How many pensioners he estimates are entitled to pension credit and are not receiving it.

I start by paying tribute to my hon. Friend, who I understand may well be retiring from the House sometime within the next 12 months. I pay tribute to his work for the people of Burnley.

Our own internal statistics suggest that there are now 2.7 million households in Great Britain, including about 5,000 households in Burnley, receiving pension credit. Estimates based on the family resources survey suggest that there are 3.8 million households entitled to pension credit in Great Britain in 2004–05. These figures come from different sources and are calculated differently, and comparisons are difficult. We plan to publish definitive national statistics on take-up and entitlement for the first six months of pension credit by the end of 2005.

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer and also for his kind comments. I know that there is more certainty with the latter part of his answer than with the first part.

I recognise that the Government have worked very hard to ensure that all older people receive all the benefits to which they are entitled. However, is there not an additional thing that they could do? Many people do not get the help that they need from social services. Has my hon. Friend any thoughts, or is there any intention within the Department, of ensuring that older people not only receive the benefits to which they are entitled, but that they are pointed in the right direction so that there are links to ensure that they get the help to which they are entitled from social services?

We recognise that often the local range of services and benefits can appear complex for the older person or their carer. That is why through the link-age programme we are developing the notion of joint teams. In 31 areas, social services and our local Pension Service are working together. Those teams will be developed throughout the country within the next year or so. In some areas other agencies, such as the primary care trust or even voluntary organisations such as Age Concern, are becoming part of the joint team. That must be the future in our care for older people.

How many people receive pension credit in future will, of course, depend on how much they save now. Last week the Leader of the House said that the Government would introduce "major legislation" on pensions "sooner rather than later". He went further. Apparently, it will be "really strong, radical, fizzy" and it is "going to surprise people". What did he mean by that?

There are one or two things to get out of the way in the next few weeks before we anticipate what is in the Queen's Speech. [Interruption.] I am certainly not in the business of anticipating the Queen's Speech—but what I am in the business of anticipating is the fact that on Wednesday the Pension Protection Fund opens its doors for business. There will also be a new pensions regulator, with teeth, to protect the pension promise. That is a positive achievement by the Labour Government, and we are proud of it.

But the Leader of the House said:

"The first session is going to have about 40 bills in it which are pretty well all ready", and he referred to pensions as a subject for one of those Bills. If the Government are re-elected, they plan to introduce a pensions Bill, and I would like to know what will be in it. Call me old-fashioned, but I thought that the idea was to announce one's policies before the election so that one could fight the election on them, not to keep them a secret and unveil a Bill after the election. Will the Minister at least rule out compelling people to save and then cutting the tax relief that they receive for their pension contributions?

I do not know where all that comes from, but I do know that the Opposition declined to give a Second Reading to the Pensions Bill, which set up the Pension Protection Fund and gave new protection and security to more than 10 million scheme members. We are proud of that, but I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman—not that I can ask him, on this occasion—is proud of the fact that he tried to stop it.

I am delighted to be called to ask a supplementary question to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike), who succeeded my father in Burnley. My hon. Friend is loved and respected in Burnley, and I have never said that before here, so I am grateful, Mr. Speaker, for this opportunity to do so.

Women are the major beneficiaries of the pension credit, which has lifted many of them out of poverty. How will it be developed in future, and is there a belief that equality should be a principal factor in determining the way in which women access the basic state pension?

The issue of gender equality is crucial to our thinking and our strategy, as the Secretary of State has made clear. The pension credit is particularly important for older women. Two out of three pension credit recipients are women, often those without an occupational pension or a state pension. We think that 90 per cent. of single women in the poorest category are taking up the credit, but we want to increase take-up, which is one way in which we can deliver greater equality to women who have served their families and the country so well.

In the west of England, water bills have risen by more than 10 per cent., and gas and electricity bills have undergone double-digit rises. If those bills are added to council tax rises, this week's basic state pension increase has already been completely wiped out. The best that the Government can offer is a £200 one-off payment, while stocks last, at Christmas. Those bills will carry on, but that one-off payment will not. Is it not time we had a decent pension?

As this Parliament wears to an end, I have given up trying to please the hon. Gentleman, because he is cynical about everything that we announce, including winter fuel payments—now at £300 for the over-80s—free television licences for the over-75s, and £200 to help with council tax. We are not cynical about tackling poverty. Absolute poverty among older people has fallen by two thirds. We are proud of that record, and we will continue our endeavours to tackle pensioner poverty in future.