Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend the eligibility to apply for a registered assistance dog to adults with autism.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There is no register of assistance dogs. Assistance dogs are provided by charities and private sector organisations some of which are accredited member organisations of Assistance Dogs International or the International Guide Dog Federation. These organisations are responsible for making decisions on who they supply with an assistance dog.
Responsibility for deciding what treatment is best for patients rests with the doctors concerned who are required to exercise their clinical judgement, in consultation with the patient and informed by a patient’s medical history.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department is doing to deliver the full pension entitlement for those people in Northern Ireland who started work at the age of 14.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Following the fundamental reforms of the National Insurance scheme in 1975 the law provided that only paid contributions and credits from the year in which a person reached age 16 to the year before the one in which they reached state pension age should count for the purposes of entitlement to the state pension. The Government has no plans to review the position reached by Parliament and which has been in place for the past 40 years, since 1975.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that all Jobcentre Plus premises are fully accessible for people on the autism spectrum, in terms of both environment and staff awareness of autism; and what plans he has to evaluate the progress being made in achieving such accessibility.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are committed to supporting all customers so that they are fully able to access our services, and will do this by assessing their individual needs and providing tailored support.
We are continuing to progress the commitments detailed in the Think Autism Strategy and have undertaken a significant amount of work to improve our services for people with Autism/ Hidden Impairments. We are working with Autism Alliance UK to develop greater capacity when supporting people with autism; creating a more appropriate environment and supporting the identification of reasonable adjustment solutions.
The Hidden Impairment Toolkit, which I have sponsored, is available to all DWP staff. This resource helps staff to better understand how to support people with autism and associated hidden impairment conditions. I have attached a copy of this for ease of reference.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take greater steps to help UK nationals access pensions which have been earned abroad.
Answered by Priti Patel
The UK already participates in a comprehensive EU-level system of regulations which allows people to claim their state pension from every EEA country they have lived or worked in.
There are further international agreements with countries outside the EEA and taken together with the UK's own bilateral social security agreements, the large majority of people are covered for claims to state pension earned abroad.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take greater steps to help UK nationals access pensions which have been earned abroad.
Answered by Priti Patel
The UK already participates in a comprehensive EU-level system of regulations which allows people to claim their state pension from every EEA country they have lived or worked in.
There are further international agreements with countries outside the EEA and taken together with the UK's own bilateral social security agreements, the large majority of people are covered for claims to state pension earned abroad.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to help UK nationals access pensions which have been earned abroad.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK participates in EU regulations which allow a person to submit a single claim to pension in the EEA country where they last worked or the country of residence if it is different. That country will then coordinate with all the EEA countries where the claimant has a right to a pension so that each country can determine entitlement under its national legislation.
Respecting the right of other countries to determine their own pension rules, the UK has also entered into a number of bilateral social security agreements with countries outside the EEA which allow people to protect the pension entitlements they may have earned in each country.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will provide assistance to women who have depended on their husband's national insurance pensions contributions and will consequently suffer financial loss as a result of the increase in their retirement age; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There is transitional protection in place for women whose ability to build their own State Pension could have been affected because they elected to pay married women’s and widow’s reduced-rate National Insurance contributions on the understanding that they would be able to claim on their husband’s contributions.
We will shortly be making the regulations that will enable individuals married to, or in a civil partnership with, a member of the Armed Forces to qualify for National Insurance credits for past periods during which they were accompanying their serving spouse or civil partner on assignments overseas.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to reverse the decision to remove derived entitlements to the basic state pension; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The ability to derive a basic state pension or increase of basic state pension based on the National Insurance contributions of a spouse or civil partner is a feature of the current state pension scheme. It will continue to be available to people who reach state pension age before the introduction of the new state pension on 6 April 2016 and who will, therefore, remain in the current scheme.
This provision, which dates from the 1940s, is rapidly becoming redundant as the majority of individuals who have spent most of their working lives in the UK have the opportunity to build up a state pension in their own right, either through working or credits that recognise a wide range of circumstances, including caring responsibilities. The new state pension is designed to reflect the working lives of people reaching state pension age now and in the future. It will accordingly be based on an individual’s own National Insurance contributions.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of the use of dividends as income in order to reduce liabilities under Child Support Agency calculations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Department does not make assessments of prevalence of the use of dividends as income to reduce child maintenance liabilities as it is not possible to ascertain that the reason for the use of dividends has been solely to reduce a maintenance liability.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason a person's National Insurance number is printed on a bank statement as a prefix to a monthly pension entry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The provision of the national insurance number to a bank or building society is an essential part of paying benefits and pensions direct. All benefits and pensions administered by the Department for Work and Pensions use the customer's national insurance number as a payment reference. The national insurance number provides a unique audit trail of individual transactions so that, for example, returned or other queried payments can be quickly traced and customer enquiries dealt with effectively. Customers are made aware on claim forms that their National Insurance number (NINO) may be shown on bank/building society account statements.
We actually provide the banks with a payment reference up to 18 characters (which incorporates the national insurance number). The Department is aware that banks use the information in the exact format provided to them by DWP, but ultimately how much of it appears on the customer’s statement is the responsibility of the bank. DWP does not request or instruct banks to show the national insurance numbers on their customer’s bank statements.