Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of young people who are saving for a pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment into workplace pensions was introduced to enable more people to save for their retirement. So far over 8 million people have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension, reversing the decline in private pension saving, including amongst younger workers, seen in the decade before the reforms were introduced in 2012.
In March this year, the Office for National Statistics published an estimate that around 160,000 employees aged 16-21 and 2.7 million employees aged 22-29 were contributing to a workplace pension in 2016
We are looking at how we can build on this success over the longer term. Our current review of automatic enrolment is looking at the existing coverage of the policy and the needs of those not currently benefiting; strengthening the evidence base concerning future contributions; and how we can encourage greater personal ownership of work place pension saving, including by young people. The Review will report at the end of 2017.
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the interim report on the trial of early warnings for sanctions on jobseeker's allowance.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We plan to publish an interim report in the next few weeks.
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which areas of Scotland participated in the trial of early warnings for sanctions on jobseeker's allowance.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The trial covered Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants only in the following districts: East and South-East Scotland; Glasgow, Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire; West of Scotland
The North of Scotland was used as the control area.
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria were used for evaluating the trial of using early warnings for sanctions on jobseeker's allowance.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The interim report will contain an initial estimate of the difference in rate of sanction as a result of the claimants receiving the early warning letter. The final report, which we plan to publish around April 2017, will also contain a qualitative evaluation based on interviews with claimants involved in the trial and DWP staff operating the new process as well as a final estimate for the quantitative impact
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the information that was given to jobseeker's allowance claimants on the trial of using early warnings for sanctions on that allowance.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The information given to claimants on the Early Warning Trial for Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions will be included in the interim report due to be issued later in November 2016.
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to reduce the number of forms associated with asbestos-related benefits.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under the Industrial Injuries Scheme people suffering from various dust-related diseases, including asbestos, may be able to receive a weekly disablement benefit, and can also apply for a lump sum payment. The Government believes this is the right approach, recognising a range of different circumstances, and taking account of life expectancy.
The Department is currently developing an online service for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. Initially this is for accident claims but it is intended to include industrial diseases at a later stage, providing service improvements and reducing the number of forms.
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a single asbestos disease-related benefit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under the Industrial Injuries Scheme people suffering from various dust-related diseases, including asbestos, may be able to receive a weekly disablement benefit, and can also apply for a lump sum payment. The Government believes this is the right approach, recognising a range of different circumstances, and taking account of life expectancy.
The Department is currently developing an online service for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. Initially this is for accident claims but it is intended to include industrial diseases at a later stage, providing service improvements and reducing the number of forms.
Asked by: Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department made any payments to the Institute of Fiscal Studies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
DWP commissions a wide range of policy research and evaluation through its Social and Economic Research Framework, made up of more than 50 research organisations and academic institutions, including IFS, which we contract to carry out specific pieces of research. Such contracts are in the public domain and our protocol is that all research reports are published.
Some examples of contracts which we have had with IFS during the past five years include:
· DWP ad hoc research report number 11 ‘Benefit Cap: Analysis of outcomes of capped claimants’ where DWP carried out the original work and we commissioned IFS to conduct an independent peer review;
· Our annual statistical publication on Households Below Average Income, which is quality assured by IFS
· DWP report 606, ‘The lone parent pilots 24-36 months: the final impact assessment’
It is important to note that, apart from payments in respect of contracts for specific pieces of research, we do not provide any other funding to IFS.