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Pensions Bill

I shall be brief, as the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) has covered most of the relevant points. He made the problems to do with levelling down very clear, showing that employee contributions of 6 per cent. could fall to 3 per cent. The Bill is aimed at ensuring that people who currently are not saving for their pensions begin to do so, and we do not want employers to reduce the level of their contributions. The number of people in the private sector with open defined-benefit schemes has fallen from 5 million in 1995 to 900,000 now, and that is a serious problem. The hon. Member for Eastbourne quoted what the ABI said about the 2.5 million people currently in GPP schemes. The ABI also showed that a person of 24 in a GPP scheme earning £15,000"““who retires at State Pension Age would…receive an annual pension income of £10,000, compared to around £6,500””" if he or she had a personal account. If that were to happen, it would completely defeat the purpose of the Bill. The Minister told me last night that he would speak today about the two EU directives that the hon. Member for Eastbourne mentioned. It is clearly important for the industry that we get a solution to the problems that they pose. If we can ensure that we are levelling up rather than levelling down, we will have achieved our purpose, and we need an assurance from the Minister to that effect. He must also make it clear that the problem of auto-enrolment is being dealt with, as the current interpretation of existing EU directives could have a devastating effect on the industry.