New Clause 26
Pensions Bill
2:00 pm
David Laws (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Work & Pensions; Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
I shall not draw you into it any further, Mr. Gale, but I shall enlighten the Committee by informing you that that is the way that in Sweden you would be informed about your future state pension and, I believe, private pension entitlement. Indeed, the Secretary of State confirmed to the Select Committee on Work and Pensions that he recently visited Sweden, and saw for himself the orange envelope that is distributed to pensioners there.
Our Government are looking into the matter as a result of its having been raised in the Select Committee’s report. In their response to that report, they stated:
“The Government anticipates that DWP will continue to provide information about different types of pension saving, and this will include personal accounts. The Government will be working with external stakeholders to develop an evidence-based information strategy for communicating information about pensions and personal accounts over the next year.”
That is welcome, because the more people know about how much pension they are likely to end up with in retirement, the more likely it is that they will be energised into making pension provision—perhaps. At the moment, there is a great deal of uncertainty about how much people are going to receive in retirement, and that adds to individuals’ complacency and lack of interest in their own provision.
On the other hand, we know how difficult big Government IT projects can be. My hon. Friend the Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) tells me that he believes that the Government were looking into the matter a few years ago, but discovered that such was the complexity of the pensions system, with all its means-tested benefits, that it would be extremely difficult and dangerous for the Government to make forecasts about people’s entitlements. He said—I am sure that the Minister will confirm whether it is true—that the Department had cold feet for a little while about such forecasts.
Mr. Waterson rose—