I am not sure whether the House will be thrilled to know that I have a slightly fuller note on this second group of new clauses and amendments. They are clearly very important, because they relate to the 2014 Budget freedoms that have been so widely welcomed in the House—and, particularly, outside it.
In the 2014 Budget statement, the Government announced that individuals with defined contribution pensions would be able to access their entire pensions flexibly from April 2015 if they wished to do so. This is the most radical reform of how people access their pensions for almost a century, and it returns choice to individuals by trusting them with their own finances. The Government believe that people should be free to make their own choices about how to use their savings, and our reform will give the 320,000 individuals who retire with defined contribution pension wealth every year choice as to how to access those savings.
We have committed ourselves to supporting the pension flexibilities through free, impartial guidance to help people to make informed and confident decisions about how to use their defined contribution pension savings in retirement. The new clauses and amendments cover a number of topics relating to the new flexibilities, and we notified members of the Public Bill Committee that they would be forthcoming. They include new clauses that provide safeguards for individuals who want to transfer to pension schemes to which the flexibilities apply; restrictions on transfers from public service pension schemes; a number of changes to pensions legislation to ensure that the flexibilities work as they are intended to; and further amendments relating to guidance to ensure that the arrangements run smoothly.