Contributions
1,402 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeI think my statement is the message. We recognise that these are complicated issues. We have collaborated fully with the inquiry, to the satisfaction of the chief executive…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeWithout being drawn into too much detail around the report, there is clearly an important distinction between those matters that have been found to be maladministration and those…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeOn the timing, I have now given this reply from the Dispatch Box on several occasions: there will be no undue delay. On the specific matter that the hon. Lady raises relating to…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeAs my hon. Friend points out, the timing is important. I have made the commitment that we will proceed without undue delay.25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeThe hon. Gentleman is a very assiduous and sensible person, and will know that party politics are at play in this issue. The Chancellor has been extremely clear that it is an…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeGiven that we have not yet responded to the findings of the ombudsman, for the reasons that I gave—this needs to be done in a diligent and careful manner—I am not sure that the…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeMy right hon. and learned Friend is right to refer, as I have done, to the complexities around this issue. He is understandably attempting to draw me into past comments on some of…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeThe important point is that we must carefully consider the report in its entirety—not just one aspect of it, but all aspects. I have undertaken to the House to do that without…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeI can assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to engage closely with Parliament, as we have done to date and with the ombudsman. She quite reasonably raises gender pension…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeReaching the clarity that my hon. Friend would like requires us to have a close and careful look at the report, as I have been setting out. We will do that as quickly as we can—we…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeThe hon. Gentleman has been here long enough to know that he should not ask me questions at the Dispatch Box about when debates may or may not occur; those matters are typically…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeOn the question of time, I have made the position extremely clear. On the question of the report having had to gestate for five years, there was a delay of around two years…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeOn the Pensions Act 2011, as the hon. Lady will know from the report, the window that has been particularly examined and on which these considerations turn is 2005 to 2007—a time…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeAs the hon. Gentleman will know, that is a question that in various forms has now been asked a dozen or more times. The answer will always be consistent: there is no desire to…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeThe hon. Gentleman refers to my mention of there having been no direct loss; that was a conclusion drawn by the ombudsman in his report. As to how quickly we can proceed, I simply…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeWhether there will be an autumn statement at all, and the date thereof, is not within my remit—indeed, I am not certain whether an autumn statement is pencilled in for any…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeThe hon. Gentleman raised the question to which by now I have probably responded two dozen times. The answer remains the same: we will look at these matters extremely carefully…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeThe hon. Lady refers to “doing the right thing”. Doing the right thing by the people the hon. Lady describes is to look very closely, carefully and diligently at the report. It…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeI welcome my right hon. Friend’s question. Let me reassure her, as I have just reassured the House, that there will be no undue delay in our approach to this matter. We engaged…25 Mar 2024HANSARD Women’s State Pension AgeIt would be a little bit of a stretch to comment on, let alone support, an unknown amendment to an unknown Bill.25 Mar 2024