ministers defend the five-week wait for universal credit on the basis that employees will have had a month’s pay in their bank account when they left their previous job. Does the Minister accept that that case simply does not apply to employees paid weekly or those on zero-hours contracts?

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Masterton (East Renfrewshire) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the announcement by the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman), of a consultation on collective defined contribution schemes. However, I had anticipated that it would come out before my ten-minute rule Bill on Wednesday. Will he give us an update as to when we might see it?

[Guy Opperman]

I am delighted that my hon. Friend has raised this point. The consultation will be of assistance to Royal Mail and the thousands of posties in his constituency. We will be consulting on the matter very shortly.