Oral Answers to Questions — Pensions and National Insurance – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 29 June 1964.
Mr William Small
, Glasgow Scotstoun
12:00,
29 June 1964
asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will refrain from deducting graduated contributions from those workers who will not benefit from such payments.
Hon. Richard Wood
, Bridlington
No, Sir.
Mr William Small
, Glasgow Scotstoun
Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise that this did not exist in 1951, and that it is immoral to extract contributions when there is no reward at the end? Will he tell that to these contributors to get them to support the Tory Party?
Hon. Richard Wood
, Bridlington
Those who pay graduated contributions will find that, when they finally draw their pensions, they will be drawing benefits worth many times the value of all the contributions which have been paid, even if they have been paying since 1926. I therefore think that National Insurance retirement pensions are a good bargain for all.
Mr George Lawson
, Motherwell
asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will now make transferability of pension rights a condition which must be observed by any pension scheme which is contracted out of the graduated part of the National Insurance Scheme.
Hon. Richard Wood
, Bridlington
Preservation of pension rights, which may be by means of a transfer, up to the maximum which could have been acquired in the State graduated scheme over the same period of employment is already required for every employed person who leaves contracted-out employment. It would not be feasible to require more than this degree of preservation as a condition for contracting out.
Mr George Lawson
, Motherwell
Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that there is ample evidence to show that what people want is that if there is a good private scheme by law it should be made transferable? Is it not the case that many people are being driven into the State graduated pension scheme, which they do not want to be in, knowing that they are paying very much more in contributions than they get in benefits? Will he introduce a Measure, which we shall support, making all private schemes transferable by law?
Hon. Richard Wood
, Bridlington
The contracted-out equivalent part of the private scheme is fully transferable, because a contracted-out man, when he leaves a job, must be able to take with him at least the equivalent of what he could have earned in the graduated pension scheme if he was earning at the maximum end of the scale. What the hon. Gentleman seems to be arguing is that we should go further and make transferable in National Insurance the whole pension even if it was very much higher than is provided by the graduated scheme. I think that that would have undesirable consequences.
Mr George Lawson
, Motherwell
The argument for this was set out when the Bill was going through the House. It was argued that private schemes should be regarded as payments of right and be fully transferable. Will the right hon. Gentleman make private schemes fully transferable from one scheme to another? That is what we are asking for.
Hon. Richard Wood
, Bridlington
If we made the private pension fully transferable, when a man left contracted-out employment it would have the effect of putting a premium on the poor schemes and penalising the better schemes. I do not think that that would be a wise action to take.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
