Guy Opperman: You are very kind, Chair, but I do not.
Guy Opperman: The Department aims to respond to correspondence from hon. Members and their constituents within 20 working days wherever possible. Where the matters raised are complex it may take longer, but we aim to keep any delay to a minimum. The Cabinet Office publishes information about individual Department’s performance in responding to hon. Members; the most recent information will be published...
John Glen: It is a great honour to speak in this debate and to have worked with the pensions Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman)—to bring forward this legislation. Many Members of this House, if not all, will have constituents who have been affected by the issues that we have dealt with and discussed this afternoon. I am...
Guy Opperman: ...are world-leading and will embed the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures into UK law. Climate change is an existential challenge to our environment, but not only that, it poses a systematic financial risk and threat to the long-term sustainability of UK pensions. With almost £2 trillion in assets under management, all occupational pension schemes are...
Guy Opperman: ...100% data would show the following: The tables below show a breakdown of how qualifying years were built up for the tax years 2011/12 and 2018/19. 2011/12 Male Female Total NI Contributions only 13,851,200 11,157,100 25,008,300 NI Credits only 2,352,600 3,047,500 5,400,100 NI Contributions and Credits 445,700 840,200 1,285,900 Total 16,649,500 15,044,800...
Guy Opperman: ...in meeting and exceeding their obligations under Covid related procedures, for example where Security Officers test positive they are required to self-isolate for 14/10 days and not return to work but still receive their full pay whilst self-isolating. Unfortunately, the Department cannot attend sites to verify that providers are adhering to Covid safe working practices, as this in...
Guy Opperman: ...Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and more, all of which address climate change. It was a pleasure to visit Airedale Springs, which is a great company that is doing good business but with due regard to climate change. That is our approach to UK pensions as we build back greener.
Guy Opperman: ...to ICE are complex and require a full investigation. The Unit received additional resource during 2020/21 financial year to help reduce the time complaints wait to be brought into investigation, but Covid has adversely affected the unit with staff re-deployed to priority front-line activities at the outset of the pandemic and recruitment plans delayed. It has also been affected by...
Guy Opperman: ...inequalities in the pension system. With respect to the hon. Lady, I submit that automatic enrolment has been a genuine game changer in workplace savings. It has happened over the past nine years, but the work has been done by successive Governments, including a Labour Government, who set up the Turner commission. Automatic enrolment was commenced by the coalition Government in 2012,...
Guy Opperman: There is information on Gov.UK “Financial help if you have children” about the range of assistance available, including but not limited to, Maternity Allowance. https://www.gov.uk/browse/childcare-parenting/financial-help -children This includes the Sure Start Maternity Grant of £500 to provide help with the costs associated with the expenses of a baby (or babies in the event of a...
Chris Clarkson: ...on International Women’s Day as a Member from the original suffragette city of Manchester, home of Emmeline Pankhurst, and as a proud feminist. Women are the majority of the UK’s population, but only a third of the Members of this place. While I am sure there is a strong quality versus quantity argument to be made, that sits badly with the majority of us who value fairness. For me, the...
Guy Opperman: Indeed. The practical reality is that I will write to my right hon. Friend with more detail about the impact assessment, but clearly, this is an annual review that is done on an ongoing basis to ensure that the automatic enrolment regulations should be enforced in an appropriate way, and they should be reviewed and assessed in an appropriate way. Some colleagues have raised matters of the...
Guy Opperman: ...started testing a partial digital solution, on a small scale, in mid-October, to support the allocation of National Insurance Numbers. This solution enables the collection of an applicant’s data, but not the online verification of their identity. Alternative identity verification solutions to reduce the need for a face to face identity check for some customer groups, including EU...
Guy Opperman: ...started testing a partial digital solution, on a small scale, in mid-October, to support the allocation of National Insurance Numbers. This solution enables the collection of an applicant’s data, but not the online verification of their identity. Alternative identity verification solutions to reduce the need for a face to face identity check for some customer groups, including EU...
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: ...Ireland, I recall working with the Labour Government, and particularly the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, in relation to the Pensions Act 2008. There is similar legislation in Northern Ireland, but Northern Ireland has always introduced its own social security legislation—that goes back to the date of partition, I think, in 1921. I support this statutory instrument because I believe it...
Guy Opperman: I would like to thank all colleagues for their contributions. This is a debate on the Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2021, and there was limited discussion of that, but there was widespread discussion of many other aspects of pensions legislation, some of which related to the previous debate. The shadow spokesman, the hon. Member for Reading East (Matt Rodda), raised many...
Wendy Chamberlain: ...to the triple lock is maintained. As I said during the passage of that Act, not only does the triple lock provide an important means to ensure that pensioners are properly supported in retirement, but it is a matter of intergenerational fairness. Small increases year on year now ensure that the generation who are currently just entering the workplace will also receive that support when it...
Guy Opperman: ...this diversity, finding effective durable solutions is a long term challenge; there is no straightforward single mechanism, supported by evidence, to bring self-employed people into pension saving, but we continue to urge individuals to avail themselves of the opportunities that do already exist for pension saving. We commenced a trialling research programme in 2019/20 to test a range of...
Therese Coffey: ...Friend is right to highlight the key role that pension scheme assets can play in tackling climate change. The UK is already leading the way on this issue, thanks to actions taken by the Government, but particularly by my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman), the excellent Minister for Pensions. In 2018, we introduced key environmental, social and corporate governance...
Guy Opperman: ...it offers a statutory scheme where that is not possible. We do this fundamentally because the innocent parties in all of this are the children. I do not have children myself, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I suffered the loss of my children last year, and I know that any issue involving our children is an emotional and distressing and personal process, and I promise this House that the...
