Oral Answers to Questions

Jesse Norman Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con)]

17. What recent progress his Department has made in reducing pensioner poverty.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

18. What recent progress his Department has made in reducing pensioner poverty.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Webb]

We will shortly publish a Green Paper with a range of options for state pension reform. As my hon. Friend says, one of those is a single flat-rate pension. One of its great advantages is that whereas many pensioners do not claim their means-tested benefits and therefore live in poverty, everyone claims their pension.

[Jesse Norman]

Like many Members, I welcome the single-tier pension. Will the Minister help us consider whether there could be an interesting interaction between that and a lifetime savings account, whereby people can take money in and out of an ISA-style savings account?

[Steve Webb]

Although policy on the tax treatment of savings is a matter for our friends in the Treasury, it is absolutely the case that the single tier provides a firm foundation for saving. Whereas under the current system, every pound one saves results in the clawback of means-tested benefits, a decent single pension will get one clear of means-testing to a far greater extent.