Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 136A: 136A: After Clause 114, insert the following new Clause— ““Disclosure of information relating to state pension credit recipients (1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision authorising the Secretary of State, or a person providing services to the Secretary of State, to supply relevant persons with social security information about persons in receipt of state pension credit. (2) In this section ““relevant person”” means— (a) a person who holds a licence under section 6(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29) or section 7A(1) of the Gas Act 1986 (c. 44) (supply of electricity or gas to premises), or (b) a person providing services to the Secretary of State or to a person within paragraph (a). (3) Regulations under this section must specify the purposes for which information may be supplied by virtue of subsection (1), which must be purposes in connection with enabling the provision of assistance to persons in receipt of state pension credit. (4) Regulations under this section may authorise the supply of information by a relevant person to the Secretary of State or another relevant person— (a) for the purpose of determining what information is to be supplied by virtue of subsection (1), or (b) to enable information supplied to a relevant person by virtue of subsection (1) to be used by that or another relevant person for purposes within subsection (3). (5) Regulations under this section may— (a) make provision as to the use or disclosure of information supplied under the regulations (including provision creating criminal offences); (b) provide for the recovery by the Secretary of State of costs incurred in connection with the supply or use of information under the regulations. (6) In this section— ““social security information”” means information held by or on behalf of the Secretary of State and obtained as a result of, or for the purpose of, the exercise of the Secretary of State’s functions in relation to social security; ““state pension credit”” has the meaning given by section 1(1) of the State Pension Credit Act 2002 (c. 16).”” The noble Lord said: I shall speak also to Amendment No. 141E. Amendment No. 136A would allow the Secretary of State to make regulations to share data on pension credit recipients with energy suppliers. It also allows energy suppliers to share customer data in order to identify people to whom they can provide assistance with the cost of their fuel bills. These powers would come into force on Royal Assent so that the required regulations can be introduced soon after. These regulations will be subject to full parliamentary scrutiny. Energy supply companies have, for some time, been asking for the Government to provide them with benefits data to enable them to target their social offerings on the people who most need them. Recently, Sam Laidlaw, the chief executive of Centrica, said in an Energy Select Committee debate on 24 June: "““What we have been keen to do with DWP is match our computer systems with their computer systems, to ensure that we really have good targeting””." The Government have been keen to respond to that call. We recognise that this is an important new step in the use of government information. The amendment would legitimise for the first time the supply of DWP information to multiple private commercial bodies. The Government recognise that this naturally gives rise to concern and I can assure noble Lords that we have not acted hastily. We have involved all the major stakeholders and have their support. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has strongly advocated the sharing of government data with energy suppliers. We have also gained support for a beneficial data share from organisations representing older people such as Help the Aged, Age Concern and the CAB, and from those representing energy consumers such as energywatch, National Energy Action and uSwitch. They recognise that the sharing of government data is not to be taken lightly but, on balance, welcome this as an important development in getting to people direct help with their fuel bills. In addition to the legal safeguards already available through the Data Protection Act 1998, the amendment allows the Secretary of State to provide in regulations for a new criminal offence to penalise anyone who unlawfully discloses these data. We have also involved the Information Commissioner in our proposals and we will continue to work closely with his office on the detail to ensure that all practices are fully compliant with the highest standards of data handling, including their security. We will be working closely with energy suppliers, BERR and Defra over the coming months to ensure the detail of the use of the data and to make sure these agreements are sound and enforceable. We say to energy suppliers that it is up to them to make this work and we have started discussions with them on the detail of their offer of assistance to pension credit recipients. It may reassure noble Lords that we will share our customers’ information only when we are satisfied that what is on offer from the energy suppliers is good enough to warrant data-sharing. The offer must be proportionate and customers must be offered a guaranteed benefit. We recognise there may be some concerns that once the suppliers have the information, they may use it for purposes other than awarding help with fuel costs, but each supplier will receive data only on their existing customers and these data may be used only for purposes in connection with enabling the provision of assistance to persons in receipt of state pension credit. Noble Lords will remember that last year the Government secured, by voluntary agreement, extra spending from energy suppliers to help vulnerable groups. This amendment builds on that and allows energy suppliers to identify and offer help with fuel bills to some of the poorest pensioners. I beg to move.