Tag: Charlotte Leslie

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department takes into account the differences in the positions of men and women in preparing for retirement when devising its policy on pensions.

Steve Webb

Yes. The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to fully meeting our legal obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty, which is part of the Equality Act 2010. We have embedded equality analysis into the processes we use to develop, deliver and evaluate our policies, practices and services. This ensures that we continue to assess the likely and actual effects of what we do on people with protected characteristics to help inform our decision making processes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support people with the rising cost of funerals.

Steve Webb

The Social Fund Funeral Payment scheme continues to provide help towards a simple, respectful, low-cost funeral. In 2012/13, over 35,000 awards were made worth £42.7 million, with an average award of £1,225.

Social Fund Budgeting Loans are also available to those on income related benefits to cover costs relating to funeral expenses.

In addition, any arrears of benefit which were due to the deceased at date of death are disregarded. This means that such arrears are no longer deducted from the funeral payment award.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate how much Government departments have spent on filtering tap water for drinking in each of the last four years.

Mr Nick Hurd

The information requested is not held centrally. However, as part of this Government’s commitment to reducing waste and driving down costs, we are challenging departments on the need to make savings from facilities management.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of men and women who make use of the non-earnings pension contribution limit; and if he will assess the potential effects of increasing that limit on couples saving together for retirement.

Mr David Gauke

As shown in HMRC’s published statistics (Table PEN3 available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/259967/pen3.pdf), in 2011-12 around 20,000 unemployed adults made or received contributions into their personal pensions. 6,000 of these individuals made use of the non-earnings pension contribution limit of £3,600 including basic rate tax relief.

A further 10,000 children, 10,000 individuals in full time education and 10,000 carers made or received contributions into their personal pensions. Of these, around a quarter made use of the non-earnings pension contribution limit.

Of the individuals mentioned above who made use of the non-earnings pension contribution limit in 2011-12, around two thirds were female.

The Government has made no assessment of the effects of increasing the limit on couples saving together for retirement but keeps all tax policies under review.