Oral Answers to Questions

Joanna Cherry Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Justin Tomlinson]

The hon. Member has raised a very fair point. We have been piloting both audio and video recording of assessments. That pilot will be coming to a close soon. I certainly have a huge amount of sympathy around making sure that there is provision in place for audio recording for claimants.

[Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)]

12. What assessment she has made of the implications for her policies on the state pension age of trends in the level of life expectancy.

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

The Government are committed in legislation to undertake a review of state pension age every six years. The 2017 independent review was by John Cridland. The next review will be conducted by 2023 and will give consideration to the latest life expectancy projections. The latest Office for National Statistics projections of cohort life expectancy, published in January 2020, showed that it is projected to continue to increase, and the WHO Global Health Observatory data show that people in the United Kingdom have better life expectancies than European or world averages.

[Joanna Cherry]

The new Marmot review has shown that a decade of Tory policies, from cruel benefit cuts to the unfair treatment of the WASPI women, have stalled life expectancy and increased the years spent in ill health for the poorest in our society. Which Tory policy would the Minister reverse first to begin to undo that damage?

[Guy Opperman]

I am afraid that the hon. and learned Lady is wrong. I will quote from the Marmot review, which says on page 13 that

“Increases in life expectancy have slowed since 2010”,

but then adds at page 15 that

“Life expectancy at birth has been increasing since the beginning of the 20th century.”