Written questions by Wrigley.

What steps she plans to take to promote and support the active participation of older people in society.

The Government knows that work can help older people play active and fulfilling roles in society, improve physical and mental wellbeing and build towards a financially comfortable retirement. The Department already offers employment support through Jobcentres and tailored one-to-one engagement for eligible over 50s on Universal Credit. Midlife MOT reviews, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK and online also support older people to review their health, finances and skills. Getting more older people who are economically inactive but want to work into employment is crucial to meeting our long-term ambition of an 80 per cent employment rate. Our Get Britain Working White Paper sets out our approach to the employment support system to target and tackle the root causes of unemployment and inactivity and better join up health skills and employment support based on the needs for all, including older people. The Government has also launched an independent review into the role of UK employers in promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces which will run until Summer 2025.

If she will take steps to support benefits claimants who are being investigated by her Department but no longer have access to required information because it has been deleted by their bank.

Where DWP is conducting a criminal investigation into suspected fraud it may request relevant information from third parties. Information received may be presented as evidence if that investigation proceeds to prosecution. Requests for information must comply with DWP’s statutory Code of Practice. Where an individual is asked to provide information to the department, they should endeavour to provide it unless there is a reason that they cannot. If they are dissatisfied with the service they have received, they should raise the issue with the team handling their case. If they do not feel they have received a satisfactory service, they can raise this with the Independent Case Examiner. DWP’s complaints procedure can be found here.

Whether she has plans to announce any changes to the benefit system for financial year 2024-25.

Our Get Britain Working White Paper sets out that we plan to develop proposals for long term reform of the system of health and disability benefits.We are working to develop proposals for Health and Disability reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper in Spring.The Get Britain Working White Paper also sets out our plans to bring down economic inactivity levels and take the first steps to delivering our long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. It can be accessed here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-britain-working-white-paper

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of GDPR regulations on people who experience bank (a) fraud ,(b) error and (c) deletions.

DWP will ensure that any data is processed in compliance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. The Department routinely handles large volumes of data and has robust security processes in place to manage the safe transfer, storage, and use of data.

If she will make it her policy that all changes to financial support for (a) people who are unwell and (b) disabled people be preceded by a public consultation.

We are working to develop proposals for health and disability reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement. This will launch a public consultation on the proposals. This Government is committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of all that we do, so we will consult on these proposals, where appropriate, with disabled people and representative organisations.

Whether her Department plans to provide a formal response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions’ communication of changes, published on 19 July 2021.

We provided a formal response to the Ombudsman’s findings on the State Pension age investigation on 17 December 2024. This can be found in the library of both houses and is publicly available on GOV.UK. Government response to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension age communications and associated issues - GOV.UK

Whether she plans to respond to the Freedom of Information Act request by Mr Langton of 21 December 2024.

Mr Langton’s Freedom of Information request was made electronically and was received by the Department on 21 December 2024. The request has been given the reference FOI2024/105315. The statutorily defined deadline to respond to any Freedom of Information request is to do so on or before the 20th working day following receipt of the request. The deadline for this request is 23 January 2025 and we aim to respond on or before that date.

What steps she is taking to support vulnerable pensioners during winter 2024-25, in the context of changes to the eligibility criteria for the winter fuel payment.

The Government offers an array of support to ensure pensioners remain comfortable and safe in the winter months. This includes direct financial help to low-income pensioners through Pension Credit, the Warm Home Discount, and (in England & Wales) Cold Weather Payments. We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit. We want to ensure as many people as possible have access to this support and urge pensioners to check their eligibility. Pension Credit will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Payments in future, alongside other benefits. Our Pension Credit campaign has been successful in boosting applications by 145%, and thanks to the Pension Credit backdating rules, anyone who made a successful backdated claim by 21 December will also qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment. The Warm Home Discount scheme provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate on their winter energy bill. This winter, we expect over three million households, including over one million pensioners, to benefit under the scheme. The Government and industry have worked together to deliver a £500 million Winter Support Commitment for customers, which will help customers most in need by providing credit on bills, enhanced debt write-off schemes, and increased funding for charity partners to target hard to reach customers. This support is all underpinned by this Government’s commitment to the Triple Lock this Parliament and a 4.1% increase to the basic State Pension and the new State Pension this April. We are also increasing the standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit by 4.1%. As such, according to the latest OBR projections, the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,900 over the course of this parliament whilst the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,500. Low-income pensioners and others struggling with the cost of living should contact their local council to see what further support may be available to them, as they may be able to receive support from Council Tax Reduction, or through energy support programmes (such as the Homes Upgrade Grant and Energy Company Obligation) – or in England, through the Household Support Fund (a scheme providing discretionary support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water). The Government is extending the Household Support Fund in England by a further year (until 31 March 2026), with funding of £742 million provided to enable this extension in England, plus additional funding for the devolved Governments to be spent at their discretion. This builds on the previous investment of £421 million to extend the fund from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.

With reference to page 25 of the Government response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's investigation into Women’s State Pension age and associated issues, what the evidential basis is for the statement that awareness among the 45-54 age group that State Pension age was increasing had increased to 90%.

The Attitudes to Pensions: the 2006 Survey was a large-scale survey commissioned by DWP and carried out by the respected National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the School of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham. The authors included a mix of academics and research professionals, experienced in survey design and delivery, and the report was quality assured to Government Social Research standards. Almost 2,000 adults took part in the survey, and weightings were applied to ensure results were representative of the population. The survey report includes the finding that the percentage of women who reported knowing that women’s State Pension age would increase in the future was 90% for women aged 45-54. The 45-54 female subgroup has a sample size of 203. With a sample of this size, we can get a reliable estimate of the percentage of women among this group who reported knowing that the women’s State Pension age would increase in the future. Using confidence intervals, we can have 95% confidence that this figure would be around 85-95%. The 95% level is a widely accepted standard of confidence. Therefore, even at the lower estimate, the data shows the vast majority of 1950s women were aware. The 2006 Attitudes to Pensions Survey report is available online athttps://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20100208141655mp_/http:/research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2007-2008/rrep434.pdf

What steps she is taking to help tackle unpaid child maintenance.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through the Collect & Pay service.The CMS has been improving its service to allow Direct Pay arrangements to quickly move to Collect and Pay when the Paying Parent is not paying or when Direct Pay is no longer appropriate.The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children including deducting directly from earnings, bank accounts and forcing the sale of a property.The Department plans to streamline the enforcement process further by removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order and instead allow the Secretary of State to issue an administrative liability order. Introducing this simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities.