Pensions Bill
9:30 am
Mr Malcolm Wicks (Minister for pensions, Department for Work and Pensions; Croydon North, Labour)
Good morning, Mr. Griffiths. It is good to see you again, as
winter turns to spring. Having started on that poetic note, I should say that the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) made some perfectly reasonable points. I will not rehearse again the circumstances that led us to this situation. I recognise that the order in which we are considering the Bill causes inconvenience to the Committee. I discussed that at our first sitting, and I apologise again to the Committee for that inconvenience.
On the substance of the concerns raised by the hon. Members for Eastbourne and for Northavon (Mr. Webb), we can keep a watching brief through the usual channels on whether one final sitting to wrap up new clauses will be sufficient—although logically there will always be one final sitting. That may not be sufficient; if not, we will be sensible and get together to talk about scheduling another sitting or so. I am happy to give that commitment. We are drafting the amendments as quickly as we can, and when we can share them with the Committee, we will. I am happy to give that reassurance to the hon. Member for Eastbourne.
We will consider the point raised by the hon. Member for Northavon, but I am not promising anything. We cannot consider it this afternoon, but once we have fully understood his concern and considered the details, we may accommodate his wishes on Thursday morning if we can. As I said, I cannot promise that we shall.
Question put and agreed to.