Pensions Reform

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention because it leads nicely to the comments that I wanted to make about the need to think carefully about the way in which young people receive financial education. Most young people get lessons from their mum or dad or perhaps listen to their peer group, but the advice and guidance available to young people is limited. We must consider the way in which we engage with young people in schools, colleges and universities, and the use of role models who can send a positive message to young people about the necessity to take financial responsibility early in life and plan one’s financial future. We have used role models in other ways, for example, to encourage young people, especially boys, to read books and eat healthier food. There is much cynicism about financial advice. Those whom we approach to provide good financial advice must be organisations and groups that we can trust. I was interested in the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz), about the use of citizens advice bureaux and the important role of trade unions and other voluntary groups. I am pleased that the White Paper emphasises the role of personal accounts through the NPSS, which could be important for young people. It is a simple proposition for people to get their heads around—the 8 per cent. is divided between the employee, the employer and the state. The personal account will start at 22 and go through to 65. It is interesting that 22 has been chosen as the starting age, and I wonder whether people who are younger than 22 and who want to opt into the account should be allowed to do so. The account will be introduced by 2012 and it will help young people to understand how saving for their future can help them. We know that most young people will have many jobs in their employment lifetimes, and they can take the account with them from job to job. I also understand that the self-employed or those who do not work at different points in their lives can also be included in the scheme. Hon. Members on both sides of the House have discussed the need to keep the management costs of the scheme at a minimum, which is correct. In the spirit of consensus in the Chamber this evening, will my hon. Friend the Minister for Pensions Reform look at the proposals that the right hon. and learned Member for Kensington and Chelsea (Sir Malcolm Rifkind) introduced in his private Member’s Bill, the Rights of Savers Bill, earlier this Session? That Bill would have introduced a savings scheme for people to use flexibly throughout their lives, so they could use that money, for example, to pay for a deposit on a house or to take a career break to access education. Such transactions would be limited and managed, and people would have to pay back the money in order to ensure that they do not reach the age of 65 and find that they have no money in their savings accounts. A flexible savings account is a good idea to allow for the choices that people make throughout their lives. That Bill was considered in Committee, and it contains some ideas that the Government could take forward. My right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) recently introduced a ten-minute Bill, which was about making sure that jobs are advertised with the full pension benefits clearly set out. That would allow people to make a positive decision based on the pension advantages of a particular job, and it would help young people to make sensible decisions about their financial futures. On the role of women, I am pleased that the outdated model that has been used since Beveridge, which involves women being dependent on their husbands for pension provision, has been addressed in the White Paper. That situation is a scandal, and many hon. Members have discussed it this evening. The number of women MPs that we now have in the House of Commons means that the issue has not been allowed to stay at the bottom of the agenda—it has moved right to the top—and it is right that we should sort it out. We know that with a reduction to just 30 years of contributions by 2025, 80 per cent. of women will be entitled to the basic state pension, which is right and proper. We also know that the home responsibilities protection will become a positive weekly credit, which will ensure that more women are included in the basic state pension within the proposals in the White Paper. I want to comment on women who have multiple low-paid jobs. We should examine how to include such jobs in the pension provision. My hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney) said that people with such jobs, who are mainly women, will still not be included, and I wonder whether my hon. Friend the Minister for Pensions Reform will comment on that point. I am pleased that the White Paper includes a proposal for a new credit for those who care for more than 20 hours a week for someone who is in receipt of severe disability benefits. In my view, any carer who is caring for someone for more than 20 hours a week should receive that new credit—it should not be dependent on the benefit received by the person for whom they are caring. I could not let this opportunity pass without mentioning the Hull carers centre, which I visited a few days ago. I was lobbied very hard to ensure that carers are kept in the public eye and that those people, who do such sterling work, get the credit that they deserve and the pension that they deserve. I was also asked to raise the issue of people who reach the age of 65 and receive their pension, but suddenly find themselves losing out on their carers allowance. Can that be considered in future? I should like to say a few words about raising the retirement age to 68 by 2050. I am very aware that in my constituency, Kingston upon Hull, a baby boy born today will have a life expectancy that is six years less than that of a baby boy born in Kingston upon Thames. There is a marked difference straight away. I hope that the Government will think carefully about how to beef up the work that is already going on with health inequalities and public health to address the problem of different life expectancies across the United Kingdom. We want the White Paper to be fair, but as it is it will not be fair on some of my constituents.