Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 16 March 2009.
Nigel Waterson
Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions
2:30,
16 March 2009
May I join the Minister down memory lane? Does she remember these words:
"The current system penalises pensioners who have prudently built up capital...by assuming pensioners get unrealistically high returns"?
She should recognise them, because they were in her Government's consultation paper in 2000. Will she now revisit that unfair rule, which is causing extra hardship to hundreds of thousands of pensioners who have been prudent enough to save during their working lives?
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.
