Tag: Gavin Newlands

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his Department’s policy is on the use of debt collection agencies to collect outstanding payments.

Joseph Johnson

The core Department’s policy is governed by HM Treasury’s ‘Managing Public Money’ guidance. This sets out that public sector organisations should always pursue recovery of debts. In practice there will be both practical and legal limits to how cases should be handled. So each case should be dealt with on its merits. Within BIS, the use of a debt collection agency would only be considered after all other methods of recovery had failed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses which are planning to pass on the increase in their National Insurance contributions from April 2016 to their employees.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department does not currently collect this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment his Department carried out on women directly affected by the Pension Act 2011 before those changes came into effect.

Justin Tomlinson

Estimates of the number (a) men and (b) women affected by the changes made to State Pension age are presented in Table 5 of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, published in November 2011, available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

This shows that an estimated 2.34 million men and 2.64 million women would have an increase in the State Pension age under the Pensions Act 2011 compared to the legislated position prior to the passing of the Pensions Act 2011.

The Impact Assessment examines the fiscal costs and benefits of increasing women’s State Pension age from 63 to 65 between April 2016 to November 2018; and increasing men’s and women’s State Pension age from 65 to 66 between December 2018 and October 2020. A Gender Impact assessment is provided in the Annex of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment.

Women born in 1952 were not affected by the changes to State Pension age in the Pensions Act 2011.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how his Department regulates the activities of debt collection agencies during the period that they are under contract with his Department.

Joseph Johnson

Should any direct contracts be let with debt recovery agencies, the scope and extent of any activity would be agreed as part of the contract negotiation and a process of routine monitoring put in place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Schedule 14 and Section 24 of the Pension Act 2014, how many employees have been affected by the introduction of the statutory over-ride which provides for employers who sponsor contracted-out occupational pensions schemes to pass on increases in national insurance contributions to employees.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department does not currently collect this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average change in income for a woman born in 1952 is as a result of the provisions of the Pension Act 2011.

Justin Tomlinson

Estimates of the number (a) men and (b) women affected by the changes made to State Pension age are presented in Table 5 of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, published in November 2011, available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

This shows that an estimated 2.34 million men and 2.64 million women would have an increase in the State Pension age under the Pensions Act 2011 compared to the legislated position prior to the passing of the Pensions Act 2011.

The Impact Assessment examines the fiscal costs and benefits of increasing women’s State Pension age from 63 to 65 between April 2016 to November 2018; and increasing men’s and women’s State Pension age from 65 to 66 between December 2018 and October 2020. A Gender Impact assessment is provided in the Annex of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment.

Women born in 1952 were not affected by the changes to State Pension age in the Pensions Act 2011.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment of the ethical standards of debt collection agencies his Department undertakes before entering into a contract with such agencies.

Joseph Johnson

Any debt collection contracts let by the core Department would primarily use available framework contracts agreed by the Crown Commercial Service who are responsible for including any required assessment of ethical standards. However, if the need for a specialist debt collection contract should arise that could not be met by a framework contract, the Department’s tender and contract documentation would include further assessments as may be deemed necessary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications to the National Enterprise Allowance scheme were rejected in each of the last five years.

Priti Patel

The New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) is a voluntary scheme. Eligible claimants will be referred to one of our contracted NEA providers who will assess their business idea for viability and sustainability. Claimants who are not accepted onto the scheme can be re-referred at a later date.

We do not hold the data on how many people are rejected by our providers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will provide support for women who have been affected financially as a result of changes brought about by the Pension Act 2011.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove current gender timetable inequality.

The equalisation of State Pension age was necessary to meet the UK’s obligations under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in social security provision. The Pensions Act 1995 contained legislation to equalise women’s State Pension age and, since April 2010, women’s State Pension age has been gradually increasing. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, and therefore the increase in the number of people living longer in retirement, this timetable was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth around £1 billion in total.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on debt collection activity in each of the last seven years.

Matthew Hancock

This information is not held centrally. Individual departments are responsible for managing their own debt.