Clause 1
Pensions Bill
11:00 am
David Laws (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Work & Pensions; Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. When we bring forward major proposals, we need to have placed them in some sort of financial context. However, even if I had tabled a parliamentary question on the matter on the same day that I tabled the amendment, I fear that we would not have so far received an answer. As the hon. Gentleman knows, questions remain unanswered from the Department for Work and Pensions that go back a couple of months. Although it is usually good at answering parliamentary questions, I am not convinced that I would have had an answer by now.
Rather than impose a further burden on the Minister and his traffic-light system, I shall simply allow him to tell us the details today. I think that the hon. Member for Eastbourne will confirm to me that, in spite of the excellent and thorough job done by the Select Committee on the whole pensions issue, the useful evidence that it took and its good sittings, the costing of different solutions did not come up in the evidence-taking proceedings so it did not give us any guidance on the issues. I shall give way to the Minister, who I think will be helpful.