(9 months, 1 week ago)
General CommitteesI have a couple of questions for the Minister. Will he talk us through why the age remains at 60? Was that a negotiation position that had to be taken? I understand that those in the fire service or police force may not be able to work until 67, but it seems very generous for the taxpayer to fund a retirement seven years early in this situation. Is there a labour reason for that?
My second question is about what the shadow Minister just referred to. We get an estimate of savings over the long run, although they are not costed in the actual cost-benefit analysis, but it is seven years old. We know from two years ago that the pension funding position is dramatically improved, by hundreds of billions of pounds, for all final salary schemes across the economy, so presumably the estimate is incredibly out of date and the saving is likely to be a lot higher. Will the Minister let us know if he has any update about what the actual impact of the decision that we are taking here is?
(12 months ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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I reassure the hon. Gentleman that we are committed to ensuring we hit all those targets. As of September 2022, more than 130 countries, accounting for around 85% of global emissions and more than 90% of global GDP, were covered by net zero commitments. We are committed to making sure that we hit those targets, and that is demonstrated by our attendance at COP28 and the measures we are taking to ensure we meet the climate challenges.
The Government’s “Mobilising green investment” strategy, published in March, set out that we need $1 trillion a year in green finance by 2030. What are the Government’s ambitions at COP28 to agree funding anywhere close to that level? What more can we do to get our private sector and pension schemes to contribute to that?
My hon. Friend makes an important point. We will have those discussions over the two weeks of COP28. We are trying to ensure that we hit all the global targets, too. I am sure that those conversations will come up, and we can have a discussion on them later.