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Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Females
Tuesday 19th December 2017

Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what they are doing to ensure that pension rights for women are equal to those for men, with particular reference to those women born in the 1950s and affected by the changes to the state pension under the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011.

Answered by Baroness Buscombe

Women retiring today can still expect to receive the State Pension for 23.5 years on average – almost three years longer than men. Even after equalising women’s State Pension age (SPa) with men’s, women will spend on average around 2 years more in receipt of their State Pension (SP) because of their longer life expectancy.

The new State Pension is actually much more generous for many women, who have been historically worse off under the old system. By 2030, over 3m women stand to gain an average of £550 extra per year as a result of these changes. If SPa had not been equalised, women would spend on average over 40% of their adult life in retirement.

Written Question
Employment
Monday 26th September 2016

Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the annual black and minority ethnic employment rate has been for (1) men, (2) women, and (3) overall, in each year since 1979, and how that contrasts with both (a) the general population employment rate, and (b) employment rates by gender in the general population, in each year since 1979.

Answered by Lord Freud

This table shows the annual averaged employment rates, from 1993 – 2015, for BME groups and the whole population. This is also split by gender.

All BME Groups %

BME – men %

BME – Women %

Whole Population %

All men %

All women %

1993

51.9

59.9

44.1

68.7

75.3

62.1

1994

51.6

59.1

44.6

69.2

75.9

62.5

1995

52.5

61.0

44.5

69.8

76.6

63.1

1996

52.8

60.7

45.2

70.2

76.8

63.7

1997

55.4

64.5

46.7

71.2

78.0

64.4

1998

56.0

65.0

47.5

71.7

78.5

64.9

1999

56.7

66.6

47.5

72.2

79.0

65.6

2000

57.0

66.4

48.2

72.7

79.4

66.1

2001

*

*

*

*

*

*

2002

57.6

66.6

48.8

72.8

79.2

66.6

2003

57.8

66.5

49.6

73.0

79.4

66.7

2004

59.0

68.2

50.1

73.2

79.5

66.9

2005

58.6

67.4

50.3

73.1

79.3

67.0

2006

60.2

70.2

50.7

73.0

79.0

67.0

2007

60.1

69.6

51.0

72.8

79.0

66.7

2008

60.4

70.2

51.1

72.8

78.7

66.9

2009

59.1

68.0

50.6

71.1

76.2

66.1

2010

59.6

68.4

51.2

70.6

75.6

65.6

2011

59.1

67.9

50.6

70.4

75.4

65.5

2012

59.5

68.9

50.5

71.1

76.2

66.0

2013

59.8

68.1

51.7

71.7

76.6

66.8

2014

61.4

70.0

53.1

73.0

78.0

68.1

2015

62.8

70.8

55.3

73.9

78.7

69.0

* Data suppressed due to change in ethnicity question on LFS.

NOTES

  • There is no data for years prior to 1993.
  • The data is sourced from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is released quarterly. The LFS is a survey of households living at private addresses in the UK, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
  • The data shows figures for the labour market status of people aged 16 and over, covering annual averages (January to December) between 1993 and 2015 (excluding 2001).
  • All data is for Great Britain.
  • In spring 2001, Labour Force Survey ethnicity variables were adjusted in line with the Census definitions of ethnicity. The ethnicity variable being replaced was still used in January and February 2001, and the new ethnicity variable was brought in from April 2001. In March 2001 however, there was no recording of ethnicity, therefore figures from 2001 are not presented in this data. In addition to this, the ethnicity question was not asked throughout the entire United Kingdom prior to 2001. Due to these changes in ethnicity recording, it is not recommended that direct comparisons are made across this affected period.
Written Question
Unemployment
Monday 26th September 2016

Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the annual black and minority ethnic unemployment rate has been for (1) men, (2) women, and (3) overall, and how that contrasts with (a) the general population unemployment rate, and (b) unemployment rates by gender in the general population, in each year since 1979.

Answered by Lord Freud

This table shows the annual averaged unemployment rates, from 1993 – 2015, for BME groups and the whole population. This is also split by gender.

All BME Groups %

BME – men %

BME – Women %

Whole Population %

All men %

All women %

1993

21.8

23.9

18.8

10.3

12.2

7.9

1994

20.2

23.1

16.2

9.5

11.1

7.4

1995

18.8

20.1

17.1

8.6

10.0

6.9

1996

18.1

20.0

15.4

8.1

9.4

6.4

1997

15.4

16.3

14.1

6.9

7.8

5.9

1998

13.4

14.0

12.6

6.2

6.9

5.4

1999

13.1

13.2

12.9

5.9

6.6

5.2

2000

12.4

13.1

11.5

5.4

5.9

4.9

2001

*

*

*

*

*

*

2002

11.4

11.8

10.8

5.2

5.7

4.5

2003

11.8

12.5

10.8

5.0

5.5

4.4

2004

10.5

10.6

10.4

4.7

5.1

4.3

2005

10.4

11.0

9.7

4.8

5.2

4.4

2006

11.7

11.5

11.9

5.4

5.8

5.1

2007

11.0

10.8

11.2

5.4

5.6

5.1

2008

11.0

11.1

10.8

5.7

6.2

5.2

2009

13.2

13.1

13.3

7.6

8.6

6.5

2010

13.1

12.9

13.4

7.9

8.6

7.0

2011

13.7

13.2

14.4

8.1

8.7

7.5

2012

13.5

12.7

14.6

8.0

8.4

7.5

2013

13.7

13.4

14.0

7.6

8.0

7.2

2014

11.3

10.5

12.2

6.2

6.4

5.9

2015

9.9

9.8

10.1

5.4

5.5

5.2

* Data suppressed due to change in ethnicity question on LFS.

NOTES

  • There is no data for years prior to 1993.
  • The data is sourced from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is released quarterly. The LFS is a survey of households living at private addresses in the UK, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
  • The data shows figures for the labour market status of people aged 16 and over, covering annual averages (January to December) between 1993 and 2015 (excluding 2001).
  • All data is for Great Britain.
  • In spring 2001, Labour Force Survey ethnicity variables were adjusted in line with the Census definitions of ethnicity. The ethnicity variable being replaced was still used in January and February 2001, and the new ethnicity variable was brought in from April 2001. In March 2001 however, there was no recording of ethnicity, therefore figures from 2001 are not presented in this data. In addition to this, the ethnicity question was not asked throughout the entire United Kingdom prior to 2001. Due to these changes in ethnicity recording, it is not recommended that direct comparisons are made across this affected period.