Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 24th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the key is in the word “discretionary”. Local authorities can ignore DLA if they think that that is appropriate, but they have the freedom to judge on a case-by-base basis; that seems to be the right way to respond to individual need.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

11. What progress he has made on implementation of the pot-follows-member model of automatic pension transfers.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

I can announce that we have been working closely with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to examine the feasibility of using the pay-as-you-earn data and system to deliver a secure, efficient and straightforward pot-matching element to the pot-follows-member system. A pot-follows-member system leads to more efficiency, potentially better member engagement, greater consolidation and better outcomes in retirement.

[Andrea Leadsom]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his answer, but as we are all living longer, which is great news, it is an ever greater priority to ensure that people save for their retirement. Is he looking at options such as the auto-enrolment system in place in Australia? Will he also consider a savings and retirement account for future pensioners?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend will know that our auto-enrolment programme, which we are in the middle of rolling out, has been highly successful, with nine out of 10 people choosing to stay in that programme. The Australian version is compulsory; we have chosen not to do that in this country. The fact that most people are choosing voluntarily to stay in pensions saving is a judgment that we have made the right choice. I should add that the Australians have said that they wish that they had introduced from the beginning the pot-follows-member system that we are introducing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 11th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

That is not what would happen. People who have contracted out into an occupational pension, such as his constituent, currently get money off their state pension, which is called a contracted-out deduction. That will remain part of the single-tier proposition. Therefore, somebody such as his constituent who has contracted out would not get the £144. There is no cliff edge. There would be a deduction for past contracting out in both cases.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

T3. Does my right hon. Friend agree that for Opposition Members to talk of the spare bedroom subsidy as a tax shows a profound lack of understanding on their part of what a tax actually is?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 24th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

16. What steps he is taking to help women who are most affected by the state pension age proposals contained in the Pensions Bill.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

We have amended the Pensions Bill so that women with the largest delay in receiving their state pension will find this delay reduced by six months.

[Steve Webb]

Now that we will hopefully have certainty about the dates next week—subject to their lordships’ approval—we will want to ensure that people know exactly when their retirement date is. We will write to 750,000 people shortly, so that they know where they stand, and all the services of Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme will be available to those who become long-term unemployed later in life.

[Andrea Leadsom]

I congratulate those on the Front Bench on changing their minds on this issue. A number of female constituents have written to me expressing enormous gratitude for the fact that we have changed the position for the better. Does the Minister agree that this shows that we care about women in particular and, even more so, that Labour left us with such a mess that we are having to sort it out now and do things that we are not necessarily happy with?

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The change that we made—a commitment to ensuring that the changes are fair as they affect women—cost £1.1 billion. The difference between us and the Opposition is that their policy cost ten times as much and they had no idea where the money would come from.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 14th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Lady raises the important point that notice periods are important. The challenge we faced was that the time scale for raising state pension ages that we inherited was staggeringly leisurely. The Conservative party manifesto and the coalition agreement made it clear that we would move faster. The state pension age for men was set at 65 a century ago—I think we need to move faster.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

A constituent of mine who has worked all her life and has saved for her own pension falls into the vintage year of 1954. She cannot bring herself to be on jobseeker’s allowance at the end of a hard-working career. It seems a little harsh to suggest that as the only outcome.

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance are available as safety nets, but I appreciate that that is not what many people will want. The vast majority of the women in this birth cohort are still working. In the world that we are going into, we anticipate that more people will work into their 60s—that is part of the change. Many of them will be able to support themselves, perhaps through a part-time job, to cover the gap in years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 10th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

19. What steps he is taking to reduce the burden of administration on businesses arising from pension provision.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

We are taking forward the recommendations of the independent “making automatic enrolment work” review, many of which were aimed specifically at making automatic enrolment in workplace pensions more straightforward for employers.

[Andrea Leadsom]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Although it is crucial that the Government do everything possible to get people to save for their retirement, does he agree that currently it is even more critical to reduce the burden of red tape and bureaucracy which is preventing small businesses from creating the new jobs we desperately need?