Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateGregg McClymont
Main Page: Gregg McClymont (Labour - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)Department Debates - View all Gregg McClymont's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(11 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberMy hon. Friend is right. That was one of several measures that took money out of final salary pension schemes, which, given they were the highest-quality schemes available, was no way to show commitment to quality pension provision.
I would have thought that Conservatives had more respect for the office of Prime Minister, Mr Speaker.
Do the Government have plans to make the rising state pension age fairer for those who have worked in manual occupations their whole life and who will tend not to have the same life expectancy? How do the Government plan to make the state pension age fair across all occupations?
I am interested in that point—it is one that the hon. Gentleman’s late right hon. Friend, Malcolm Wicks, used to raise regularly—and we are always interested in looking at ideas on it. Our proposal is that the state pension age would be more automatically linked to the general improvement in longevity that has applied across the social scale. He is right that there remain significant differences, but a rising tide—as it were—is lifting all boats.