Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women

Debate between Shailesh Vara and Peter Dowd

Wednesday 24th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

The hon. Gentleman in part repeated a question that was asked earlier, and I refer him to my previous answer. I will turn to other issues later, given the opportunity to make progress with my speech.

We need a pensions system that recognises the changes that have been made, in the same way that we have responded to the need to support older workers in the labour market. We have abolished the default retirement age and extended the right to request flexible working to all employees, and we are working with businesses to encourage the employment and retention of older workers.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

On transitional funding, is it about time that the Government started tackling rich corporate tax dodgers and stopped dodging poor women pensioners?

[Mr Vara]

I am sure the hon. Gentleman is delighted that he was able to score his cheap political point.

Let me turn to our wider reforms. We inherited one of the most complex state pension systems in the world, and too many people did not understand what they could expect upon retiring. From April this year, we are introducing a simpler state pension that will give people a clear picture of what the state will provide so that they can build their own savings. We have a triple lock, so that pensioners will see their basic state pension go up by at least 2.5% every year, as it has since 2011. That means that from this April, pensioners will receive a basic state pension that is more than £1,100 higher a year than at the start of the last Parliament. It is important for people to look at matters in a broader context, rather than in the single-issue context that many colleagues seem to be speaking about.

Welfare Reform and Work Bill (Tenth sitting)

Debate between Shailesh Vara and Peter Dowd

Thursday 15th October 2015 Public Bill Committees

[Mr Vara]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her contribution, but I suggest she takes up the issue with the Office for National Statistics, rather than with me, as it is a highly regarded independent body. I am minded to say that the vast majority of the public will agree with the ONS, rather than with her.

[Peter Dowd]

May I ask for clarity? The whole point about the public sector is that it reinvests the money into new houses, new stock, decent homes and so on. The corporate group of the public sector tends to do that—it is part of its raison d’être—but the private sector is not doing it. Will the Minister give his view on that?

[Mr Vara]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that contribution. I am mindful of the fact that he was a council leader before entering Parliament, and he brings added value to the Committee, and indeed the House, as a result. I will address the issue he has referred to and the argument that there will be a reduction in housing, so if he will please bear with me for a while longer, I will tell him why I believe that these measures will not have the impact that Opposition Members seem to think they will.

The Government have taken the decision to reduce rent increases within the social sector, which is good news for tenants. Just as I did on Tuesday, I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), who acknowledged on Second Reading that the 1% reduction was a good thing and that he supported it. He is a distinguished Member of Parliament, and I am sorry that the Opposition Front Bench team has been deprived of the benefits he brought to it. He is a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury and a former Department for Work and Pensions Minister, and commands respect on both sides of the House. Given his ministerial experience, he knows the real position, and he said that he felt the 1% reduction was necessary. To be fair to him, he said he had concerns about the housing stock; I will address those concerns shortly, as I said to the hon. Member for Bootle. However, he recognised that the 1% reduction is necessary.

Rents paid by social housing tenants in England will reduce by 1% a year for four years from 2016. That means that by 2020 they will be paying roughly £12 per week less than they would have had to pay under the current policy of increases at a rate of the consumer prices index plus 1%. The policy will also help taxpayers, who are subsidising rents through the rising housing benefit bill. It is interesting that we have heard a lot of comments regarding housing associations, but no one seems to be acknowledging the financial benefit of £12 a week to the people living in those houses.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Vara]

May I initially address the hon. Gentleman’s points, although I will of course write to him? As a caveat, I must say that we have lots of meetings with lots of organisations, and many have asked whether we could look at something differently. Policy is not reached purely on the basis of asking, “Do you agree with this, or don’t you?”. Instead, we make it clear that we propose to do something and that we have a Government mandate to do so, and we ask how we can do that so that we best accommodate others’ views. Matters are not clearcut, but I will certainly write to the hon. Gentleman.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the evidence review that the Government have commissioned on the specified accommodation and supported housing sectors to understand better the scale, shape and cost of the sector in England, Scotland and Wales. We hope that the findings will be available sometime next year.

I welcome the contributions to the debate, all of which have been heartfelt. I commend the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth for the measured way in which she put forward her arguments, and I have taken her points on board. I am very grateful that the amendment was selected, because it gives me the opportunity to set out what is in the Bill, and to explain why we cannot support the amendment. However, I hope that the hon. Lady will take comfort from my remarks.

We recognise that the rent reduction measures introduce a significant change to existing rent policy. We have listened to comments and concerns about the housing of vulnerable groups, and I can offer the hon. Lady a number of assurances that mean that her amendment is unnecessary. First, in the light of this new policy, we will look to align as far as possible exceptions under the new policy with those that apply under the existing rent policy for social housing. That means that we intend to except from the rent reduction requirement the types of housing that are excepted from the rent standard. Those include specialised supported accommodation, which provides support for the most vulnerable people and which is developed in partnership with councils or the health service. Also excepted will be residential care homes and nursing homes. Clause 20(2) gives the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government a power to set further exceptions should they be needed, to except that accommodation from rent reductions.

Clause 20(3) further clarifies the cases and circumstances that regulations may provide for, which include groups of tenants and types of accommodation.

[Peter Dowd]

I acknowledge what the Minister is saying, but I would ask him to cast the net more widely. For example, does he recognise that, under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983, if accommodation cannot be continued, provision becomes much more expensive because of a statutory requirement, notwithstanding the forthcoming amendments? That provision would be much more expensive if organisations could no longer provide it. The Government are taking money from Peter to pay Paul, but Paul is much more expensive.