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Pensions Bill

My Lords, I beg to move Motion A, That the House do not insist on its Amendment No. 1 to which the Commons have disagreed for their reason numbered 1A. I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Hollis for all the work she has done on this important issue and it is clear that she gained the support of noble Lords on all sides of this House, as evidenced by those who spoke so passionately on Report. My noble friend’s amendment was overturned in the other place for reasons of financial privilege. The amendment carries with it spending commitments, as I outlined on Report. Since then further legal advice is that the amendment, although not in a form which achieves the desired objective, can sit alongside the current arrangements so it properly expresses the policy intent. As I said on Report, we understand, and are very sympathetic to, the objectives of the amendment, and hope that we can deliver its aim of helping women in this country if at all possible. The Government have always been clear about their desire to provide fairer outcomes for women and the measures in the Bill demonstrate that commitment. My honourable friend the Minister of State, during consideration of the amendment in the other place, recognised the strength of feeling expressed by your Lordships and I, too, was left in no doubt of that. As he made clear, we are keen to find a solution that may bring more people further into the contributory system. However, this is a complicated issue, and it is important to explore the complexities and possible implications of the range of options, including the proposal in my noble friend’s amendment. There are, for example, options in relation to the number of years that could be purchased, the rate at which additional contributions could be paid, the treatment of individuals overseas and the interaction with the current system. Those have varying administrative, legal, cost, distributional and policy implications, and we need to ensure that we get any targeted solution right. I hope that my letter to my noble friend Lord McIntosh, which was copied to all noble Lords who spoke at Second Reading and placed in the Library, explained a little further the possible cost implications. We want to find a way to overcome these problems. We are keen that any solution should deliver a fair outcome for individuals who have experienced complex and fragmented lives, but at the same time we need to be mindful of how any changes would impact on people living overseas. With that in mind, the Government will commit to looking at the range of options in the coming weeks, including the option to buy additional years as proposed in the amendment, and to provide an update at the Pre-Budget Report. In doing so, the Government will consider all the options in terms of the following principles: fairness, as any solution must help those most in need; affordability, as any solution must be affordable and sustainable; and simplicity, as any solution must be deliverable, simple to implement and understandable to those whom it would benefit. There is no difference between your Lordships’ wishes to help women in this country and our wish, but we need to deal with the practical problems. I cannot make a commitment that we will achieve that outcome today, but we will use our best endeavours to deliver the principles of the noble Baroness’s amendment. We have listened very carefully to your Lordships’ concerns, and we take them seriously. I understand that my noble friend Lady Hollis believes that our proposal is a useful basis on which to go forward; I thank her for that. I hope that your Lordships are of the same view. We also intend to seek the views of relevant stakeholders. Moved, That the House do not insist on its Amendment 1 to which the Commons have disagreed for their reason numbered 1A.—(Lord McKenzie of Luton.)