Clause 1
Pensions Bill
11:45 am
James Purnell (Minister of State (Pensions Reform), Department for Work and Pensions; Stalybridge and Hyde, Labour)
Neither of us is a computer expert. We probably do have to defer to the people whose job it is to do this day in, day out. One of the things that is clear from making changes in Government is that we have a system which affects everybody in the country. Therefore, going through all of their NI records and making changes, even moderate ones, takes a significant amount of time.
I hope that the hon. Gentleman recognises that the Pension Service is one of the best organisations in Government in terms of its reputation for delivering transformational change. The National Audit Office produced a pretty complimentary report about the changes that the Pension Service had brought in. All I can do is repeat to him the official advice that I have been given.
On the subject of phasing, we are happy to come back with any further information if we can provide it. As I said in my introductory remarks, phasing the proposal in from 2010 is not terribly attractive. All that does is take benefits away from people who would be benefiting under these proposals. I wonder very much whether that is something that hon. Members would want to defend to their constituents who would be equally likely to come to their surgeries and say, “I understand I was about to get this benefit but because of your amendment being passed, I will have a lower pension for the rest of my retirement.” As I have said, phasing it in with a start-date of 2009 would do very little to address the concerns that have been put forward and would break that intuitive link between 2010 and the state pension age rising.
I hope this explains why we have chosen to introduce these measures in this way. We want to have a quick introduction in order to get the best balance between fairness and speed of improvements. I would therefore urge hon. Members not to press their amendments. If they do not, I will ask my colleagues to oppose them.