Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2022 to Question 14559 on Women Against State Pension Inequality, for what reason a departmental Minister has not met with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) since 29 June 2016; and why her Department has no plans to accept outstanding requests for meetings from WASPI representatives.

State Pension age issues have been debated extensively in the House over many years, and subsequently litigated in the highest courts in the land.

The PHSO Ombudsman’s investigation into communication of changes to women’s state pension is ongoing; section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.

It would be inappropriate to discuss these issues whilst the PHSO Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing. This is the approach of successive governments to such matters.