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Pensions Bill

I want only to make a very brief intervention. It seems to me that there would be difficulty with the unions as far as this amendment is concerned, because public sector pensions generally speaking are the result of collective bargaining with the relevant unions. Moreover, for many years unions have traditionally regarded pension provision as deferred pay, and I am sure that there would be opposition to the notionof a special commission designed to look at and, presumably, to report on public sector pensions. A lot has been said about the private sector. Of course, it is not so very long ago that the private sector produced very good pensions. We used tobe very proud of our occupational pension arrangements in this country compared with those abroad, because we felt that we had a very good scheme—and many private firms offered very good pension provision. Unfortunately, as we know, for all sorts of reasons that is no longer the situation, but it does not seem to me that this requires a new commission specifically to look at public sector pensions when bargaining with unions has already taken place to produce the situation that we now have. I hope that the Government will not feel that it is appropriate to enter into the kind of arrangements suggested in this amendment.