Spending Review 2020

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Thursday 3rd December 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I draw attention first to my entry in the register of interests. I simply want to focus on a single word in the spending review document. On page 20 the word “generous” appears, where the review states:

“Public service pensions are generous”.


Well, generosity has nothing to do with it. Pensions, like pay, are simply part of the terms and conditions of employment agreed between the employer and the worker. It is true that public service pensions are better than many found in the private sector, but the policy response should be to see improvements—levelling all up, one might say, at least to the levels suggested by the Pensions Commission and endorsed by my noble friend Lord Hutton in his review of public service pensions.

The choice of words is not a trivial matter, particularly at a time when public service pay is already under attack. I hope that the choice of the word does not betray any lack of commitment to the pensions deal that was reached with the many people who work so hard on behalf of the public services.