Clause 15
Pensions Bill
1:30 pm
James Purnell (Minister of State (Pensions Reform), Department for Work and Pensions; Stalybridge and Hyde, Labour)
Thank you, Mr. Gale. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon. I hope that I can answer the points raised by the hon. Members for South-West Bedfordshire and for Yeovil to their satisfaction. We have had accusations of mis-selling and of companies being suspended on the basis of these figures. The rather more prosaic truth is that the figures on which we base our assumptions change, so the resulting projections change. I will seek to explain that; if the hon. Gentleman remains unconvinced, I am sure that he will press his amendments ruthlessly.
The core of the debate is the abolition of contracting out for defined-contribution schemes, which we announced in the White Paper in May. That was one of the key recommendations of the Turner Commission. In principle the view is shared across both Opposition parties—[Interruption.] I am getting a nod of assent from the hon. Member for Yeovil. He said earlier that he did not think that tax relief made any difference to overall pension saving. I think that was the implication of what he was saying. We look forward to his seminar on that subject.