Pensions

My Lords, in her charming way my noble friend always invites me to agree with her. I pay great tribute to her for the work she has done in pensions. Some of the work which has emerged here is down to her assiduous duties over eight years. I fear that I cannot go all the way with her. I apologise that the exact figures are not clear from the bar charts. I shall put that right as soon as I can. I will send them to all noble Lords who have spoken on the Statement and put a copy in the Library. I hope that women are not discouraged from saving. One of the key aims is to reduce the complexity in pensions. As someone new to the pensions field, I have found what a complex area it is. We hope that the combination of the changes we are making—the flat-rate nature of the two contributory pensions, the auto-enrolment into personal accounts—will make it more straightforward and easier for people to understand. Within the White Paper we have announced our intention to consider simplification of the whole area of pension law; and to review the regulatory structure. I hope that that, too, will help to make the pension system clear to everyone. My noble friend remarked kindly that the White Paper proposals for women—the reduction to 30 years in terms of NI contribution requirements, the move to weekly crediting. the changes in relation to home responsibilities, protection, and the introduction of credits in relation to those who care for over 20 hours for severely disabled people—will ensure that women receive full state pension faster than they would have done under the universal residency pension that my noble friend seeks. As a matter of principle, the Government have decided that it is important to maintain the contributory principle. It fully accords with the rights and responsibilities agenda. Although my noble friend believes that her proposals in relation to pensions are clearer to the public—she described it as cleaning up the old system and bringing in the new—moving to a residency based system has complex issues of its own. With a very long term residency test, many people would be excluded. A short term residency test is open to abuse and fraud. There are many issues regarding complexity as well as the principle. The bridge is a bridge to a far better system. We have here a comprehensive package.