Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) retired and (b) active seafarers are members of the Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund (MNRPF); and what recent assessment she has made of the current valuation of the MNRPF.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund (MNRPF) is a private sector occupational pension scheme and the Department does not collect data about the membership of such private schemes.
The Pensions Regulator, which oversees the funding regime for defined benefit pension schemes, was established by the Pensions Act 2004 on 17 December 2004. It has operational independence and it is not therefore appropriate for Ministers to intervene in its supervision or regulation of individual schemes
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the planned timescale is for resuming face-to-face benefits assessments during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Honourable gentleman will find details of our plans to resume face-to-face assessments for health and disability benefits published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to resume face-to-face medical assessments for (a) universal credit and (b) employment support allowance claimants.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 December to Question UIN 126162.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in enforcing payments for resident parents during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Paying parents are still expected to pay child maintenance throughout this period. We know the vast majority of parents take their responsibilities extremely seriously and will do whatever is needed to ensure their children are supported. Where payments have been missed we have asked parents to report the changes via the self-service portal.
In order to ensure that receiving parents do not lose out in the long run, we will update cases with notified changes as soon as possible. Where payments have been missed the Service will take action to re-establish compliance and collect any unpaid amounts that may have accrued.
No one will get away with giving false information. Those found to be abusing the system can be subjected to the full extent of our enforcement powers and the Child Maintenance Service will pursue these, where appropriate.