Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had on what dates with the landlords of the Jobcentre Plus offices in (a) Shettleston, (b) Parkhead and (c) Easterhouse on the closure of Jobcentre Plus offices in Glasgow.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Since 1998 the Department has occupied the majority of its accommodation under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME contract. Under the terms of this 20 year PFI, the department contracts to occupy fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner, Telereal Trillium.
The leases for the buildings in question are included within the provisions of this PFI arrangement and are therefore not held directly by the department. As such, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has had no discussions with the landlords of a) Shettleston, (b) Parkhead and (c) Easterhouse Jobcentre Plus offices.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who the respective landlords are of the Jobcentre Plus offices in (a) Shettleston, (b) Parkhead and (c) Easterhouse.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Since 1998 the Department occupies the majority of its accommodation under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME contract. Under the terms of this 20-year PFI, the Department contracts to occupy fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner, Telereal Trillium.
The leases for the buildings in question are included within the provisions of this PFI arrangement and are therefore not held by DWP. Therefore we are unable to supply the information you have requested.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the pensions dashboard has functionality built in to prevent people from overspending their lump sums.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The aim of a pensions dashboard is to enable savers to see all their pension savings digitally and in one place.
We will work closely with industry in designing and delivering a pensions dashboard by 2019. This will include looking at a range of potential options and features which could form part of any pensions dashboard.
The Government’s Pension Wise service provides free, impartial guidance to people seeking to access their pension savings, including help on making their money last.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to integrate a state pension summary into the pensions dashboard.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The aim of a pensions dashboard is to enable savers to see all their pension savings digitally and in one place. For many people, state pension will form an important part of their overall retirement income.
The Government is working closely with industry in designing and delivering a pensions dashboard by 2019 and will continue to explore how and when we can make state pension information available as part of this.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
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 (a) low, fair and transparent charges and (b) robust standards in auto-enrolment schemes; and if he will ensure the good governance and fair conversion of pension provision in such schemes into income.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Automatic enrolment will give around 11 million people the opportunity to save into a workplace pension scheme, all of which must meet qualifying criteria and minimum requirements. The Government is committed to ensuring that the schemes into which savers are automatically enrolled are well run and protected from high and unfair charges. In April 2015 we introduced a 0.75% default fund charge cap and placed new governance requirements on trustees and Independent Governance Committees (IGCs) to consider the value for money of the costs and charges faced by scheme members.
We continue to work to improve the transparency of costs and charges. Asset managers will be required to disclose costs to trustees and IGCs, and regulations will require publication of costs and charges. In 2017, we will be reviewing automatic enrolment including the quality requirements for pension schemes and how the certification requirements (which allow employers to use existing pension schemes to meet their automatic enrolment duties) are working. We will ban member-borne commission charges in occupational pension schemes used for automatic enrolment and also review the level of the default fund charge cap.
To support members taking advantage of the pension freedoms we will set a cap on early exit charges at 1% for existing members of occupational pension schemes and a ban on these charges for new members of occupational pension schemes (subject to Parliamentary approval) in October 2017. The Government continues to monitor the pensions landscape and will take action where appropriate to ensure that pension scheme members are treated fairly when they seek to access their pension savings.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has put in place to support self-employed people to save into a pension; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The self-employed can chose to save into pension schemes such as NEST and attract tax relief on their contributions. Further information and guidance on pension savings options can also be found through organisations like the Pensions Advisory Service and the Money Advice Service. However, the Government is aware that, while overall pension participation is rising, participation in pension schemes among the self-employed has not had a similar experience. We also recognise that self-employment is growing, and we are committed to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to save for a secure future.
In 2017, the Government will be reviewing automatic enrolment - our key private pension reform - to ensure that it continues to work for employers and individuals. The position of the self-employed and other people who do not come within automatic enrolment deserves attention. I will be announcing the scope of the review before the end of the year.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made on the effect of his Department's reforms to pensions on different age groups.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Department committed to a strategy for monitoring and evaluating the workplace pension reforms in 2011. This was followed by a 2012 baseline report and subsequent annual evaluation reports, all of which are available online. These reports outline the trends in workplace pension participation both before and after the reforms’ implementation, which include analyses by age group. The Department has also published findings from more in-depth research exploring employers’ and employees’ responses to the reforms, some of which vary by employee age group.
More recently, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published its findings from research, part-funded by the Department, which provides more detail on the effects of automatic enrolment by age group among eligible private sector employees.
Since the introduction of automatic enrolment, workplace pension participation amongst eligible employees has increased for all age groups, but young people and low earners, those with the lowest participation rates prior to automatic enrolment, have seen the largest increase, narrowing the gap in participation between groups.
In relation to State Pension reforms, the new State Pension (nSP) was introduced on 6 April 2016 for individuals reaching State Pension age from this date onwards. The Department published a number of impact assessments leading up to the introduction of nSP examining the impacts on different groups. The latest assessment was published in January 2016, and is available online.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
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 people affected by the increase in the basic state pension age are contacted and made aware of that increase.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government uses a number of different means to ensure people are aware of increases to their State Pension age. These have included writing to people and targeted communications campaigns. We continue to look at the most effective ways to ensure people are aware of any such changes. Anyone can find out when they reach their State Pension age using our online calculator or the ‘Check your State Pension’ online service. Government has committed not to change the State Pension age for those people who are within 10 years of reaching it.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will carry out an impact assessment on the freedom and choice pension reforms.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Government has already assessed, and continues to assess, the impact of the pension freedoms.
In advance of the introduction of the freedoms a Tax Information and Impact Note was published by HM Revenue and Customs. This is available on the Gov.uk website.
An impact assessment was also published for amendments to the 2015 Pension Schemes Act which covered transfers from private sector defined benefit schemes. This is available on the Parliament website.
Looking forward, HMRC publishes quarterly releases on flexible withdrawals from pensions, and the Financial Conduct Authority also produces regular bulletins on retirement income market data. My Department regularly meets with other government departments, non-departmental public bodies, regulators, think tanks and industry representative groups to consider how industry and individuals are responding to the freedoms.
The Government committed in its response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee in December 2015 to publish findings from the Pension Wise evaluation research in 2017. This work is now underway with Ipsos MORI and the early findings covering customer experiences of the service were published in October 2016 on the Gov.uk website. Further publications from this programme will follow in 2017 including a comparison between users of the service compared with non-users to identify the impact of the service on understanding of the new pension freedoms.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the European Commission since the EU referendum on its timetable for proposals to allow member states to set their own VAT rate on sanitary products.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Since the referendum the UK has continued to raise the issue of a VAT zero-rate for women’s sanitary products with the European Commission in various fora.