Pensions Bill

My Lords, my noble friend has drawn attention to a palpable deficiency and a notorious injustice in the present arrangements, whereby the contributory system fails to recognise the myriad contributions to our society made by women who are not in regular or well-paid employment. My noble friend has put forward an imaginative and practical solution to this pressing problem. Of course it is right that the Treasury looks sceptically and searchingly at all new proposals of public policy to see what the costs may be. The Government have had plenty of time to examine the cost implications of my noble friend’s proposals, so I hope that my noble friend the Minister will be able to tell the House what assessment the Treasury has made of the cost of this, netting off against the cost the savings on benefit contributions that might otherwise occur, to which the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, drew attention. I cannot believe that any costs that the Treasury has been able to accumulate against this proposal would bear any comparison with the costs of open-ended and indiscriminate tax relief at 40 per cent on private pension contributions, which the Government are more than happy to allow. The proposal is affordable; it is decent; and it is the proper thing for the Government to do.