argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Labor
Douglas Gordon Ross (Conservative, Centre-right): I also congratulate the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) on securing today’s debate, and I was happy to add my signature to the application to ensure that it got through the Backbench Business Committee May I take this opportunity to pay tribute to local Moray WASPI campaigners? Several other Scottish Members have intervened today to say that their campaigners are watching at home or in a union building in Glasgow. I am delighted that I have a local WASPI campaigner and others from Moray in the Gallery today. One of them is Jennifer Matheson, who is fresh from abseiling off a building in Lossiemouth recently to raise funds for Outfit Moray, when she was resplendent in her WASPI colours to show her continued support for the campaign. May I also put on record my support and admiration for Sheila Forbes, who leads the Moray WASPI campaign I have previously spoken in debates on this issue in this Chamber, but today I want to focus on local case studies to ensure that the effects the women in Moray face as a result of these changes are recorded in the Official Report, because the testimony of these women is extremely important. One lady continues to look after three generations, as well as holding down a full-time job. However, because of the stress caused by her concerns over her pension age, she is now off sick. Another lady, who is close by in the Chamber at the moment, says: "I am now 64, so four…years without my pension." She has worked since she was 16, and she has 43 years of national insurance contributions. To echo some of the comments made by other hon. Members today, this constituent has two schoolmates born in the same year as she was, 1953—one was born in February, and one in July—and they already have their pensions. So birthdays only nine months apart can mean two years’ difference in terms of state pension pay-outs Another constituent resigned when she was 61 from an extremely stressful job, and she felt she could live off her savings until she got to her pension age at 62, only to find out that it had changed to 66. She then had the double whammy of trying to claim her occupational pension and being advised that, if she took it, she would lose 5% each year before she reached state retirement age of 66 In the short time available, I want to finish with another story from Moray. This lady is a carer for her husband, who took a dense stroke five years ago. They were going to use some of the state pension money to buy specialist equipment that was not available on the NHS. That story is harrowing, but the key point for me was that she never, ever received a letter informing her that she would not be getting a pension at 60.
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Labor
Mark Andrew Menzies (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head. There are lots of women who find themselves taking on caring responsibilities because their partners have life-changing health conditions. It is really important that the Minister takes this into account when looking at the pension implications for these women.
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Douglas Gordon Ross (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Lady also agree that an SNP Government Minister stated in a letter to the UK Government about the WASPI women: "I accept that ‘old age’ is not defined in the legislation, and that most people would not regard this age group as old" When she speaks about pensions, does she agree that these women are not pensioners because they have not received their state pension? There may be an opportunity to use that—an opportunity, that is all I ask.
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my good friend the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) on securing today’s debate on the state pension age and the 30-odd colleagues who have spoken The decisions by successive Governments concerning the rise in the state pension age were reached by reason of equality legislation, increased life expectancy and sustainability of the state pension. Since world war two, we have seen huge changes in life expectancy. Thanks to a better NHS, changes in the job market and improvements in medicine, there have been improvements for men and women such that they are living longer, staying healthier for longer, and leading far more active lifestyles, regardless of age. People living and staying healthier for longer is to be welcomed, but the Government must not ignore the fact that it also brings enormous financial and demographic pressures. The key choice that a Government face when seeking to control state pension spend is to increase the state pension age or pay lower pensions, with an inevitable impact on pensioner poverty. The only alternative is to ask the working generation to pay an ever larger share of their income to support pensioners, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill) made clear in her speech In July 2017, the Government published their first review of the state pension age, which set out a coherent strategy targeted at strengthening and sustaining the UK state pension system for many decades to come. It accepts the key recommendation of John Cridland’s independent review, which was to increase the state pension age from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039 The review is clear about increasing life expectancy and the challenges it poses. People are living longer. Almost 6,000 people in the UK turned 100 in 2016, compared with 3,000 in 2002. By 2035, there will be more than twice as many people over 100 as there are now.
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman and I both voted for the 2011 Act to increase the state pension age, with the circumstances that apply, after much consideration of the variety of options that had been proposed. He and I, and certainly the Scottish National party and the Scottish Government, have differing views on taxation, such as on whether it should support Trident, but, with respect, the tax reduction he proposes would reduce the job-creating power of the businesses upon which we rely for the jobs and public services we all wish to support.
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am conscious of your restrictions on the length of time available to me, Madam Deputy Speaker, so I will come back to the hon. Lady in a moment, if she will allow me The state pension was initially addressed in the 1995 Act. The need to do so arose because of life expectancy changes and the anticipated increase in the number of pensioners in the years to come. As I have said, the Labour Government introduced the Pensions Act 2007, which again increased the state pension age. I should point out that the Labour party has now resiled from that position and seeks to argue that both the Blair and Brown reforms were wrong The Government listened to concerned voices during the passage of the 2011 Act, as I indicated to the hon. Member for Easington. The proposed two-year acceleration was reduced to 18 months, benefiting more than a quarter of a million women, with the concession being worth more than £1 billion. Going as far as some campaigners have argued—he mentioned early-day motion 63 and what he described as "full compensation"—would represent a cost of more than £70 billion to the public purse. With respect, the requirements those changes would make in relation to taking into account the difference between men and women would require new legislation, meaning that an ongoing inequality would potentially be created between men and women.
Pension Equality for Women — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am conscious of Madam Deputy’s Speaker’s desire that I should end my speech speedily, so I will write to the hon. Lady with a detailed reply to the point she just raised. I have barely had a chance to address the arguments made by my hon. Friends from Scotland, which include the point raised eloquently by my hon. Friend the Member for Moray (Douglas Ross) that Jeane Freeman, my opposite number as Pensions Minister in Scotland, has indicated that her Government have the powers to act under sections 24, 26 and 28 of the Scotland Act 2016. I stress the point strongly that there is no question but that they have this power, because this is not about dealing with pensioners as such; the provisions we are dealing with concern people who are of working age, according to the law. I rely strongly upon the words not of this Government but of the Scottish Government, as set out in her letter of 22 June The issue of notification was raised, and I can answer the points on that briefly. Clearly, there was massive parliamentary debate, on repeated occasions, in 1995. Thereafter, we saw multiple articles in the press and media; the distribution of a huge number of leaflets; a campaign in 2004 to educate people about their state pensions; adverts in a variety of ways; correspondence in two different ways, both prior to 2010 and after 2011; and state pension forecasts sent to 19 million people over the past 17 years I wish to make a couple of final points. We recognise that some men and women are forced to reduce their working hours or cannot work for reasons of sickness, disability or caring responsibilities. The Government are committed to supporting the vulnerable, and we spend about £50 billion a year on benefits to support disabled people, those with health conditions and carers, as my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Mims Davies) particularly mentioned. That equates to 6% of all Government spending. With increased financial pressures, we cannot change a policy that was implemented over 22 years ago and supported by all three political parties. I finish with a point about life expectancy, as the hon. Member for Easington and I are good examples of that—we have both suffered from cancer. I am delighted to see that he has made a recovery from lymphatic cancer. I have made a recovery from a brain tumour. Those illnesses would have killed us both 30 to 40 years ago. There is no question but that the life expectancy changes are what has driven this approach on the part of successive Governments. With increased financial pressures, it would be unaffordable and not right, in the light of the changes we have had, to place an unfair financial burden on future generations.
Hormone Pregnancy Tests — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I do, and I will come on to that point. It is vital that we have proper evidence, not some historical evidence that was used by the report. More modern evidence was rejected because it had not yet been peer reviewed. The whole point about having all the evidence is one reason why the motion under debate today, which I hope will be passed unanimously, actually says that there should be a judge-led inquiry so that all that evidence can be considered.
Hormone Pregnancy Tests — House of Commons, 2017-12-14
Topic: Government Operations
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for that clarification. Many of these studies have been into the historical evidence and the paperwork, which have been sifted through over and again—she is right to make that point—but there are still differences of opinion between what was said in the 1970s, in 2016 and in 2017, and that is the difficulty I have asked the House of Commons Library for quite a lot of background information, which I was going to try to get into, but in the six minutes allowed to me I cannot do too much. What I will say, however, is that, having read the latest report by the expert working group, it is clear that there is a concern, highlighted by my right hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead and others, about the contradiction between what it was asked to do and what it then actually found out. The question is whether there is a causal link or an association. We need to explore that: were the terms of reference of this expert working group followed in the way it carried out its investigation? On that, I absolutely agree: we need to look further into what exactly has been done here Further evidence from the expert working group is due to be published in the new year. That will be important.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Labor
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): The national living wage will rise to £7.83 from April 2018. In total, that represents a pay rise of over £2,000 for a full-time minimum wage worker since the introduction of the national living wage in 2016, which has helped to reduce the proportion of full-time jobs that are low paid to the lowest level in at least 20 years. At the same time, in-work benefits support the incomes of poorer households and universal credit will mean that it always pays to progress in work. Sustainable long-term pay growth relies on improving productivity, which is why we are increasing the national productivity investment fund to more than £31 billion.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. Indeed, that was the central theme of the Budget. If we are to ensure prosperity for all our people in the future, we must embrace the technologies and businesses of the future and create the jobs of the future. We must be prepared to invest in the infrastructure that is needed to support them and in giving our people the skills that they will need to take advantage of those high-paid jobs.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows that the blanket pay cap across the public sector has indeed been removed—that was announced in July by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss). That will mean that individual Secretaries of State can look at the particular circumstances of the workforces for which they are responsible—recruitment and retention challenges and opportunities for improving workforce efficiency—and make proposals to the pay review bodies accordingly.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Chancellor confirm that Conservatives want people to keep more of the wages that they earn and that, when we came to power in April 2010, disgracefully, people earning as little as £6,500 a year had to pay income tax? Now they can earn more than £11,500 before incurring an income tax liability.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, £11,850—my hon. Friend is exactly right. It is by keeping to our commitment that we made in our manifesto of increasing the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 that we will ensure that people keep more of their income. Going back to the original question, people on the national living wage are now £3,600 a year better off after tax than they would have been in 2010.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?; With households facing stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring household debt and austerity, why have this Government not followed the Scottish example and ended the public sector pay cap?
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman was listening to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) a few moments ago. We have ended the blanket pay cap across the public sector and are allowing Secretaries of State to make recommendations to the pay review bodies that reflect the circumstances of their individual workforces.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?; With households facing stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring household debt and austerity, why have this Government not followed the Scottish example and ended the public sector pay cap?
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): My constituency is in the top 10 constituencies for the highest proportion of people on the minimum wage, so the rise to £7.83 will be most welcome. Does the Chancellor agree that moves such as that and increasing the personal allowance will help us to further reduce income inequality in my constituency and the country at large?
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?; With households facing stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring household debt and austerity, why have this Government not followed the Scottish example and ended the public sector pay cap?
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is exactly right. The uncomfortable fact for the Opposition Front Benchers is that income inequality in this country is now the lowest it has been since the mid-1980s—lower than it was at any point during the 13 years of the Labour Government.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?; With households facing stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring household debt and austerity, why have this Government not followed the Scottish example and ended the public sector pay cap?
Robert Alexander Courts (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Chancellor confirm that, according to last month’s Office for National Statistics figures, median disposable income is £600 higher than in the previous year and £1,000 higher than before the 2008 crash? Does he agree that it is the policies of this Government, with their jobs miracle, that have made that possible?
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?; With households facing stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring household debt and austerity, why have this Government not followed the Scottish example and ended the public sector pay cap?
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, and it is one of this Government’s proudest achievements that we have created 3 million new jobs in this country since 2010. The right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) might reflect on his prediction in 2011 that the Government’s policies would cost the economy 1 million jobs. That turned out to be slightly wide of the mark.
Low-paid Workers: Wage Growth — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: The fact is that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, disposable incomes are set to fall this year. On top of that, the cost of living is rising faster than pay. The area that the Chancellor has direct responsibility for is public sector pay. Is it not time to remove the pay restraints on the lowest-paid public sector workers to make sure that, as their bills go up, their wages keep pace?; With households facing stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring household debt and austerity, why have this Government not followed the Scottish example and ended the public sector pay cap?
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, in the end wages can only be paid for by the productive output of workers. Increasing the productivity of workers in the British economy, so that they can produce more and earn more in a way that allows their firms to remain competitive while paying them more, is the way forward, and that is what the Government will pursue.
Universal Credit: Household Income — House of Commons, 2017-11-28
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on levels of household income.
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I think we should remember the 1.4 million people who spent the previous decade under Labour trapped in poverty because every pound they earned was taken away in benefits. We have introduced universal credit so that every extra hour of work pays, and all the evidence suggests that it is much better than the previous scheme. Employment pays, and people on universal credit are more likely to be in work.