Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Monday 9th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

6. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that people have the information they need to make informed decisions about how they use their pension investments.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions (Richard Harrington)]

Mr Speaker, were I allowed to wish you a happy new year, you can be assured that I would do so.

Pension Wise provides guidance to people aged 50 and over with a defined contribution pension pot on their options under the pension flexibilities. We are consulting on a single financial guidance body to provide debt advice and guidance on money and pensions.

[Henry Smith]

In thanking the Minister for his reply, I cannot resist wishing him, and indeed the whole House, a happy new year. Can he tell me what information the Government are providing to let people know about their entitlement to the state pension?

[Richard Harrington]

I thank my hon. Friend for his salutations and for his question. The Department for Work and Pensions continues to run a multi-channel communication campaign that includes radio, press and social media to raise awareness of the new state pension. As well as directing people to information on gov.uk and working with stakeholders to deliver key information, our priority has been to provide personalised information to individuals so that they know how much state pension they are likely to get, and from when. Since February 2016, the online Check your State Pension service has had more than 2.1 million views.