New Clause 22
Pensions Bill
1:30 pm
John Penrose (Weston-Super-Mare, Conservative)
I am pleased to hear it. I will not repeat the hon. Gentleman’s excellent tour d’horizon on the matter, but I will re-emphasise one of the points he made and add some others. It is important to remember that the commission proposed by the Select Committee would not be some kind of quango to which a difficult decision could be shuffled off so that it was kicked into the long grass by the Government. We proposed something along the lines of the Turner commission, which is a heavyweight, academic and seriously well-qualified body, to clarify and improve the quality of debate on pensions.
The hon. Member for Yeovil said, rightly, that too often this topic is politically controversial and the so-called debate ends up being a shuffling of people’s prejudices. The Turner commission managed to move away from that and turned the wider pensions debate into a structured, logical, evidence-based process. It was an essential part of the Government’s managing to fashion an admirable degree of political consensus on a very difficult issue which successive Governments have found impossible to solve.
Public sector pensions are no less controversial and complex than others. The hon. Member for Yeovil explained some of the differences between the schemes, and I am sure there are many that he did not mention. Constructive and careful laying of the groundwork would be an essential first step if an intelligent decision—perhaps even a consensus—were to be achieved. That is why the Select Committee suggested the new clause, and I commend it to the Committee. I hope that hon. Members on the Government Benches can bring themselves to support it and that Opposition Members will also vote for the new clause if the hon. Member for Yeovil decides to divide the Committee on it.
The Government have been admirable in establishing the wider pensions consensus—a process in which many people participated. The new clause gives them an opportunity to underpin and strengthen that consensus if they get the issue right. But if they duck it, or allow a debate on public sector pensions to be just a shuffling of people’s prejudices, there is a risk that the moral authority that has been created around the pensions issue will be eroded. The Government, as the employer of people who work in the public sector, need to be seen to be putting their own house in order.