Clause 5
Pensions Bill
1:30 pm
John Penrose (Weston-Super-Mare, Conservative)
Although I am sure that helping the Conservative party would be a big factor in Government thinking, in order to give them greater incentive to look into the netting-off costs surely that set of data is potentially very valuable. If the data were not available because they are not systematically collected, the Government might collect them, if not on a universal basis then on a sample basis—perhaps for groups of people from some of the countries that my hon. Friend mentioned, representing the largest numbers of pensioners abroad. Then, if we did go into reciprocal arrangements for pensioners from such countries, the Government could workout what the savings would potentially be. If the£400 million cost was reduced, the Government would want to burnish their credentials for righting an injustice, just as anyone else would.