New Clause 2
Pensions Bill
4:45 pm
James Purnell (Minister of State (Pensions Reform), Department for Work and Pensions; Stalybridge and Hyde, Labour)
We think the proposals are sensible. In 2050, for example, half of those on pension credit will be those with extra needs because of disability or because they are caring. It is right that they should be provided with help. We do not think it would be a great boon to humanity if we took money off them as a way of reducing the number of people on means-tested benefits. I disagreed earlier that means-tested benefits are a tax, because they give more money to people. It is a good thing, not a bad thing, if someone whose wife suddenly becomes disabled receives extra money from the state. It is not a tax that takes money from people. That is the point that I have been trying to make since this morning. I shall come to the detailed points that the hon. Member for Eastbourne made about the PPI, and with that slightly prolate preamble, I shall turn to my speech.
We have set out our long-term projections for pension credit entitlement. I shall deal with the comments made by the hon. Member for Yeovil under three headings. The first is the exact intention of his amendment and why we believe the DWP’s approach is the right one, and I shall set out the forecast that we intend to provide. The second is the overall number of people on means-tested benefits. The third is incentives to save, and means-testing.
We supplied our long-term projections for pension credit entitlement in the RIA that accompanies the Bill, and we published modelling assumptions underlying our projections and had them validated by the IFS. We have also published a document on financial incentives to save.
In response to the points made by the hon. Member for Yeovil, I should like to say that there is a balance between trying to answer people’s questions in parliamentary debates and publishing detailed 40 or 60-page documents. If he wants me to reply to his questions by saying that he can read our “Financial incentives to save for retirement” document, I am happy to go do so. However, if he wants me to try to be helpful, I hope that he will treat those contributions in the context in which they are given—as part of a parliamentary debate.