Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) low, fair and transparent charges and (b) robust standards in auto-enrolment schemes; and if he will ensure the good governance and fair conversion of pension provision in such schemes into income.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Automatic enrolment will give around 11 million people the opportunity to save into a workplace pension scheme, all of which must meet qualifying criteria and minimum requirements. The Government is committed to ensuring that the schemes into which savers are automatically enrolled are well run and protected from high and unfair charges. In April 2015 we introduced a 0.75% default fund charge cap and placed new governance requirements on trustees and Independent Governance Committees (IGCs) to consider the value for money of the costs and charges faced by scheme members.
We continue to work to improve the transparency of costs and charges. Asset managers will be required to disclose costs to trustees and IGCs, and regulations will require publication of costs and charges. In 2017, we will be reviewing automatic enrolment including the quality requirements for pension schemes and how the certification requirements (which allow employers to use existing pension schemes to meet their automatic enrolment duties) are working. We will ban member-borne commission charges in occupational pension schemes used for automatic enrolment and also review the level of the default fund charge cap.
To support members taking advantage of the pension freedoms we will set a cap on early exit charges at 1% for existing members of occupational pension schemes and a ban on these charges for new members of occupational pension schemes (subject to Parliamentary approval) in October 2017. The Government continues to monitor the pensions landscape and will take action where appropriate to ensure that pension scheme members are treated fairly when they seek to access their pension savings.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has put in place to support self-employed people to save into a pension; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The self-employed can chose to save into pension schemes such as NEST and attract tax relief on their contributions. Further information and guidance on pension savings options can also be found through organisations like the Pensions Advisory Service and the Money Advice Service. However, the Government is aware that, while overall pension participation is rising, participation in pension schemes among the self-employed has not had a similar experience. We also recognise that self-employment is growing, and we are committed to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to save for a secure future.
In 2017, the Government will be reviewing automatic enrolment - our key private pension reform - to ensure that it continues to work for employers and individuals. The position of the self-employed and other people who do not come within automatic enrolment deserves attention. I will be announcing the scope of the review before the end of the year.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made on the effect of his Department's reforms to pensions on different age groups.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Department committed to a strategy for monitoring and evaluating the workplace pension reforms in 2011. This was followed by a 2012 baseline report and subsequent annual evaluation reports, all of which are available online. These reports outline the trends in workplace pension participation both before and after the reforms’ implementation, which include analyses by age group. The Department has also published findings from more in-depth research exploring employers’ and employees’ responses to the reforms, some of which vary by employee age group.
More recently, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published its findings from research, part-funded by the Department, which provides more detail on the effects of automatic enrolment by age group among eligible private sector employees.
Since the introduction of automatic enrolment, workplace pension participation amongst eligible employees has increased for all age groups, but young people and low earners, those with the lowest participation rates prior to automatic enrolment, have seen the largest increase, narrowing the gap in participation between groups.
In relation to State Pension reforms, the new State Pension (nSP) was introduced on 6 April 2016 for individuals reaching State Pension age from this date onwards. The Department published a number of impact assessments leading up to the introduction of nSP examining the impacts on different groups. The latest assessment was published in January 2016, and is available online.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that people affected by the increase in the basic state pension age are contacted and made aware of that increase.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government uses a number of different means to ensure people are aware of increases to their State Pension age. These have included writing to people and targeted communications campaigns. We continue to look at the most effective ways to ensure people are aware of any such changes. Anyone can find out when they reach their State Pension age using our online calculator or the ‘Check your State Pension’ online service. Government has committed not to change the State Pension age for those people who are within 10 years of reaching it.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will carry out an impact assessment on the freedom and choice pension reforms.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Government has already assessed, and continues to assess, the impact of the pension freedoms.
In advance of the introduction of the freedoms a Tax Information and Impact Note was published by HM Revenue and Customs. This is available on the Gov.uk website.
An impact assessment was also published for amendments to the 2015 Pension Schemes Act which covered transfers from private sector defined benefit schemes. This is available on the Parliament website.
Looking forward, HMRC publishes quarterly releases on flexible withdrawals from pensions, and the Financial Conduct Authority also produces regular bulletins on retirement income market data. My Department regularly meets with other government departments, non-departmental public bodies, regulators, think tanks and industry representative groups to consider how industry and individuals are responding to the freedoms.
The Government committed in its response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee in December 2015 to publish findings from the Pension Wise evaluation research in 2017. This work is now underway with Ipsos MORI and the early findings covering customer experiences of the service were published in October 2016 on the Gov.uk website. Further publications from this programme will follow in 2017 including a comparison between users of the service compared with non-users to identify the impact of the service on understanding of the new pension freedoms.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it remains Government policy to continue the triple-lock guarantee on the basic state pension throughout the lifetime of the current Parliament.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Yes, the Government is committed to the triple lock for the duration of the current Parliament.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which reports commissioned by his Department from external bodies between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 have not yet been published; when each report was commissioned for research; what the nature of the research commissioned was; from which external body or individual person the research was commissioned; what the value was of each such piece of research commissioned; on what date each report was received by his Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each report.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
During this period the Department has commissioned a significant number of research reports. Of these, most are either still in progress, or have been completed and published on GOV.UK in line with our standard process. Two publications are currently with the Department awaiting publication. Both comply with the Department’s research publication protocol in accordance with Government Social Research Service guidance. To collate the requested information on all reports commissioned during this period that are yet to be published would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the Government's welfare reforms on deprivation in (a) Glasgow East constituency, (b) the city of Glasgow and (c) Scotland.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Government set out our assessment of the impact of the welfare policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Act on 20 July 2015, with similar assessments for previous changes.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect of (a) benefit sanctions and (b) work capability assessments on people living with disabilities in (i) Glasgow and (ii) other parts of Scotland.
Answered by Damian Hinds
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to question 905768 which was provided by Justin Tomlinson MP, the Minister for Disabled People at that time, which can be found at: