I thank noble Lords who have participated in the debate on these regulations. I will try to cover the points raised; where I fail to do so, I certainly undertake to write to noble Lords. I turn first to the points made by the noble Lord, Lord German, on an issue that is, perhaps, somewhat tangential to the regulations themselves, but certainly an issue that I know the noble Lord feels strongly about, and is impacted by these regulations. Let me return to the basic point here, and answer some of the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, as well.
The 10-year period signifies a close connection with the United Kingdom. I suppose there is nothing magic in a period: that is the period chosen, and, of course, we have to do this within the broad envelope of public spending. That is the basic rationale here. The question raised by the noble Lord, Lord German, concerned what happened to pensioners, or prospective pensioners in some cases, who were in countries such as South
Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which did not have a bilateral arrangement with the United Kingdom and were clearly not in the EEA. It is fair to say that they are not able to build up the qualifying period in the same way as people within the United Kingdom and people in the EEA or countries with bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom, such as the USA and Israel, which I mentioned. That has been the position through successive Governments. This is nothing new in these regulations and nothing new with this Government: this has been built up over a period of time. This is not seen as a key priority at the moment, in relation to pensions reform. I do not know the number of people who will be affected or the breakdown of how many are in each country. I will write to both noble Lords with whatever statistics we have on this to elucidate on that point. The fundamental point is, however, that 10 years has been picked as signifying a close connection with the UK. The EEA is in a particular position with regard to the co-ordination of pensions policy, so that is why that is affected.
In relation to the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord German, on guidance and communications, I will, again, seek to provide more information in writing. We have a communications campaign going on that will set out the broad principles: they are operational and will influence how the scheme operates. This was launched in November and aimed at broadening awareness and understanding of how the state pension is changing. This has been trialled: there are regional trials in the north-west and the north-east as a control to see how that is being perceived. There is also an online campaign with an offshoot of YouTube—PensionTube—for people to find out more information. We are seeking to communicate the changes being made to the system as things move forward.
Turning to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, I can confirm that those unlawfully at large are not, so far as I am aware, getting food and lodging at the expense of the public purse. A different point applies there. That is the point in prison. If they escaped from prison, it would be a bit perverse to reward them for escaping from prison or a psychiatric unit by saying that they could have their pension. Presumably if we were in that position, we would know where they were and would recapture them, but that is the point.
The noble Baroness made a particular point about the lump sum or annuity where somebody has deferred and then seeks to crystallise the amount in a lump sum or annuity. The reason for dispensing with the lump sum payment arrangements was that the new deferral arrangements would help to flatten the expenditure profile and offset some of the costs of the early years over a period which, if there was an ability to take a lump sum, would expose us on the public spending front, as I understand it. The new state pension scheme—this may be hard to believe—is simpler, and the deferral arrangements reflect the change. Offering a choice of deferral payments has made the current system rather complex, and people are unsure what is best for them. That is basically the reason. The lump sum is seen as a somewhat inflexible savings vehicle. That is the reason that we have gone for the annuity option.
I will have to write to the noble Baroness on this point. I think I have seen this somewhere, but I had better be careful what I say. I think it is possible after 2016 to buy additional qualifying periods pre-2016. I am not sure whether that affects qualification or only the amount of the pension that could be drawn down. I think that is probably a point on which we need to get back to the noble Baroness. I will write on that point. I think at the very least I have seen something about it affecting the amount of the pension that you can draw down. You can certainly contribute post-2016. Whether you can use that for a qualifying year, I am not sure, but I will write to the noble Baroness on that point. There is a communications campaign.
The noble Baroness raised a number of points. The mini-jobs point was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, in the Chamber. I am afraid I do not have the current state of play on that because it is somewhat wide of these regulations, but I will ensure that the noble Baroness gets a response on that point.
With regard to the fact that not everybody will be getting the full amount, the reason is that if those who have contracted out—and many have currently contracted out, although that ends in 2016—were to get the full amount, it would be double-counting. You would have the benefit of contracting out in the other pension and then you would get the full amount with the state pension. That would be unfair, so that is why. Nobody is worse off. There are provisions now to prevent that opting out counting. That is purely what this is. That number will decline over time because opting out is ending, but the figures that the noble Baroness cited are correct. Not all those getting the new pension will get the full amount because they are getting the benefit of the opt-out.