Laura Trott
MP for Sevenoaks · Conservative · United Kingdom
“Well, that is a load of rubbish. The Secretary of State says that she is proud of the action that the Government are taking on pay. May I suggest that one of the reasons teachers are angry is that they still do not know their pay?”
“The resignation of the Prime Minister this morning was a damning indictment of the record of this Government over the last two years. Part of the Prime Minister’s legacy will be teacher morale at an all-time low.”
“We have moved so far, and things have only changed because of the unity of those on the Opposition Benches, because of Lord Nash’s brilliant campaign and because of the coalition behind Raise the Age.”
“On Friday, after Labour MPs had repeatedly blocked a social media ban for under-16s, we had a new proposal from the Government. It was not a serious response to the issue we are facing. It gave the Government three years to take unspecified action on social media, which was nowhere near good enough. Today, that has changed.”
“My right hon. Friend is always correct to be worried, but he will know that in Lord Nash’s amendment a 12-month delay was written in. I think it is reasonable to give the Government some time to bring the measure forward.”
“I welcome the Government’s constructive engagement on this issue, and we see a new proposal today that has a much more acceptable timeframe, albeit not as short as I would like. Every month of delay just leaves children more exposed to the harms of social media online.”
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“As a result of the Government’s triple lock, the basic state pension is now more than 50% higher in cash terms than it was in 2011. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is undertaking his review at the moment, and I cannot pre-empt that.”
“The Government are committed to supporting households with the cost of living, delivering over £94 billion of support, including uprating benefits by 10.1% this year. As I have said, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is undertaking his review, and I cannot pre-empt that.”
“We understand that things are really tough at the moment, which is why we have put in place £900 of cost of living support this year, but we also all need to work on bearing down on inflation. We are seeing it start to come down, but we know it is still too high, and we hope we will reach the Prime Minister’s pledge of halving inflation, because that is the biggest help we can give to households this year.”
“Tuition fees have been frozen for 2023-24 and 2024-25, which will help affordability for future graduates. For new graduates, interest rates will move with the retail prices index but will have nothing added.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The most important thing we can do is bear down on inflation, because that will bear down on interest rates, which affect us all. I would also point to the cost of living support that the Department for Education is providing for students. I would be happy to discuss the matter with him further.”
“My hon. Friend is rightly very focused on making sure that every single pound of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, and I can assure him that the Government share that goal. In June, the previous Chief Secretary to the Treasury launched the public sector productivity programme, and we will provide an update at the autumn statement.”
“My hon. Friend is right that public sector productivity must be improved. That is exactly what the review is looking at and what we will address. I look forward to talking to him more about it in due course.”
“We have announced UK-wide support for households, including cost of living payments, the energy price guarantee and the energy bills support scheme. Taken together, support for households is worth £94 billion and is among the largest packages in Europe.”
“I was pleased to see this morning’s figures, which show that wages are going ahead of inflation. This is very good news and I hope it spreads to Scotland.”
“These decisions involve tough trade-offs, but because of our history of delivery and our long-term plan for the future captured in this King’s Speech, I know that the Government can achieve their aims for this country and help every part of the country to reach its potential. I commend the Loyal Address, unamended, to the House.”
“It is important that the public understand the challenges that we face, so that they can understand the changes we have made to safeguard their future. This Government’s legislative agenda recognises that, balancing the delivery of both security and opportunity. The Government have a track record and a long-term plan to do just that, and I am hugely proud to play my part as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. That is why we will deliver licences for fresh oil and gas fields, continue to work to halve inflation and bring forward the trade Bill, cementing our place in the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership, locking in long-term rights for UK firms to do business in the fastest growing region of the world. None of this is easy.”
“The £36 billion that we are saving by cancelling HS2 will be reinvested to deliver Network North, improving journeys and infrastructure between and within the towns and cities of the north and the midlands, instead of just giving the people of the north a quicker way to move south. The legislative agenda cuts through the noise of those who want to talk Britain down, who speak freely about our challenges but are tight lipped on solutions, and provides clarity, certainty and stability for those who need it most. The last years have not been easy; the coming ones will offer their own challenges. I understand those who want to wish those truths away, but this Government’s instinct is to treat the public like adults.”
“It is the world’s greatest privilege. This place, across the House, does an enormous amount of good. I hope and expect that the family, colleagues and friends that he brought along today were proud to see his excellent speech, and I look forward to further contributions. We are taking the actions that will make this country better. The King’s Speech aims to push the UK into the spotlight on the international stage, embracing our role as a champion of global free trade, open for business and investment from around the world. Just look at our decision to scrap HS2, a one-route project where the right decision was postponed and kicked down the road as costs mounted up.”
“I was slightly incredulous to hear the Opposition talk about boosting housing when they have just blocked a measure that would have added 100,000 much-needed homes. Being in opposition is as much about what to support as it is about what to oppose, and that was a mistake. However, I welcome the Opposition’s support, albeit grudging, for the Renters (Reform) Bill and the leasehold Bill. Before I close, I should mention the brilliant maiden speech by the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Alistair Strathern), whose beautiful constituency we have all been seeing a little bit too much of recently. It was a gracious and accomplished maiden speech that spoke to his decency in the way he conducted the campaign. I wholeheartedly agree with him that there is nothing better than to represent the place in which one grew up.”
“Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood is in her place, but I note her remarks on sodium valproate and will make sure that they are fed into the Health team. That was very important. On the supply side, many Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Burnley, for Burton (Kate Kniveton) and for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart), the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands) and my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South, talked about the importance of transport in their local areas and of protecting consumers travelling by air. Housing has been brought up by a number of Members. We are on track to deliver the 1 million houses over this Parliament, and the Chancellor is looking at what more we can do to support planning reform, particularly on infrastructure.”
“This is the welfare reform that was called for by my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) and others. At the autumn statement, the Government will announce a package of long-term measures, creating an investment economy by unlocking business investment. I welcome the remarks by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Jack Brereton) about the digital network Bill and the importance of broadband. I am glad to have heard the hon. Members for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Cat Smith) and for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) bring up childcare. This is an important measure for growth as well as the right thing to do, and I hope that they welcome our £200 million investment. I do not think that the hon.”
“Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Sir Simon Clarke), with whom I hope to engage a lot as I hugely respect the work he did as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, pointed out the dramatic impact that a Conservative Government and a Conservative Mayor, the brilliant Ben Houchen, have had on Teesside. He talked about Labour’s legacy there as one of mediocrity and failure, and he is right. With steelmaking back, carbon capture and storage, and a new net zero power station, this is levelling up in action, and that is what a Conservative Government deliver. Turning to growth and supply side reform, which lots of people have mentioned today, at the spring Budget we announced a comprehensive employment package designed to remove the barriers that are preventing people from getting back into work.”
“Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) asked who is better off. I will tell him who is better off: the 1.7 million people who have been taken out of poverty since 2010, the 200,000 pensioners taken out of poverty, those helped by the 40% drop in youth unemployment, those for whom it now pays to go out to work, children learning in schools that are more likely to be good or outstanding and, as my hon. Friend the Member for West Worcestershire (Harriett Baldwin) said, the low-paid, the number of whom has dramatically fallen since the national living wage was introduced. Since 2015, the proportion of people on low pay has halved. My right hon.”
“It is true that she did not mention the deficit-busting, inflation-producing £28 billion of borrowing in her speech, but that is another Labour policy well overdue for a U-turn. Key to driving non-inflationary growth will be boosting trade. The Brexit zombies on the SNP Benches fail to recognise the potential of the trade deals we have with the rest of the world. My right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset and my hon. Friends the Members for Crawley (Henry Smith) and for Burnley (Antony Higginbotham) know the benefits that our open, international, free trading stance will bring. Deals such as the CPTPP with the fastest-growing economies in the world will deliver the clear benefits of Brexit, and we should be talking them up, not down. Indeed, there was too much talking down in the debate today. The hon.”
“I am sure even Opposition Members would recognise that that is not an optimal outcome. Indeed, the Opposition seem to have put forward a plethora of new spending commitments today prior to an updated OBR forecast, which I would suggest is not in the spirit of their own amendment. Turning to some of the measures mentioned today, the shadow Chancellor criticised the lack of action on the cost of living, yet did not once mention inflation. It is up there with the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) forgetting the deficit. Getting inflation down is the ultimate solution to the cost of living pressures we face. It requires disciplined, unglamorous work, which means keeping inflationary spending down. There was not one proposal in the shadow Chancellor’s speech to address it.”
“Perhaps most impressive of all, we have done this while slashing our borrowing by 70% between 2010 and the start of the pandemic. This is what a Conservative Government deliver. Here I should consider the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), although I will be brief as Opposition Members did not cover it much. If their amendment had been in force in 2020, we surely would have found ourselves in a much worse position. It would have hampered the Government from acting in an emergency, as we did during the pandemic, because instead of taking decisive action to support people and businesses up and down the United Kingdom, we would have been forced into a 12-week process with the OBR before we were able to deliver any support whatsoever.”
“We came to power with a duty to tackle what was then the worst recession since the second world war: 2.5 million people were unemployed and 1.4 million were stuck on out-of-work benefits. What has changed since 2010? Unemployment is down by 1 million people, and 1.7 million have been able to lift themselves out of poverty thanks to a new living wage. While many in the EU are experiencing a recession, here in the UK, as my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) regularly points out, since 2010 we have grown faster than France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Japan, and our recovery from the pandemic has been one of the strongest in the G7. We have grown our economy by 65%, and cut our emissions by almost 50% since 1990.”
“Putin’s appalling war in Ukraine has now dragged into another year of suffering and brave defiance; the terrorist actions of Hamas in the middle east have caused unspeakable suffering in Israel and Gaza; and all the while, the spectre of inflation haunts the globe, as the financial echoes of Putin’s war, covid-19 and the global financial crisis continue to ring out. What will work to address them is the careful, deliberate efforts that this Government are pursuing, which we will continue in the Chancellor’s forthcoming autumn statement. This is what the Government have done ever since we came to power, and this is what the King’s Speech does now. Before I turn to the measures in the King’s Speech, it is worth taking a look at what this Government have already achieved.”
“I will continue to hold that understanding as I take on my new role, and I look forward to working with Members across the House to make sure that the economy grows, that the wealth spreads, and that the Government are responsible and restrained with the public purse strings. I am sure the hon. Gentleman recognises, as I do, that the Chief Secretary’s job is a vital one that shows a clear difference between our two parties, and I am sure we will have robust discussions in the months ahead. I very much look forward to those opportunities. We live in a changing world. Even since this Government set out their previous legislative agenda in 2022, we have seen huge upheavals.”
“It is an honour to participate in the debates following the first King’s Speech for more than 70 years. I thank all hon. Members who have contributed to this debate, including the hon. Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) both for his warmish welcome and for his remarks. He and I are both quite new to our posts, and much as we might disagree quite fundamentally on major topics such as taxes and spending, I am sure he agrees that it is a privilege to be closing today’s debate. During my time at the Department for Work and Pensions, I saw at first hand the impact that Government decisions have on people, and the hugely positive effect that work has on households and regions.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for the work he is doing in his constituency. I assure him that that is exactly what the Government are doing. We recently launched an “invitation to claim” trial, which has been rolled out in 10 constituencies and is using housing benefit data to target those who might also be eligible for pension credit. We will report back on the results of that trial later this year.”
“With respect to the hon. Lady, that is exactly what we are doing. That is why we have put the cost of living payments in place, which are worth £900 to all those on pension credit, and why a cost of living pensioner payment worth £300 is coming out in the winter. All the while the Labour Mayor of London is charging pensioners £12.50 when they want to drive to the hospital.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right on that, and I praise all the work he has done in his constituency on pension credit. We are trying to do exactly what he sets out: encourage as many people as possible to claim this important benefit, at a time when they are going to need it most. I note that across the House good work has been done in individual constituencies.”
“With the comprehensive package of support I have talked about today, we have shown that we are taking action during the cost of living crisis to help pensioners as much as we can. We know that accuracy is the most important thing when it comes to the state pension, which is why we have taken action very quickly to correct issues where they have occurred, for example, with LEAP—the legal entitlement and administrative practices exercise. We will do the same in all such cases.”
“The DWP has conducted an extensive campaign across TV, radio and social media, and with partner organisations, to boost pension credit take-up, with a number of pushes being made before cost of living payment deadlines. I am pleased to tell the House that that is working; applications were up by 75% in the year to May.”
“Let me reassure my right hon. Friend and her constituents that asylum seekers are given no recourse to public funds. They are given payment for their food and shelter, but they are unable to claim benefits. Pensioners in her constituency will receive a state pension, if they qualify, which for the first time is worth on average more than £200 per week or over £10,000 a year. Pensioners who have not built up sufficient contributions may be eligible for pension credits, worth on average £3,500 per year, to top up their income. They are also eligible to receive the cost of living payment, if they ever receive pension credit, and the pensioner cost of living payment.”
“In April, we announced plans to address this issue by introducing a retrospective national insurance credit, which will ensure that more people—especially women—have the opportunity to obtain a full state pension.”
“The hon. Lady asked about this last time, and I believe I informed her previously that all alive people will be receiving the benefits they are entitled to by the end of this year.”
“The triple lock was a Conservative invention. It was a pledge in our manifesto and the Secretary of State will be looking at it again this year when he makes his decision on benefits.”
“Obviously this is without looking at the individual case, but it is important to note that the threshold has gone up significantly, so it is worth questioning whether the hon. Lady’s constituents are now eligible. If not, applications to the household support fund can be helpful, and local councils may be able to offer housing benefit support. If there is an individual case that she would like to write to me about, I am happy to respond.”
“The connection timetable set out in guidance will require scheme trustees or managers to have regard to the guidance; not doing so would be a breach of the regulations. [Official Report, 10 July 2023, Vol. 736, c. 2MC.] While the instrument amends the requirements on trustees or managers by the removal of schedule 2, there are no other material changes to the 2022 regulations. The amendment regulations will facilitate a collaborative approach to connection that delivers on our commitment to introduce pension dashboards. I am satisfied that the draft regulations are compatible with the European convention on human rights. Pension dashboards have the potential to transform retirement planning forever, and the regulations are another step in the right direction.”
“At the same time as providing more flexibility than is available in the 2022 regulations, retaining the broad framework of a phased approach will continue to help manage the flow of connections and maximise the coverage as early as possible. Government will work with key partners and the pensions industry on a connection timetable to be published in guidance. We expect that the connection timetable in guidance will continue to prioritise large schemes with the greatest number of members for the first connections. It is also important to note that the dashboards’ available point—the point at which dashboards will be available for widespread public use—could happen before the October 2026 connection deadline in the regulations.”
“The 2022 regulations, however, did not provide the flexibility necessary to deliver a programme of this magnitude: a digital undertaking that will enable users to search more than 3,000 schemes to find their pensions. The draft instrument curtails the period of uncertainty for the pensions industry. As the staging profile in the 2022 regulations required the first schemes to connect at the end of August 2023, the amendment regulations were laid to avoid any perception that schemes are in breach through no fault of their own. The draft instrument uses powers in the Pensions Act 2004 to amend the 2022 regulations to compel all schemes in scope to connect to dashboards by 31 October 2026.”
“Since then, we have been examining several challenges facing the pensions dashboards programme. The decision to pause, review and reset the programme is providing the time to ensure complete delivery of the ecosystem and supporting documentation before industry begins to connect. So far, the reset has assessed the digital architecture and no fundamental issues have been identified. That has provided reassurance to Government to move forward with amending the regulations. The staging profile in schedule 2 to the 2022 regulations set out the order in which different types of schemes, categorised by size and type, would connect to pensions dashboards.”
“The PDP faced several key issues: the technical solution had not been sufficiently tested and there was still work to do to finalise the necessary supporting documentation and to get the necessary systems in place to support industry with the connection process. It was concluded that more time was needed to deliver dashboards successfully and that a reset of the programme was required. In my written statement in March 2023, I announced the delay and set out that the pensions dashboards programme would be reset to get it back on the path for successful delivery. Following the announcement, my Department engaged with a broad cross-section of industry and gave assurance that it would legislate at the earliest possible opportunity to provide certainty to schemes.”
“We anticipate that, once all schemes in scope of the draft regulations are connected, the pension records of more than 71 million memberships from relevant occupational pension schemes and providers of Financial Conduct Authority-regulated entities will be accessible to people at the touch of a button at a time of their choosing. The reason for the draft regulations is that, at the end of last year, the pensions dashboards programme, which is responsible for delivering the digital architecture that underpins pensions dashboards, informed the Department for Work and Pensions that more time was required to complete the build of the digital architecture.”
“Research published by the Pensions Policy Institute estimates that there were 8 million deferred pots in 2020 and that, without intervention, that number is likely to rise to 27 million by 2035. Pensions dashboards will help hard-working savers to locate pension pots that they have accumulated over time, reconnecting them with lost and forgotten pots, supporting better planning for retirement. People will be able to deal with their various pensions, including their state pension, securely in one place online. There can be no doubt that pensions dashboards have the potential to change the pensions landscape, but delivering dashboards for widespread use efficiently and securely is a complex undertaking.”
“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Pensions Dashboards (Amendment) Regulations 2023. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 8 June. I am pleased to introduce this statutory instrument, which removes the staging profile from the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 and introduces a single connection deadline of 31 October 2026 for relevant occupational pension schemes to connect to the pensions dashboards. The successful introduction of automatic enrolment more than a decade ago, combined with a trend towards people working multiple jobs in their lifetime, has seen a substantial increase in pension pots.”
“From a cost-to-industry perspective, the overall benefits far outweigh the costs, and from a scheme perspective I am confident that it is keeping to its outline budget, although we will continue to keep that under review. On the AE extension, I will not miss an opportunity to praise my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis), who has done a fantastic job. Hopefully his Bill will go quickly through the other place, and I promise to get the consultation on the regulations out as quickly as I can, to ensure that we get it moving through. We need to evaluate the impact of Stronger Nudge so far, and then base any next steps on that. I think that that covers everything, but Members are welcome to intervene if not. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.”
“Everything that we are trying to do is about putting that confidence in place and ensuring that we have a programme that is overseen by a joint delivery board from the DWP and by the Money and Pensions Service, that we have regular interactions, and that it is keeping to time and to the outline. That is part of what the reset programme is trying to do. Total costs have decreased during the standard assessment period. Transitional costs for industry have increased to reflect that some schemes may face additional costs ahead of the proposed changes, but that does not offset the overall decrease in total costs over the 10-year period, and the dashboards programme has run slightly under budget to date.”
“As ever, I am grateful for the constructive approach taken by all parties. To address some of the issues that were raised, as I said in my speech, using guidance will allow for extra flexibility. Under these regulations, the regulator will ensure that schemes have regard to the guidance. That is really important and a key part of what we are trying to do. If for whatever reason the schemes breach that significantly, we may have to come back and revisit it, but I do not anticipate that that will happen. The Pensions Regulator will keep that under review, but it is significant that the ABI said that it will comply anyway. From conversations that I have had with the industry, that is absolutely the intent, but as I said the regulator is on hand and will issue guidance to ensure compliance. I am confident about the October 2026 deadline.”
“There are duties on those parties and those working with them, including to report breaches to the regulator. The pensions ombudsman, on the other hand, adjudicates on disputes between pension schemes and their members, as we are discussing in this case. If members of any scheme would like help in understanding options for retirement income and any documentation they have received for their scheme, I encourage them in the first instance to contact MoneyHelper, which is provided by the Money and Pensions Service, an independent, non-departmental public body.”
“If members feel that they were given incorrect or insufficient information to make an informed choice, or if the trustees did not act according to the scheme rules, then they can take their complaint to the pensions ombudsman. The right hon. Gentleman said that he wrote to the regulator and to the ombudsman and both referred him to the other, and he asked what redress there is for members in this situation. Let me clarify the role of the two organisations. The Pensions Regulator is the UK regulator of workplace pension schemes. It makes sure that employers put their staff into a pension scheme and pay money into it. It also makes sure that workplace pension schemes are run properly, so that people can save for their later years. Its focus is on the running of those pension schemes, trustees and scheme managers.”
“Trustees, as discussed, have a duty to act in the interest of all members rather than of any particular group, and to do so they must take into account a range of factors. They will, for example, take into account the funding position of the scheme to protect the interests of current and future members and may make changes to the shape of benefit arrangements in the pursuit of that goal provided that the scheme rules allow it. Trustees should also work closely with the scheme actuary to ensure that all members get a fair value from the commutation arrangements. But— this is the key point of the debate today—it is crucial that each member has sufficient information before deciding whether alternative arrangements, such as taking a lump sum, are the best course of action for them.”
“It is equally important that when members opt to make changes to the way they receive their benefits, or indeed any pensions, they can access the information and guidance they need to understand what the implications of that would be. It is extremely concerning that there seems to have been a lack of communication, as the right hon. Gentleman outlined. It is of course the case that many schemes offer members a number of choices of how to take their benefits, such as partly in a lump sum if the scheme rules and tax rules permit it. In these cases, the scheme rules detail the calculations to be used, and the trustees can change the details of the scheme rules if they are able to do so within the scheme. Although legislation is silent on the way in which these rules and calculations must operate, there are safeguards for members.”