Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with officials in Northern Ireland on ensuring that older people in difficult financial circumstances are able to access the benefits to which they are entitled.

There are regular discussions between officials in the Department for Work and Pensions and their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department for Communities.

The responsibility for ensuring that older people in Northern Ireland access the benefits to which they are entitled is a matter for the Northern Ireland Department for Communities, so DWP officials have not had specific discussions on this particular subject.