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Written Question
Pensions: Consumer Information
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether State Pension data will be included in the Pensions Dashboard Programme.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Pensions dashboards will allow individuals to view information about their pensions, including the State Pension, for free in one place online. Dashboards will show individuals the estimated State Pension amount they would get based on their current National Insurance contribution record, their forecasted State Pension amount that assumes they pay National Insurance contributions going forward, the date they will reach State Pension age, and supporting messages regarding the data displayed.


Written Question
Pensions: Consumer Information
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans that the Pensions Dashboard Programme will be ready for use.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Dashboards Available Point will be when the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem – which is being developed by the Pensions Dashboards Programme – is ready to support widespread use by the general public. This will come following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 specify that the Secretary of State will provide notice of at least six months ahead of the Dashboards Available Point. The Secretary of State will consider factors including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service, and testing of the user experience.


Written Question
Pensions: Consumer Information
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of the (a) development of the Pensions Dashboard Programme to date and (b) programme on completion.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

MaPS has been allocated £91.1M for the delivery of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) through the relevant Spending Review periods covering financial years 2019/20 to 2024/25.

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has spent £45.3M between 2019/20 and the end of May 2023 (with spend relating to 2022/23 and to 2023/24 subject to final audit). Further spend for the programme will be available on an annual basis.

Expenditure allocations for years beyond 2024/25 will be the subject of future Spending Review processes.


Written Question
Cold Weather Payments
Wednesday 19th October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the Cold Weather Payments scheme has been triggered in the last two years; how much money has been distributed as part of this scheme; and whether the scheme uses ringfenced funds.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

A breakdown of triggers by country along with number of payments can be found in the official statistics for cold weather payment (CWP) estimates here: Cold Weather Payment estimates: 2021 to 2022- GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Expenditure on Cold Weather Payments can be found in the Annual Social Fund Reports here Social Fund annual report 2020 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The 21/22 report is due to be published in the near future and thus 21/22 expenditure is an estimate based on the Cold Weather Payment Official Statistics.

Cold Weather Payments are not ring-fenced. Funding for the Cold Weather Payment scheme is demand driven and expenditure varies each year depending on how cold the winter is.


Written Question
Cold Weather Payments
Wednesday 19th October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been distributed since that scheme's inception; and how much her Department has spent on those payments per annum.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The current system of cold weather payments was introduced in 1988. The payment is a fixed amount for each week of cold weather. From 1995 this was set at £8.50 a week. The Cold Weather Payment was temporarily increased from £8.50 to £25 for the winters of 2008/9 and 2009/10. This increase was made permanent in November 2010.

The table below shows the number of Cold Weather payments made and total expenditure in each year since 1988-89. 21/22 is due to be published in the next Annual Social Fund Report so has not been included below.

No. of cold weather payments (000)

Expenditure (£m)

1988-89

0.5

0.003

1989-90

N/A

0.4

1990-91

N/A

9.3

1991-92

3,827

23.0

1992-93

2,503

15.0

1993-94

2,064

12.4

1994-95

11

0.1

1995-96

7,252

61.6

1996-97

4,964

42.2

1997-98

55

0.5

1998-99

26

0.2

1999-00

114

1.0

2000-01

3,535

30.0

2001-02

1,804

15.3

2002-03

1,675

14.2

2003-04

418

3.5

2004-05

213

1.8

2005-06

988

8.4

2006-07

402

3.4

2007-08

472

4.0

2008-09

8,416

210.4

2009-10

11,590

289.7

2010-11

17,232

430.8

2011-12

5,167

129.2

2012-13

5,845

146.1

2013-14

1

0.03

2014-15

422

10.6

2015-16

155

3.9

2016-17

131

3.1

2017-18

4,572

114.3

2018-19

1079

27.0

2019-20

10

0.3

2020-21

3,951

98.8

Notes

  1. N/A= not available
  2. Figures are for payments triggered in the relevant financial year.
  3. There was a single level of payment each year, except in 1990-91 when the level of payment was increased during the year. A breakdown of the number
    of payments for that year by level is not available. 3. Some people were made more than one payment in some years.
  4. Numbers of payments made are rounded to the nearest 1,000, except for
    1988-89 where the number of payments is rounded to the nearest 100.
    Amounts spent are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million, except for 1988-89
    where the amount spent is rounded to the nearest £1,000.
  5. Data are not available on the numbers of payments received (as opposed
    to made) or on the numbers of people who received payments. However, the
    vast majority of payments are now made direct into bank accounts.
  6. Source: Annual reports by the Secretary of State for Social Security/Work and
    Pensions on the Social Fund


Written Question
Kickstart Scheme: Blaenau Gwent
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many young people living in Blaenau Gwent constituency were registered with the Kickstart scheme as of 23 February 2021.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Data regarding the number of young people registered for the Kickstart scheme by constituency is not currently available.


Written Question
Industrial Health and Safety: Coronavirus
Monday 18th May 2020

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to enforce the adoption by employers of required health and safety measures to protect their employees during the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Where it is found that employers are not complying with Covid-19 guidelines, then appropriate action will be taken by the relevant enforcing authority including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Local Authorities. Action can range from specific advice through to serving enforcement notices so as to ensure that practicable measures are implemented to protect workers and others.

In addition, HSE has been given access to additional funding to support their advice and regulatory activity as businesses implement the new guidance on working safely. HSE’s plans will develop as more businesses return to work and this will include checks that appropriate measures are in place to protect workers from Covid-19.


Written Question
Pensions
Wednesday 5th February 2020

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are provisions to transfer out of defined benefit pension schemes into alternative investments in Pension Schemes Bill.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In answering this question, the term ‘alternative investments’ is assumed to refer to investments that the individual chooses themselves, either that are unconventional in that they carry more risk, or are not typical of investments offered by personal pension schemes.

The Pension Schemes Bill 2019-20 has no provisions that restrict how members transferring from defined benefits pensions should invest their pension rights.

Clause 124 of the Pension Schemes Bill contains provisions to amend the statutory right to transfer and thereby restricts the types of pension arrangements under which a member can compel trustees to approve a transfer request. Members can still use their statutory right to transfer to an authorised Master Trust or an FCA authorised pension arrangement.

In accordance with the principles of freedom and choice, members with defined benefit pension rights have the right to transfer to a defined contribution scheme to self-invest. These self-invested personal pension schemes can offer the member a range of investment funds, including alternative investments.

Members with a cash equivalent greater than £30,000 must seek financial advice before they transfer or convert their pension rights into flexible benefits, that can be used for alternative investments. FCA rules for pension transfer advisers require that the form of investment the member is considering on transfer is considered as part of their recommendation to the member to transfer or not. However, the member retains the right to follow or ignore the advice they receive. Where trustees’ have concerns with the alternative investments in a members’ choice of destination, they should make the member aware as part of their overall requirement to carry out due diligence in the member’s interest.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Older People
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether all recipients of personal independence payment (PIP) aged 65 or above will no longer receive reassessments to ensure continued receipt of PIP unless they inform her Department that their needs have changed.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

From 31 May this year, new claimants to PIP - whose review would have been scheduled after they had reached State Pension age - are now receiving an ongoing award with a light touch review after the ten-year point. From 9 July this year, we began moving existing PIP claimants, who have reached state pension age, onto ongoing awards with a light touch review after the ten-year point. All claimants who report a change of circumstance will be reviewed in order to ensure that the claimant is receiving the correct level of award.


Written Question
Occupational Pensions
Thursday 1st August 2019

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to tackle the use of shape shifting practices by employers to avoid meeting pension obligations to employees; and if he will make a statement .

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The vast majority of employers are meeting their pension obligations under automatic enrolment, consistent with the legal framework established under the Pensions Act 2008. Where employers fail to comply with the law however, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has a full range of powers to ensure employees get the pensions they are due.

TPR is aware of some employers that appear to have tried to avoid meeting their pension obligations by hiding behind a new name. TPR investigators are working to take action against offenders that try to use this tactic, and are carrying out short-notice inspections on employers that are suspected of breaching their automatic enrolment duties.