Guy Opperman retains pensions minister role
Guy Opperman MP has retained his role as Pensions Minister in the new government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the DWP has confirmed.
His official title is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion.
The ministerial team at the Department for Work and Pension is largely unchanged following the 12 December election which saw a Conservative landslide victory.
So far ministerial changes in the new government have been modest but commentators predict a bigger reshuffle in the new year as the country prepares for Brexit.
At the DWP the secretary of state Therese Coffey has also been re-appointed.
Mr Opperman was appointed as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 June 2017 and is now one of the longest serving pensions ministers in a role seen as a revolving door by many pundits.
His ministerial responsibilities include: pensioner benefits including the new State Pension, Pension Credit, private and occupational pensions including the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), automatic enrolment, oversight of The Pensions Regulator, the Pension Protection Fund, Financial Assistance Scheme and the Pensions Ombudsman.
He is also responsible for the new Money and Pensions Service (MAPS), the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum and EU exit preparation relevant to pensions.
He served as a Government Whip for a year in 2016/17 and was first elected for Hexham in 2010, a seat he held at the election.
He was educated at Harrow School, read law at the University of Buckingham and also gained a first class diploma from the University of Lille.
He was called to the bar in 1989 and spent 20 years as a barrister. He was also director of his family’s engineering business until 2009 and is amateur jockey, earning his first win in 1985.