Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many households received aggregate annual benefits, including Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, housing support and other entitlements, in excess of (1) £50,000, (2) £60,000, and (3) £70,000, in each of the past five years; and what proportion of those households included (a) more than one child, (b) a claimant of disability benefits, and (c) a foreign national.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times since 2020 the Pension Protection Fund has had to replace an external fund manager for reasons of performance, governance failure, or credit downgrade and what the financial and administrative cost of each replacement was to the Fund.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The day-to-day fund management of Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assets is performed both by the Chief Investment Officer (with authority to delegate to an in-house team of investment professionals) and by reputable external professional fund managers (each of which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or a similar local regulatory authority as required).
At any point in time, PPF will have approximately 70-80 external fund managers working on its behalf, across 140 different strategies within 15 separate asset classes.
Since 2020, PPF has changed 10 external managers on performance grounds. PPF has not replaced any managers on grounds of governance failure or credit downgrade.
The administration cost of changing a manager varies between strategies. However, PPF works to a budget of approximately £30,000 per change of manager.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Department for Work and Pensions has spent in each year since 2020 under the RM6141 and RM6302 language services frameworks; and whether the department has used or maintained any separate or competing frameworks, contracts or commercial routes for the procurement of language services during the same period, and, if so, how much has been spent through them.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Framework reference RM6141 is the contract we currently have with DALanguages and the spend associated with this supplier is:
Jun 22 – May 23 £6,877,133
Jun 23 – May 24 £7,139,303
Jun 24 – May 25 £9,878,029
There are no costs from 2020, as the Framework reference for that period is different to what has been requested.
The framework RM 6302 does not begin until May 26.
DAL was selected as the supplier for DWPs interpreting requirements, in a fair and open competition. We have not used or maintained any separate or competing frameworks, contracts or commercial routes for the procurement of language services during the specified period.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cumulative nominal and real-terms state pension expenditure savings in (1) 2025–26, and (2) 2044–45, under the uprating scenario of (a) consumer price index (CPI) only, (b) earnings only, (c) CPI or earnings ('double lock'), and (d) the existing 'triple lock'.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An estimate of cumulative nominal and real-terms state pension expenditure savings in 1) 2025-26 and 2) 2044-45, under the uprating scenarios of a) consumer price index, b) earnings only, c) CPI or earnings and d) Triple Lock are not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Office for Budget Responsibility assume long-term annual growth rates for the following economic determinants: Consumer Price Index (2.0%), Average Earnings (3.8%) and ‘Triple Lock’ (4.4%).
Source: OBR September 2024 Fiscal risks and sustainability – charts and tables: supplementary tables, Table 1.1
The Government have made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which will mean annual spending on people’s State Pensions is forecast to rise by around £31 billion between 2024-25 and 2029-30.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the effect of the 'triple lock' pension policy on the relative and absolute pensioner poverty rates between 2011 and 2024; and what proportion of pensioner households that benefited from the triple lock were above the poverty line throughout that period.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An estimate of the effect of the ‘triple lock’ pension policy on the relative and absolute pensioner poverty rates between 2011 and 2024; and proportions of pensioner households that benefitted from the triple lock and were above the poverty threshold are not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Data is available regarding the proportion of pensioner households that are above the relative and absolute poverty lines. The Households below average income (HBAI) statistics contain estimates of the number and percentage of people living in low-income households in the UK. This is published by the Department annually. The latest data covers financial year ending 2024.
In financial year ending 2011, 86% of pensioner households were above the relative poverty threshold after housing costs and 86% were above the absolute poverty threshold after housing costs.
In financial year ending 2024, 84% of pensioner households were above the relative poverty threshold after housing costs and 87% were above the absolute poverty threshold after housing costs.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of personal independence payment claimants who have use of a Motability Scheme vehicle on the basis of non-physical conditions and disabilities, including depression and anxiety.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claimants who receive the enhanced rate mobility component on Personal Independence Payment are eligible to join the Motability Scheme if they choose to do so.
We do not hold figures on the numbers of vehicles provided to individuals on the basis of non-physical conditions and disabilities.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of suspected fraud involving the Motability Scheme have been investigated in the past five years, and how many of those cases resulted in the removal of a vehicle or a criminal conviction.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Foundation is a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Motability Scheme. The Scheme is delivered by Motability Operations which is an independent commercial company under contract to the charity. Any misuse of a scheme vehicle is a matter for Motability and they will take action as appropriate.
The Department takes benefit fraud extremely seriously, as has been underlined by our campaign to warn people of the consequences of trying to defraud the benefits system. People who suspect benefit fraud can ring the National Benefit Fraud Hotline number on 0800 854 4400 to report in confidence any information which would help the Department’s officials in their investigations.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many penalty clauses have been enforced against suppliers of Government Major Projects Portfolio projects managed by the Department of Work and Pensions because of delays or cost overruns in the past three years, and what is the total financial value recovered.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Penalty clauses that unduly punish a contract party are unenforceable by the courts and we do not include them in our contracts. We have contract clauses negotiated that operate in good faith that will be breached if not delivered/operated in the required way. Financial recompense will be commensurate to actual loss and agreed in the contract terms. However, we do not collect, hold centrally or report data on the enforcement of such terms.