On the go: Former pensions minister Stephen Timms has been elected as chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
He takes over from Frank Field, who was not re-elected as MP for Birkenhead in the UK general election.
Mr Timms was nominated for the role alongside Labour MPs Debbie Abrahams, Chris Bryant and Karen Buck.
MP for East Ham since 1994, Mr Timms was pensions minister in 2005-06 and again in 2008. He was the shadow minister for employment from 2010 until September 2015, and previously sat on the Exiting the EU Committee.
He has also held other governmental roles such as chief secretary to the Treasury and financial secretary to the Treasury.
Before joining parliament he worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, first for management consulting company Logica, and then for Ovum, a consultancy company.
Mr Timms previously said the committee’s “important work in monitoring progress with auto-enrolment and the pensions dashboard must continue”, and that he welcomed the cross-party consensus in favour of collective defined contribution pensions.
He was also vocal on combating scams, saying: “Too many of those taking advantage of pension freedoms have fallen prey to fraudsters. The committee should review the protections and support in place for savers.
He added: “It’s a huge privilege to be elected chair. The committee has a great deal on its plate in this parliament.”
This article originally appeared on ftadviser.com
