Superannuation Bill Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office
Tuesday 7th September 2010

(14 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Maude of Horsham Portrait Mr Maude
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I am besieged by suitors, but I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams).

Mark Williams Portrait Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)
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I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I respect the sincerity with which he puts his case, and I also accept that the rightful place for the detailed discussions will be the negotiations with the unions. However, I think what the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Mr McCann) is looking for—and I am, too—is a little more detail on, and justification for, those words that the Minister uttered about protecting lower-paid workers. The anxiety out there is real, and the Minister needs to address that a bit more, if he can.

Lord Maude of Horsham Portrait Mr Maude
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I am reluctant to start conducting those negotiations in public. It would be regarded by the unions, which I think are engaged in good faith in these discussions—certainly, all the indications are that they are engaged in good faith in these private discussions in order to achieve an agreed outcome—as bad faith were we to start to explore them here. All I would say at this stage is that we completely and genuinely understand the need for additional protection for lower-paid workers, of whom there are many in the civil service, and we will seek to achieve that.