Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Defence Procurement in response to the question from the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent on 25 March 2024, Official Report, column 1253, whether he expects the RAF to meet their quota for successfully trained pilots this year.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Yes.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20580 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what the (a) estimated and (b) actual costs of the project are.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has spent £56.7M between 2019/20 and the end of February 2024 (with spend relating to 2023/24 subject to final audit).
Whole life costs of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (2019/20 – 2026/27) are currently estimated by MaPS to be around £139M.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20581 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what steps he plans to take to report progress towards the Dashboards Available Point to (a) Parliament and (b) other key stakeholders.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Before a specific date for the Dashboards Available Point can be determined, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use of pensions dashboard services by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services.
Officials in my department are working closely with key delivery partners to refine these relevant matters which includes recognition of keeping Parliament and the wider pensions industry informed of reporting progress towards the Dashboards Available Point. This is in line with our commitment of working closely with industry on successfully launching pensions dashboard services safely and securely at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Defence Procurement in response to the question from the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent on 25 March 2024, Official Report, column 1253, how many RAF pilots successfully completed their training in each year since 2018.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Training Year (April to March) | Number of Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots successfully completed Phase 2 Military Flying Training |
2018-19 | 34 |
2019-20 | 67 |
2020-21 | 72 |
2021-22 | 73 |
2022-23 | 64 |
2023-24 | 51 |
Note: The figures detailed in the table above are for RAF pilots who successfully completed Phase 2 military flying training. Phase 2 flying training is defined as commencing after completion of Initial Officer Training (IOT) and up until (but not including) Front Line Operational Conversion Units (OCUs).
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral question from the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent of 19 March 2024, Official Report, column 794, when he expects the Financial Conduct Authority will complete its investigation into Safe Hands Ltd.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury and FCA have worked closely throughout the process of bringing the pre-paid funeral plan sector into regulation, as well as during the implementation of the new regulatory framework.
On 11 October 2023 the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that it was conducting a criminal investigation into Safe Hands Plans Limited. As I am sure you will understand, I am unable to comment on this ongoing investigation.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral contribution in response to the question from the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent of 19 March 2024, Official Report, column 794, if he will commit to an Independent Review of the funeral firm Safe Hands Ltd.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury and FCA have worked closely throughout the process of bringing the pre-paid funeral plan sector into regulation, as well as during the implementation of the new regulatory framework.
On 11 October 2023 the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that it was conducting a criminal investigation into Safe Hands Plans Limited. As I am sure you will understand, I am unable to comment on this ongoing investigation.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when users of the new Pensions Dashboard will be able to access financial information relating to their pensions.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Users of pensions dashboard services will be able to access financial information relating to their pensions at the Dashboards Available Point. The Dashboards Available Point is the point at which pensions dashboard services will be available for widespread use by the general public.
A specific date for the Dashboards Available Point cannot yet be determined as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services for use by the general public.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of users that will have accessed Pensions Dashboards by (a) 30 April 2025 and (b) 31 October 2026.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Pensions dashboard services will become available for widespread use by the general public at the Dashboards Available Point. A specific date for the Dashboards Available Point cannot yet be determined as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services for use by the general public.
Under the central scenario (best estimate) in the impact assessment for the Pensions Dashboards (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (which can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2023/89/pdfs/ukia_20230089_en.pdf), we estimate the number of users of pensions dashboard services will increase to around 16 million in the years following the Dashboards Available Point.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's policy is on the use of RAF airfields by private planes.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by Baroness Goldie to the Noble Lady Baroness Randerson on 13 December 2021 to Question HL4655 in the House of Lords.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NAO report Investigation into supply chain finance in the NHS, HC 734, published on 29 October 2021, what the costs have been to NHS Trusts which used the Earnd of switching to alternative salary advancement initiatives.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As detailed in the National Audit Office (NAO) report, of the seven National Health Service trusts reported on by the NAO as having used the EARND scheme, two were reported as having lost money totalling £21,429. NHS England was not aware of any other NHS trusts losing money through the EARND scheme.
The identities of the seven NHS trusts were anonymised in the NAO report and therefore it is not possible to provide information on the costs to these trusts of using alternative salary advance schemes since the date of the report.