Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Guy Opperman and Felicity Buchan

Monday 6th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)]

14. How many people have been auto-enrolled in workplace pensions in Kensington constituency since 2012.

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

Since 2012, in the Wantage constituency, 14,000 local men and women have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. We thank the 2,410 local employers who are helping these employees to save from 8% of their earnings.

[Guy Opperman]

We keep all policies under review, and auto-enrolment got to 8% only in 2019. We will proceed with the 2017 auto-enrolment review by lowering the eligibility age and making it from the first £1 earned in due course. We will also look at all matters in terms of contribution rates on a longer-term basis as time moves on.

[Felicity Buchan]

I understand that 36,000 people in Kensington have been signed up through auto-enrolment, which is great news. What can my hon. Friend do to ensure that even more people in Kensington are signed up?

[Guy Opperman]

Where Kensington leads, the rest of the country follows. There is no doubt that 36,000 is a phenomenal number of employees who are saving the 8% through auto-enrolment. My hon. Friend will be aware that, in her community and in this country, less than 40% of women were saving in a workplace pension prior to 2012, and it is now 86%. Less than 24% of young people were saving in a workplace pension, and it is now 84%. This is a game-changing policy developed under successive Governments but pioneered by this Conservative Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Guy Opperman and Felicity Buchan

Wednesday 7th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Guy Opperman]

I will get the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work to write to the hon. Gentleman, but he will be aware that we spend £57 billion on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. At the same time, we have reformed employment and support allowance in the light of covid and brought in supportive changes to statutory sick pay, local housing allowance and the Access to Work programme. We continue to support the disabled into work.

[Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to encourage covid-19 vaccine take-up among ethnic minority communities.

Pension Schemes Bill [Lords]

Debate between Guy Opperman and Felicity Buchan

Report stage & 3rd reading & 3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Monday 16th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Guy Opperman]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

This is a hugely—

[Felicity Buchan]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Guy Opperman]

How could I possibly not give way to my hon. Friend!

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Was that “On that point”?

[Felicity Buchan]

My hon. Friend is aware of my constituent Mr John Walker’s landmark case in the Supreme Court, where he secured equal pension rights for single-sex married couples. Will my hon. Friend assure me that although that currently is the law in the UK, he will find a way to enshrine it in statute?

[Guy Opperman]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on making her point so eloquently and intervening speedily in this short Third Reading speech. I can confirm that the law stays as per the Supreme Court decision, even after we leave the EU. I stand by what I wrote to her in the detailed letter that I drafted to her in October, a copy of which I will place in the House of Commons Library to set the matter firmly on the record.

Before I was so generously interrupted, I was saying that this is a hugely important piece of legislation with cross-party support, for which I thank colleagues from all parties, including the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), who cannot be with us tonight. The Bill will affect the lives of millions of our constituents throughout the country; make pensions safer, better and greener; stop scams; introduce CDCs; create pension dashboards; and crack down on callous crooks who take away our constituents’ pensions. It also legislates for a new type of pension scheme, establishing the dashboard and making pensions fundamentally greener. I commend the Bill to the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Guy Opperman and Felicity Buchan

Monday 9th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)]

T2. What steps is the Department taking to enhance the workplace savings programme for my constituents in Kensington?

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

As my hon. Friend will be aware, this was introduced in 2012 and has been a cross-party success story. It is fantastically good news for her constituents in Kensington, where 39,000 residents are signed up to an 8% automatic enrolment. Due thanks need to be given to the 5,300 local businesses who are supporting individual constituents, who are receiving 8% per annum workplace savings.