Oral Answers to Questions

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justin Tomlinson]

When that was announced, a cumulative distributional analysis was also published that included the impacts of welfare spending, health spending, employment support and infrastructure investment, but let us not forget that only 1% of those on ESA were coming off that benefit—that was the case under our Government, the coalition Government and the former Labour Government. We have all tried to make changes but fundamental reform is needed, and that is what the Government will deliver.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

3. What steps he has taken to increase the number of younger workers subscribing to pension schemes.

[Andrew Bingham (High Peak) (Con)]

16. What steps he has taken to increase the number of younger workers subscribing to pension schemes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Shailesh Vara)]

The Government continue to roll out the programme of automatic enrolment of all eligible workers into workplace pensions. Of those eligible workers, approximately half are under 40, and the largest increase in pension membership in 2015 was among those aged 22 to 29.

[Nigel Mills]

I welcome the progress the Minister has outlined. Now that we have announced the lifetime ISA, will he consider allowing people, especially young people, to be auto-enrolled into a lifetime ISA, rather than a pension, to give them a chance to save for a house and have improved financial resilience while they are young?

[Mr Vara]

The lifetime ISA can supplement somebody’s pension but is not a pension as such.