Tag: Cathy Jamieson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what certificated training Pension Wise staff providing (a) telephone and (b) face-to-face advice will require prior to the launch of that scheme.

Andrea Leadsom

All guidance specialists working for Pension Wise will receive high quality and rigorous training, whether they are delivering guidance face to face or over the phone. They will be required to pass a certificated test to demonstrate they have the necessary technical knowledge and guidance skills to deliver the guidance. The training programme is designed in accordance with FCA standards, and will be accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute, a well-respected professional standards body in the financial services industry.

HM Treasury’s delivery partners, TPAS and Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland are currently recruiting guidance specialists. Recruitment strategies and the setting of pay scales is the responsibility of individual delivery partners.

At Budget 2014, the Chancellor allocated a development fund of up to £20m to establish the initial guidance service. Spending on advertising will be published as part of the government’s Transparency Agenda. Initial funding to The Pension Advisory Service (TPAS) and the Citizen Advice organisations will be included in the HM Treasury Accounts to be published in July.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff have been recruited to deliver the Pension Wise scheme; and what the salary bands are to which those staff have been appointed.

Andrea Leadsom

All guidance specialists working for Pension Wise will receive high quality and rigorous training, whether they are delivering guidance face to face or over the phone. They will be required to pass a certificated test to demonstrate they have the necessary technical knowledge and guidance skills to deliver the guidance. The training programme is designed in accordance with FCA standards, and will be accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute, a well-respected professional standards body in the financial services industry.

HM Treasury’s delivery partners, TPAS and Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland are currently recruiting guidance specialists. Recruitment strategies and the setting of pay scales is the responsibility of individual delivery partners.

At Budget 2014, the Chancellor allocated a development fund of up to £20m to establish the initial guidance service. Spending on advertising will be published as part of the government’s Transparency Agenda. Initial funding to The Pension Advisory Service (TPAS) and the Citizen Advice organisations will be included in the HM Treasury Accounts to be published in July.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority to publish their review on removing barriers to entry and expansion in retail banking.

Andrea Leadsom

Budget 2014 detailed that the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority will publish a review of their work on removing barriers to entry and expansion in retail banking later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the target time is for dealing with passport applications.

James Brokenshire

Expected service standards for passport applications are given at
www.gov.uk.

Information in respect of the Member’s constituency is not available and the
cost of collating it would be disproportionate.

The table below shows the proportions of UK passport applications in each of
the last 12 months which have been processed within the published service
standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of passport applications submitted by residents of Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency in each month since June 2010; and how many such cases were processed within three weeks of receipt.

James Brokenshire

This information is not held in an accessible form by Her Majesty’s Passport Office.

The cost of extracting this data would be disproportionate and so unfortunately
I cannot provide you with the information you have requested.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Payments System Regulator on its market study into the ownership of payments systems by the largest banks.

Andrea Leadsom

At Budget 2014, the Chancellor announced that the competition powers of the Payment Systems Regulator would be switched on with immediate effect. This enables the Regulator to conduct a market study on ownership of the payment systems and, depending on the outcome, to refer the question of ownership to the Competition and Markets Authority. The decision about whether to commence a market study is one for the Regulator.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target waiting time is for work capability assessment for both (a) employment and support allowance and (b) incapacity benefit reassessment; and what proportion of such assessments have been carried out within the target timescale in the last four quarters for which figures are available.

Mike Penning

We are working closely with our supplier to deliver the best possible service for claimants, driving up performance and quality to help reduce waiting times and process claims as quickly as possible. We are continuing to monitor and robustly manage this contract.

We do not have a target timescale for waiting time for an Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Reassessment Work Capability Assessment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects to publish the results of the consultations on bail-in order for building societies; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government is currently analysing the responses to the consultation on bail-in secondary legislation. Once this review is completed, the Government will publish a summary of the responses and indicate how it plans to proceed.