I can’t say what happens with different softwares that offer lists or bulleting, such as found in MS Word. If a font does not have tabulating numbers as part of the character set, then they can’t be used. Whatever is there is used.
Text fonts usually have tabulating numbers and display fonts frequently don’t. That is up to the person who designed the font. No particular rule applies.
Tabulating numbers are achieved by the designer with LSB + glyph width + RSB. Merely having equal sidebearings does not make them tabulating. Don’t kern numbers to anything, either, except perhaps in a font that is strictly a display design.