Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Webb Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

3. How many people have continued to work as a result of the abolition of the default retirement age.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

The Government’s impact assessment estimates that after one year about 6,000 people will have continued in work as a result of removing the DRA—in other words, between 4% and 7% of employees aged 65 or over.

[Andrew Selous]

Does my hon. Friend agree that older workers enable knowledge and skills to be transferred from one generation to the next, and that putting a “best before” date on workers was unacceptable discrimination that this Government have justly got rid of?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend is right. One of the lasting legacies of this coalition will be that, after years of its being talked about, we finally abolished age discrimination in the workplace. To give him an example, research has found that McDonald’s restaurants that employ people over 60 have, on average, far higher customer satisfaction than those that do not.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

Is the Minister aware that the experiences of men and women who work beyond retirement age are very different? Nearly two thirds of those who work beyond retirement age are women, and of those most—nearly two thirds—work in lower-skilled jobs, whereas, in contrast, the smaller group of men are working in higher-skilled jobs. What is he going to do about dealing with the poverty of women in old age?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Lady is right. Successive Governments have failed to deliver an adequate pension to women. That is why we are reforming the state pension, as the Prime Minister confirmed on Monday, to deliver a pension that is simple, decent and, in particular, treats women fairly for the first time.

[Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con)]

6. What steps she has taken to ensure that the criminalisation of forced marriage does not discourage victims from bringing complaints forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Webb Excerpts

Thursday 5th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

We are consulting on two options for reform to make the state pension system simpler and fairer for those—including many women—who have historically experienced poor pension outcomes. We will publish a full assessment of impacts when more detailed proposals for reform are published.

[Fiona Bruce]

Many of my constituents, particularly female constituents, have raised concerns about the proposals. Will the Minister explain how the funding has been planned?

[Steve Webb]

We are spending the budget that was already planned for state pension expenditure in what we consider to be a better way. There will be a simpler system, which will reward saving and be fairer to women in particular. Some of those with the highest earnings who would have received higher earnings-related pensions will ultimately receive smaller pensions than they would have otherwise, but we think that the system will be fairer and simpler.

[Chris White]

I too have received correspondence from several constituents about the proposed changes in the state retirement age. What assurances can the Minister give that their concerns will be listened to, and that the Government will take all possible steps to ensure that women are not disadvantaged?

[Steve Webb]

We are already listening to representations. Although more rapid equalisation inevitably affects women more than men, it affects men as well through the impact on the state pension credit age. However, I can encourage the hon. Gentleman by telling him that the new single state pension, if we proceed with it, will be of particular benefit to women, including those affected by the change in the state pension age.

[Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Is it fair to accelerate the process and damage the prospects and incomes of 300,000 women?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the question of fairness. However, people are living longer, and in a state pension system in which no money is put aside to pay for pensions, someone must find that money. We do not believe that it would be fair for all the cost to fall on today’s workers and today’s firms. There is a balance to be struck.

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

10. What discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on the payment of pensions to gender-reassigned women.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

In order to meet our obligations under European Union law, a specialist team is being set up to determine equal treatment claims in line with the Court of Appeal’s decision on the payment of pensions to gender-reassigned women.

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

The Minister will be well aware of the case of my constituent Bernadette Rogers, who, with the help of both her former and her current Member of Parliament, has been fighting the anomaly in the system for quite a long time. Will he agree to meet me, and her, to try to sort the problem out once and for all?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend and his predecessor, Lord Boswell, have been very assiduous in taking up the case of Bernadette Rogers. I discussed her case with officials earlier this week.

I am always happy to meet hon. Friends, but we believe that we can resolve Ms Rogers’s case in the very near future. I will write to my hon. Friend shortly giving the final details of how that is done, and if he and Ms Rogers are not happy with that response, I shall be happy to meet him at that point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Webb Excerpts

Thursday 27th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect on women of changes to the state pension age.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

I wrote to and met the Equality and Human Rights Commission during the Government’s review of the increase in state pension age to 66 to ensure that equality issues were fully considered. A full equality impact assessment was also published as part of the Government’s White Paper, which sets out the effect on women of changes to the state pension age.

[Luciana Berger]

Will the Minister please update the House on the coalition agreement, which committed to make no change to the state pension age for women before 2020?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Lady is not accurately quoting the coalition agreement. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor made it clear before the election that the pension age would not be 66 for men before 2016 or for women before 2020, and we have kept to that.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

8. What steps she is taking to eliminate discrimination in employment law on the grounds of gender.