Clause 5
Pensions Bill
11:30 am
James Purnell (Minister of State (Pensions Reform), Department for Work and Pensions; Stalybridge and Hyde, Labour)
I have great respect for the hon. Gentleman and I would not want him to take what I said out of context. What I was saying was that single percentage figure differences in 2050 should be treated with the caution as set out in the paper that we published on this issue. If one is projecting 40 years away, that is well within the margin of error. What I said in my intervention was that the forecast that we have for the means-tested population in 2050 is 28 per cent. The figure that the hon. Gentleman got for introduction in 2008 was 26 per cent. That was the only point that I made.