Responsible pension financing.

Waiting for an internal review by Department for Work and Pensions of their handling of this request.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

From Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 8 October 2013, c159W) the annual cost of uprating the frozen pensioners would be 700 million GBP per year. This is less than 1% of the annual pensions budget and a review of cost against the saving made by not having the following benefits must be made if cost is to be used as an excuse to continue the discriminative deprivation of the indexing.

1. What is the annual saving to the NHS due to the pensioners retiring abroad where no indexing is given.

2. How much is saved by virtue of these frozen pensioners not being eligible for the many benefits available to those in the UK and the EU ?

3. What is the annual cost of maintaining a department to uprate the frozen pensioners who return to the UK for a period and also to answer the numerous questions and queries that the freezing policy generates.

4. Has any assessment been done to evaluate the benefit to the Department should they index the pensions taking into account the points made in 1, 2 and 3 and if not why not ?

Yours faithfully,

George Morley.

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
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Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

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Thank you for your Freedom of Information request; please see the attached acknowledgement.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information request.

Many thanks,

DWP Central FoI Team
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

The opinion of one man - Steve Webb, is not grounds for doing nothing. His view is not the view of parliament and that is where this decision should be made. If it is the treasury that are leaning in him then they should be held to account because as with the case in the Lords for part time judges it was said that cost can never be used as a reason to discriminate and the case was won.
If there is to be a rule for the judges then the same rule should apply to pensioners. Deal with it.

Yours sincerely,

George Morley

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request; please see the attached acknowledgement.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Responsible pension financing.'.

[No answers have been given ! Will an answer be forthcoming at all or is this just a way of getting around the problem by ignoring the request ? ]

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

George Morley

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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An acknowledgement was sent to you 11 November.

Please see attached.

DWP Central FoI Team

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George Morley left an annotation ()

As the Pensions Bill is now proceeding through the Lords and they ruled in favour of the part-time judges over their claim for pension parity then this will happen to clause 20 (and subsequently regulation 3 which freezes current pensioners) if justice is to be seen to be done by the government. As the Commonwealth Charter says the they are implacably opposed to discrimination in any form and even the Pensions Minister Steve Webb described it as such. Can the Lords and the many MP's opposed to this harsh and illegal(in the real world) treatment of pensioners who qualify for indexing be wrong and this injustice continue ?

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Responsible pension financing.'.

Irrespective of the answers received so far I would like to make this comment in support of the claim for uprating all pensions and thereby stopping the discrimination that is caused by the freezing policy currently imposed by regulation 3 not to mention clause 20 which should never have been included in the new Pensions Bill passing though parliament at this time.
Recently a case came up in the Lords regarding part time judges in the UK and they were awarded a pension that could cost (worst case) £2 billion.
Paul Epstein QC representing the plaintiff said,
"The court decided in the end that all those reasons came down to cost, and that cost can never objectively justify discrimination"
To now find that the case for pensioners is any different would be unacceptable surely if the honesty and integrity of those making decisions is to be upheld.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

George Morley

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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George Morley left an annotation ()

It would seem only reasonable that if the Minister is quoting figures then he and his Department should be able to provide the evidence and source to support them.
As the Minister disputes the findings of a well researched and detailed report - The Oxford Economic Report - on what evidence does he base his dismissal of those findings?

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information request.

Many thanks,

DWP Central FoI Team
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information review request.

Many thanks,

DWP Central FoI Team
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

show quoted sections

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

Your Ref: VTR IR 834 & 861

I have made my comments after a copy of your responses

On point 1 – matters relating to the National Health Service are, as stated in the response, the
province of the Department of Health

But as the DWP continue to lump pensions and benefits together to further confuse the electorate, they could ask the NHS to back up their Minister’s claim that the Oxford Economics report was flawed but without any figures here to prove his rejection is valid
it would appear that this reply is as worthless as he feels the OE report is.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
On point 2 – there are insufficient data available to the Department on the individual
circumstances of recipients of UK state pension living in those countries where the state
pension is not uprated to estimate what other pensioner benefits these individuals would be
eligible for if they lived in the UK, hence the information you requested is not held.

So please get a figure to support the rejection of the OE report. The DWP are surely in a better position to find out the average cost per pensioner of benefits that are claimed in the UK and use that as a guide to the most likely cost for the frozen ex-pat pensioners abroad if they returned. to the UK. This would be fairly accurate considering the numbers involved.
>>>>>>>>>
On point 3 – the Department does not collate data on the activities associated with restoring
state pensions to the UK level when a person returns to, or visits, the UK, hence the
information you requested is not held.

Why do you not know the cost of your own work activity ? Would the cost of implementing the restoration of their rightful pension during visits equal the cost of fully uprating the frozen pensioners ? Probably not but it is not done at no cost is it ? You should have an answer which would include the staffing cost, materials used and maintenance of the workplace required to carry out this work otherwise this is a whitewash if you have no idea of the cost of your own operation. This was a question that anyone would deem reasonable to ask.
>>>>>>>>>
On point 4 – points 1 – 3 of your request reflect the arguments raised in the March 2011 report
by Oxford Economics “Up-rating frozen-rate pensions” - the reply reproduces the Minister for
Pension’s response in the House of Commons to that report in September 2012.

So it would seem that the Minister has no idea whether paying the uprating would be beneficial to the UK or not by the savings made by their not being resident in the UK.
From the Questions and answers we can conclude that:
1. you have not asked for any cost of NHS to support your case.
2. you have no idea how much are the costs of benefits claimed per pensioner in the UK.
3. you have no idea how much your department spends in respect of the frozen pensioner administration.
4. Therefore with not knowing any of the previous answers you choose to discredit the Oxford Economics report and see fit to continue this unjust discrimination without any justification.
>>>>>>>>>
Would this be acceptable to you if our positions were reversed ?
I think not and this problem deserves a deeper investigation and a proper conclusion to be worthy of a department that is dealing with the ultimate health and welfare of the UK pensioners affected by what can only be seen as discrimination by withholding a paid-for indexation of their pension

This matter must be taken more seriously by all concerned.

Yours sincerely,

George Morley

George Morley left an annotation ()

Following my previous unanswered questions which revealed :
1. you have not asked for any cost of NHS to support your case.
2. you have no idea how much are the costs of benefits claimed per
pensioner in the UK.
3. you have no idea how much your department spends in respect of
the frozen pensioner administration..
Now I find that when Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley, Conservative) posed a question,
ref [ Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 5 December 2013, c768W ]
"To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens living abroad who are affected by their state pensions not being uprated in line with inflation."
The answer from Steve Webb was :"No information is available on the nationality or citizenship of state pension recipients; however, there are around 558,000 recipients of the UK state pension living overseas in a country which does not currently receive an annual uprated pension".
The country is not mentioned in the question and it is the pensioners that are frozen and not the country of residence.
Not only does this not answer the question but reveals that the DWP's records are inadequate or badly kept as this should be essential information surely which begs the question : How do they know which pensioners to uprate or freeze when a country joins or leaves the EU for example if they have no idea where pensioners live ? The discrimination is against the pensioner and not the country.

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your Ref: VTR IR 834 & 861

My FOI request originted on 11th Oct. 2013.

Following my previous unanswered questions which revealed :
1. you have not asked for any cost of NHS to support your case.
2. you have no idea how much are the costs of benefits claimed per
pensioner in the UK.
3. you have no idea how much your department spends in respect of
the frozen pensioner administration..
Now I find that when Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley, Conservative) posed a question,
ref [ Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 5 December 2013, c768W ]
"To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens living abroad who are affected by their state pensions not being uprated in line with inflation."
The answer from Steve Webb was :"No information is available on the nationality or citizenship of state pension recipients; however, there are around 558,000 recipients of the UK state pension living overseas in a country which does not currently receive an annual uprated pension".
The country is not mentioned in the question and it is the pensioners that are frozen and not the country of residence.
Not only does this not answer the question but reveals that the DWP's records are inadequate or badly kept as this should be essential information surely which begs the question : How do they know which pensioners to uprate or freeze when a country joins or leaves the EU for example if they have no idea where pensioners live ? The discrimination is against the pensioner and not the country.

>>

I would add that I have had a letter from you dated 9 December 2013 which gave a reference : TO/13/28620 signed by someone whose signature is illegible and therefore rather pointless as no name is given but from the Ministerial Correspondence Team.

The content is the typical response that your department are sending out and really just tells us everything we already know with most of it totally irrelevant to the issue now as it is old history and being used as a valid excuse for doing nothing about the frozen pensions.

I will copy the last paragraph here :
"The National Insurance Fund operates within the wider fiscal framework and it gives the government the flexibility to determine its spending priorities in light of the overall economic conditions prevailing in the UK. If this were not the case, the Chancellor would need to raise the equivalent through other means such as raising taxes from primarily UK residents, including, possibly , pensioners."

In comment, I have to say that the N I fund is in surplus which you cannot deny and yes I agree that the Debt Management Office
use this money for other purposes. But, as it was initially provided for the provision of the state pension demands then ALL pension demands on the fund should be met before any borrowing takes place and to not do so is a misuse of the fund and therefore not a valid reason to deny any qualified frozen pensioner their full indexation in the same way as those pensioners that receive it.
You also seem to suggest that any cost would be thrust upon the UK residents to which I would add that having worked in the UK and paid my taxes for more than the 44 yrs required, any further money required by government during that time was thrust upon me and my fellow workers who over that time paid off the war loans that were not finally paid off until 2006, therefore I cannot accept your frail reasoning. Remember also, that all UK citizens including pensioners are assessible for tax whever they choose to live. Whether there is a tax treaty with the country of residence of the individual or not is irrelevant as this is an agreement by the government. However no agreement is required for paying the fully indexed pension is it as the current freezing is by UK government regulation as clause 20 will also be for the future discriminated pensioners if the new Pensions Bill is passed and given Royal assent ? Discrimination like this is certainly not acceptable to Her Majesty I'm sure and to embarrass her by the continuation of this life sentence to poverty for UK citizens for whom you, the DWP staff, are responsible.
This falls on all persons responsible for carrying out and thereby condoning this discriminative, irrational and illogical policy and ultimately your individual conscience and integrity is also in question.
Nobody should be placed in this position at work in a democratic society.
The words used - discriminative, irrational and illogical - are those of the current Pensions Minister Steve Webb, not mine.

Yours sincerely,
George Morley.

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request. Please find enclosed our acknowledgment of its receipt.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Please find enclosed our reply.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

On point 1, the Department does not hold information or data in relation to the National Health
Service and its costs. This is and remains a matter for the Department of Health. As outlined
earlier the Freedom of Information Act does not require the Department for Work and Pensions
to create or obtain information it does not hold.
>>
That may be the case but it would be in the best interest of the department to obtain this information from the NHS to support their own argument and to not do so shows a lack of commitment to address what is a very serious case of discrimination of a small number of British citizens and the information would enable the department to respond with some concrete evidence instead of just passing it off as not our business. Therefore if I ask the question and return with the answer will the department honour this new evidence and finally justify the denial of the indexing of my pension ?
=========================
On point 2, information is not available on potential UK and EU benefit entitlement for UK State
Pension recipients living overseas, or the hypothetical expenditure on such benefits if those
State Pension recipients had remained in or returned to the UK.
>>
You have not even attempted to answer this I feel, which must be part of your overall administration costs regarding those that do benefit and you seemingly are not able to make any reasonable calculation given that you must know much the overall cost of the whole operation is and how much covering the various areas of business that you do costs.
==========================
On point 3, as stated previously no information is available concerning the costs for
maintaining a department to uprate frozen UK State Pension for those pensioners who return
to the UK. The Department does not collect statistical data on the activities associated with
restoring state pensions to the UK level when a person returns to, or visits, the UK. Therefore
the information you have requested is not available.
>>
This is your department and to deny having any knowledge of the costing of the various elements of it is just not acceptable surely which suggests that you do not wish the public to know how much saving you could make by not having to deal with the discriminative frozen pension policy which would be available in any business outside like a pension provider knowing all aspects of his organisation in order to promote the profitable and reduce the unprofitable line. Thereby being able to make a
good decision over future policy.
===========================
On point 4, you have been provided with the fullest information we have concerning the Oxford
Economics Report, including the ministerial response to the document read out in the House of
Commons. There is nothing further to add to the information you have already been given.
>>
From the ministers response it would appear that the Oxford Economics report was totally ignored and considered worthless and probably not even read as it would compromise the inclusion of clause 20.
===========================
You finally say that: Under the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations you have a right to request any recorded information held by a public authority, such as a government department, local council or state school. Environmental information requests can also be made to certain non-public bodies carrying out a public function.
>>
To which I feel I must say the the DWP also has that right and can ask the NHS for the information required in point 1 above.
I realise that you must have so many questions and queries and to deal with them quickly, short cuts are no doubt employed but we are dealing with a serious financial situation affecting many elderly people destined for poverty which cannot be right in a civilised and democratic country.

I would add that my response is not intended to be abusive but realistic in content.
Yours sincerely,

George Morley

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Please find enclosed our acknowledgment of its receipt.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

There is a deadline of 17th February which has some time to go so I will wait for the response.
Thankyou,

Yours sincerely,

George Morley

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request

Yours sincerely

DWP Strategy FoI team

show quoted sections

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Responsible pension financing.'.

The reason for the request in the first place was because of the DWP's persistant discrimination against a minority of pensioners without any justification.
a) The need for an agreement to "allow" or permit the indexing has been accepted by you as being unnecessary.
b) In any case these pensioners have paid for the indexing otherwise nobody would get it
c) Justification for this policy has never been forthcoming.
d) You have to agree that ALL people who paid into the mandatory National Insurance Fund should be treated equally and without preference.
e) The choice of country of residence is not mandatory to get the fully indexed pension one has paid for is it ?
f) Therefore to deny a person their rightful indexing is discrimination if residence in one country is treated differently to residence in another.
g) All pensioners were paying in under the same terms and conditions and should be treated with the same respect in retirement.
h) Why would a pensioner in a country that joins the EU find his pension is now indexed ? Answer - to do otherwise is discrimination within the EU law and therefore is proven as they pay pension parity worldwide.
i) The government have no grounds to continue this policy unless you can 'prove' otherwise that this is not discrimination.
Your 'honest' answer is awaited unless you condone discrimination under any circumstances.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

George Morley

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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References

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request. Please find enclosed our reply, my apologies for the delay.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Please find enclosed our acknowledgment of its receipt.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
Please refer this to the Prime Ministers Office to ask why the information requested has not been obtained to support the position of the DWP with respect to the frozen pension issue.
Delaying the inevitable pension parity will be their nightmare and legacy.

Yours sincerely,

George Morley

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request. Please find enclosed our reply.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

Thankyou for your reply but there are points that you have yet to answer.

Reference my previous questions :
As the Department are illegally withholding the indexing to over 500,000 state pensioners, please quote the chapter and verse which denies the indexation and which legislation justifies this and quote the legal position.

Yours sincerely,

George Morley

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

I am still waiting for an answer !

Yours sincerely,

George Morley

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear George Morley,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Please find enclosed our acknowledgment of its receipt.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

show quoted sections

George Morley left an annotation ()

I think that in not getting a satisfactory answer from the DWP just proves they have no justification for this continued discrimination of the 4% who suffer this injustice.

I think this needs to be shouted from the roof tops. This government, who proclaim that "fairness is at the centre of everything we do" is in fact doing the exact opposite. Also it is utterly disgraceful that they have no idea how much all this blatant discrimination costs to implement, but then taxpayers money is a never ending fountain of cash to plunder and waste.

George Morley left an annotation ()

My request was :
As the Department are illegally withholding the indexing to over 500,000 state
pensioners, please quote the chapter and verse which denies the indexation and which legislation justifies this and quote the legal position.
No attempt has been made to answer this and from this I can only assume that the freezing is illegal and you have no justification for this discriminative policy.
I am not asking for an opinion but a factual statement which upholds the current deprivation taking into account all factors including official agreements worldwide plus the fairness and equality that is part of the code of conduct of the members of parliament elected to serve the citizens of the United Kingdom without fear or favour.
Honesty would be appreciated.

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

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Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request

Yours sincerely

DWP Strategy FoI team

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Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

I really did not require a history lesson as the previous decisions about the frozen pension policy is well known AND it was not a unanimous decision by the ECHR which shows the dubious position in respect of the Human Rights and especially discrimination.
More recently there has been a statement which needs to be answered. PLEASE SEE :
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...
>>>
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions on (a) collective action to promote human rights and (b) accountability for violations of the Commonwealth Charter were held at the Commonwealth Law Ministers' Meeting in May 2014. [198835]

Mr Swire: The Commonwealth Law Ministers discussed a wide range of issues relating to human rights, rule of law and preventing violence against women, as well as the Commonwealth's activities in these areas, during their meeting in May 2014. We welcomed their acknowledgement that a number of challenges and gaps remain in the Commonwealth, particularly in members' ratification of the nine core international human rights treaties, their engagement with the United Nations Universal Periodical Review (UPR) mechanism and in their establishment of national human rights institutions compliant with the Paris Principles.

The UK underlined the need for the Commonwealth and its members to adhere to the values and principles in the Commonwealth Charter at all times and secured improved wording in the final communiqué—not least agreement that the fundamental values of the Commonwealth Charter must be taken into account in the context of work to tackle violence against women and a commitment to review implementation of the Latimer House Principles.

We continue to encourage the Commonwealth Secretariat and member states to uphold the commitments in the Commonwealth Charter. We also continue to urge the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, as the custodian of Commonwealth values, to take action where infringements of the charter occur.
>>>

In the light of this statement,I request that the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs be approached to say why the Commonwealth Charter is being blatantly ignored with respect to the obvious discrimination being shown by the denial of the indexing to many ex-pat pensioners living in the Commonwealth countries as opposed to those ex-pats living in the EU and the USA plus other countries.
If honesty prevailed and her Majesty were asked her personal opinion instead of being effectively gagged then she would never have given the Royal Assent to the Pensions Bill with clause 20 included.

He may like to be reminded as no doubt you also, that he made a statement previously (taken from Hansard)
during one particular exchange, while responding to the Queen's Speech of 2000, Hague attacked the Prime Minister's record:
"In more than 20 years in politics, he has betrayed every cause he believed in, contradicted every statement he has made, broken every promise he has given and breached every agreement that he has entered into... There is a lifetime of U-turns, errors and sell-outs. All those hon. Members who sit behind the Prime Minister and wonder whether they stand for anything any longer, or whether they defend any point of principle, know who has led them to that sorry state".

So, he should review his principles and report back to you and me.

Yours sincerely,

George Morley.

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear George Morley,

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DWP Central FoI Team

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request

Yours sincerely

DWP Strategy FoI team

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