Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland administration on pay for (a) health and social care and (b) NHS workers.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
In the months leading up to the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland engaged with the Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on the issue of pay awards for healthcare workers in Northern Ireland. In addition to these meetings, he met with trade union representatives on this important matter.
Healthcare is a devolved matter and pay awards are ultimately a matter for the Department of Health. The UK Government has provided the Executive with a £3.3 billion financial package to stabilise Northern Ireland’s finances. This package includes £584m to provide public sector pay awards for 2023-24. It will be up to the Executive to decide on the level of pay awards and to balance these costs against other priorities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the state pension age will increase to (a) 67 in 2026-28 and (b) 68 in 2044-46.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The increase to age 67 in 2026-2028 will continue as set out in Pensions Act 2014. Due to uncertainties in relation to life expectancy data, labour markets and the public finances, the Government committed to undertake a further State Pension age review within two years of the next Parliament to consider the appropriateness of the rules on the State Pension age rise to 68 in 2044-46.
Full details of the Governments conclusions were published in the State Pension age Review 2023 (Section 1.4) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-age-review-2023-government-report/state-pension-age-review-2023.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increasing the state pension age to (a) 67 in 2026-28 and (b) 68 in 2044-46 on levels of pensioner poverty.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of pensioner poverty. In 2021/22 there were 200 thousand fewer pensioners in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10.
As evaluations of the impacts of State Pension age rises have been retrospective it is not possible to robustly and comparably estimate future impacts of changes in State Pension age on pensioner poverty levels. The March 2023 State Pension age Review published our analysis of the impact of previous SPa changes. This shows the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 led to a temporary increase in the absolute poverty rate for 65-year-olds with those affected lifted out of poverty once their new State Pension age was reached. The analysis also found positive employment effects from increasing the State Pension age from 65 to 66, as people responded by working longer and on average earned more than if they had retired and claimed State Pension.
State Pension age Review 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.
Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.
Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the (a) physical and (b) mental ability of NHS staff to work beyond the state pension age.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent assessment has been made. National Health Service staff are not expected to work beyond state pension age, though some choose to do so. The NHS Pension Scheme is generous, and provides good pensions for retirement. The scheme offers a partial retirement option, which allows staff to draw down part of their pension and continue working in a more flexible way.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commits to going beyond statutory requirements in supporting and promoting flexible working opportunities. NHS England have produced guidance for employers on supporting their older workforce, together with a wide-ranging package of support for NHS staff. This includes tools and resources to support line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their well-being, and emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that legal aid remains accessible.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Access to justice is a fundamental right, and in 2022/23 we spent £1.86 billion on legal aid: £926 million on civil, £873 million on crime, and £56 million through central funds (central funds provide funding for, amongst other things, Defence Costs Orders, which are made in respect of non legally-aided defendants who are acquitted, and independent cross examination of vulnerable witnesses in criminal and civil proceedings).
The Ministry of Justice published the Government Response to the Means Test Review consultation exercise in May 2023, which sets out the detailed policy decisions underpinning the new means-test arrangements.
Our changes will increase the number of people eligible for civil legal aid in England and Wales by an additional 2.5 million, with 3.5 million more people eligible for criminal legal aid at the magistrates’ court.
We have also injected up to £10 million a year into housing legal aid through the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS). HLPAS provides early legal advice on housing, debt, and welfare benefits problems for anyone facing the loss of their home.
In 2023, we broadened the evidence requirements for victims of domestic abuse applying for legal aid. Special Guardianship Orders in private law proceedings were also brought into the scope of legal aid. This represented an injection of £13 million a year.
We will shortly be consulting on expanding the provision of legal aid at inquests related to major incidents where the Independent Public Advocate is appointed or in the aftermath of terrorist incidents. If implemented, this would mean that no family involved in such cases in future would face an inquest without proper legal representation.
To support and strengthen the criminal legal aid sector, in responding to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review, we uplifted most criminal legal aid fee schemes by 15% in 2022. We are also consulting on reforms to the police station fee scheme and the Youth Court fee scheme, for which we have allocated an extra £21 million per year. These changes increase spend by up to £141 million a year - taking expected criminal legal aid spend to £1.2 billion per year. The additional funding into the system will help contribute towards the sustainability of the market and help ensure legal aid is accessible for the future.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support the expanded remit of the Gangmaster Licensing and Abuse Authority.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government allocates a yearly budget to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) to enable it to undertake its regulatory and enforcement activities. The GLAA’s remit was expanded in 2016. Since then, the Government has increased the annual funding it provides the GLAA from £1.97m in 2015/16 to £7.77m in 2023/24.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of profits made by oil and gas companies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Graham Stuart
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) physical and (b) mental ability of people to work (i) until and (ii) beyond the state pension age.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department provides information to support people to make informed decisions such as Midlife MOT sessions in Jobcentres, and the digital Midlife MOT offer available to everyone online which offers financial, health and career guidance. There is no requirement for people to work beyond the State Pension age, however some people may choose to.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his expected timetable is for all clients who were mis-sold timeshares between 2014 and 2021 to receive compensation.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
In cases where a consumer took out a regulated financial product to purchase a timeshare, they may be able to make a compensation claim to the loan provider and may have recourse to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if the product was mis-sold.
The FOS is an independent non-governmental body established to provide consumers and small businesses with a free, independent service that enables the proportionate, prompt and informal resolution of disputes with financial services firms. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, it has no investigative powers of its own and cannot intervene in individual cases.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook, which sets out the rules on how the FOS should handle complaints, states that ‘the ombudsman will attempt to resolve complaints at the earliest possible stage’. Ensuring timely outcomes is one of the FOS’s main priorities for 2024-25 and it has set itself the target of resolving 90 per cent of cases within 5 months.