Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Torsten Bell and Anna Dixon

Monday 8th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Torsten Bell]

I am always keen to work together with the Father of the House. He mentions the triple lock, but we are doing far more things to tackle pensioner poverty. There were 900,000 pensioners eligible for pension credit under the Conservatives who were not claiming, and that is why we have brought forward the biggest take-up campaign ever seen. The marketing campaign this year will run from September to the end of the financial year, we are carrying out research on what works to encourage take-up of pension credit and we are stepping up data sharing across Departments, including between His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

7. What steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the review of carer’s allowance overpayments, published on 25 November 2025.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Torsten Bell and Anna Dixon

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking with pension providers to help increase regional economic growth.

[The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Torsten Bell)]

At the heart of this Government’s pension reforms is the goal of bigger and better pension schemes. We are legislating for that in the Pension Schemes Bill by requiring all local government pension scheme assets to be pooled next year, and multi-employer defined contribution schemes to have at least £25 billion-worth of assets. This reform agenda will deliver returns for savers and ensure that schemes have the scale required to invest in productive assets across the country.

[Anna Dixon]

Many of my constituents have assets in the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which manages more than £19 million. I am concerned, however, that some of the fund’s investments are concentrated in sectors that cause harm, such as the fossil fuel industry. Does the Minister agree that the West Yorkshire Pension Fund could invest in socially valuable activities, such as the regeneration of the town centre in Shipley and social homes?