Clause 10 - Effect of variations under section 7(4)
State Pension Credit Bill [Lords]
5:00 pm
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
I am grateful to the Under-Secretary for that useful explanation. That is a sensible way in which to go about the process. By way of an obiter to
that discussion, if she and her Department are to know where they are with pension credits on an annual basis, it is at least a consideration whether the period should be shorter than five years, but I shall not reopen that debate.
I have one serious point to share with the Under-Secretary, and it is to register a concern about the ability of IT to manage. I mentioned in an intervention that my accountant knows more about any modest dividends that I receive than I do because he has the basic shareholding and can work out what they would be even if they are modified, or the shareholding is modified, because the shares are split. In exactly the same way, I am sure that it would be possible, while of course observing data protection priorities, for the Pension Service to be aware of accruing income that is retirement provision for an individual. It will be able to keep that information on a continuously updated basis.
All I say to the Under-Secretary, and I say this in all seriousness, is that the Department's record over the years—I do not exclude the Government of I which I was a part from this—on computer systems has not always been of the highest possible standard. There are concerns that the pension credit will come into effect in autumn 2003 on the old computer system. She may wish to comment now or she may wish to reflect on what I say, but there are still markers to be put down and concerns to be expressed about the robustness of the computer systems. If I may say so—I hope that this is not offensive—it is all a little like motherhood and apple pie, but neither of them might happen.