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Pensions Bill

Forgive me, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I beg to ask leave of the House to reply to the debate. These are important amendments. It is perhaps fitting, as we move towards the conclusion of the Bill, that the amendment has been dealt with in a spirit of compromise. That is important because pensions, above all, require a consensus to be built around long-term planning for the way in which we develop security for the elderly in the future. The Bill will enable a lot of legislation to be passed—some of it potentially quite controversial, such as the provisions to increase the retirement age. We have been able to put those provisions through the House because the Turner report, and those who worked on it, provided the basis for a consensus to be built around pensions policy. There were some issues of political controversy during the course of the Bill. In the course of reviewing the Bill, perhaps a Minister will look at some of those issues, as well looking at the areas where we all agreed. It was important that we had that level of agreement and that we were able to get through some potentially very difficult issues. I extend the Government’s thanks to Opposition Front-Bench Members for the way in which they broadly approached many of the issues. May I also place on record my thanks—and those of my right hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (James Purnell) and other Ministers who dealt with the Bill before I did—for the way in which officials briefed us and ensured that we were able to find our way through some quite complex legislation? Of course, I look forward to working with the hon. Members for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) and for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) on the next Bill, which is likely to come forward fairly soon. I will consider the suggestion from my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth for the NAO to be involved. I will not give a commitment at this point, but it is an interesting suggestion and the Government will consider it.