Margaret Hodge
Main Page: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)Department Debates - View all Margaret Hodge's debates with the HM Treasury
(13 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
Yes, I have, of course, seen the forecast for the savings ratio and we will want to address it. It has the savings ratio returning to its average of before the recession, and I think all parties in this House, and certainly the Government, will want to find ways of encouraging saving more effectively than was the case in the past, and to address that particular problem.
Margaret Hodge (Barking) (Lab)
What is the forecast for the gap between the richest and the poorest in Britain by 2015? Do the Chancellor and the OBR expect it to grow?
Mr Osborne
I am not aware that the OBR makes that forecast, but obviously everything we are doing—whether increasing free nursery care provision for some of the poorest two-year-olds or introducing the pupil premium—is designed to encourage social mobility and to give those on lower incomes a chance to increase their incomes over this Parliament.