Pensions Bill

My Lords, before I speak directly to the subject of the amendment tabled in my name, I would like...

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for giving in his opening remarks a reply wider than the ...

I thank the Minister for taking the opportunity to address some of the issues we were concerned a...

I was drawing to a close. I have a final point on the negative procedure. In response to my sugge...

Like my noble friends, I am grateful to the Minister for engaging more generally with the issues ...

I am grateful to noble Lords for their observations. I shall first take the query from the noble ...

I shall desist from arguing that point, as we are going to have a meeting, but it is such a wrong...

I think my answer stands. It is gross, not net.

We are going to have another meeting, but the effect of what the Minister has just said worries m...

I do not think that I am in a position to say anything further, but we will pick this up later an...

It goes to my point about negative regulations. We just do not get the opportunity to address the...

I hear the point. Clearly we will be looking at it some more.

On the point made by the nobl...

Moved by

Lord Freud

48: Schedule 14, page 78, line 19, at end insert—

“( ) Wher...

Moved by

Lord Freud

51: Before Clause 25, insert the following new Clause—

“Par...

My Lords, Part 1 of the Bill is about future generations of pensioners who will benefit from the ...

My Lords, the Minister has been very helpful in his introduction, but how can the consultation th...

My Lords, following my noble friend Lady Hollis, I support the inquiry about the pricing structur...

Would my noble friend not agree that the Treasury is following the same philosophy as it is in tr...

Indeed, I agree with my noble friend. It is the converse of that. A cynic might say that this is ...

My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for his explanation of these provisions. I take this opportu...

It does not count. I can answer that straightaway because the discussions on the welfare cap have...

It is the pension cap that this Committee is discussing. I am grateful for that clarification, wh...

Can I ask a question following on from my noble friend about the interaction of pension credit, w...

I need to thank noble Lords, as usual, for a mine of interesting questions, and I shall try to de...

There is certainly a rule within all social security, along with the rule that capital may be tre...

I am, of course, always very grateful for warnings from the noble Baroness or other members of th...

I apologise to the Minister—he will have to finish in a few minutes. A Division has been called. ...

My Lords, I should start by quickly apologising to the noble Lord, Lord Browne, on my belt-and-br...

Perhaps we can clarify the point to get rid of it. In that case, does the reference to benefits p...

Yes. To the extent that if someone changes their mind about wanting to buy class 3A contributions...

Will the Minister clarify a couple of points? Is it the case that someone can avail themselves of...

I can confirm that they can do so.

Whatever the level of their current S2P arrangements—they might have paid in significantly or the...

Yes, I can confirm that, too.

I should point out that this debate has been de-grouped from subsequent Amendments 52 to 58.

My Lords, Clause 25 increases the pensionable age to 67. It is a key clause, but I wish to oppose...

My Lords, as this is the first discussion of Part 2 of the Bill, it may be worth setting out a co...

My Lords, the purpose of Clause 25 is to bring forward by just over eight years the point at whic...

Moved by

Baroness Hollis of Heigham

52: Clause 26, page 13, line 23, after “expectanc...

My Lords, in moving this amendment, I suspect I will also speak to some of the other amendments i...

My Lords, that was a real tour de force by my noble friend. She has laid out the problems of simp...

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 52, 55 and 58. I acknowledge that increasing the state pens...

I was not going to intervene, but there is not as much difference between the two sides of the Co...

My Lords, there are times when one feels rather redundant in these proceedings—and, after a range...

My Lords, in addition to a gender divide, we have heard that there is a class divide and a geogra...

My Lords, the purpose of Clause 26 is to ensure that every Government consider state pension age ...

It is Stoneham.

When I last talked to the noble Lord he was pretty indifferent about his pronunciation, but I apo...

The Minister is being a little unfair in this argument because at no stage did I suggest that we ...

I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for her advice, but we want to make sure that future Gov...

We are more stoical.

It is a very fair point that health is, importantly, attitudinal. It is not a matter of just taki...

Yes, but one of the problems is that people quote that without reading the 980 pages of evidence ...

My Lords, I can only go with the conclusion that I would like to leave on the record alongside my...

Despite being interrupted by a couple of votes, we have had an interesting, valuable and, I hope,...

Let me just make a point, before we take those figures absolutely on face value. When you have di...

Oh, dear me. Are we assuming that somebody who has a real choice about whether to stay in work is...

I was referring to the differential between the two benefit structures. I was not referring to en...

I think that I am right in saying that under 10%—probably about 7%—of those in that position do n...

My Lords, I am saying that when you have a higher benefits structure, it is not surprising if peo...

I think that the Minister and I have a very different understanding. My view is based on my exper...

I cannot understand the difference between what the noble Baroness has just been talking about an...

Indeed so—I made the image up on the spot, but I will, indeed, repeat it. What I was arguing ther...

Moved by

Baroness Drake

53: Clause 26, page 13, line 25, leave out “prepare and”

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 54. Amendments 53 and 54 are tabled in my name and that...

My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendments 55 and 57A in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Br...

My Lords, we have to adjourn the Committee for 10 minutes.

7.14 pm

My Lords, as I said, there has been a succession of changes to pension policy and legislation. On...

My Lords, I start by acknowledging the expertise and experience of the noble Baroness, Lady Drake...

Is that so very different from the Low Pay Commission, which is also a single issue?

The Low Pay Commission reports on a much more regular basis than the five years envisaged here. T...

I thank the Minister for his comments. I certainly was not trying to overleverage my experience o...