Pensions

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 4:07 pm on 11 July 2002.

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Photo of Lord Christopher Lord Christopher Labour 4:07, 11 July 2002

My Lords, before going on to make one or two remarks, perhaps I may ask my noble friend on the Front Bench to reconsider the response she made just now in relation to public service pensions. If I recall correctly, she said that there was nothing in the Pickering report that could affect current members of company pension schemes. I hope that my noble friend Lord Paul is not listening to this, but it seems that this report may give a number of employers many ideas. We may well see some acceleration of changes in those pension schemes currently in payment.

I turn now to the brief points that I wish to put to my noble friend. First, the Statement refers to striking a balance between "innovation, competition and simplicity". As every Chancellor of the Exchequer proves with every Budget, innovation and competition add to greater complexity. We must ensure that, so far as we are able, we move forward with simple and worthwhile schemes.

Perhaps I may presume to offer a little advice. I should imagine that all noble Lords who have spoken in our debate are concerned about the problems with regard to survivors' benefits and indexing. Were I to give any advice at all, it would be to say quickly that the Government should not be minded to accept those recommendations. The Government will receive a far more positive response in that regard, certainly from the trades unions and the TUC, if they know that those recommendations have been put out of the way.

Lastly, it is my opinion that pension provision will be one of the big issues of the next general election. There is a pensions crisis. Unusually, it is not related solely to the vast bulk of working people. I should declare an interest here, but those looking forward to an "equitable life" are finding that it will be less so. There is a real problem here. Certainly we are going to see long-term problems with regard to the concept of the stakeholder pension. To that end, would my noble friend on the Front Bench consider approaching the Trades Union Congress? Good examples can be cited from the past, in particular in Israel with Histradut; that is, to have a scheme that is effectively endorsed and run by the trade union movement as a whole, with a view to providing the kind of pension systems which are badly needed.