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Pensioner Incomes
13. Mr. Bob Blizzard (Waveney): What plans he has to increase pensioner incomes. [125838]
The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo): As announced in the Budget, next April, we will again increase the minimum income guarantee in line with earnings, and we will double its lower capital limit. We are also developing a new pensioner credit to reward those pensioners who have made some provision for themselves.
Mr. Blizzard: Although the Government are spending more on pensioners through the minimum income guarantee and the winter payments than if the earnings link had been restored, and although it has to be right to help the poorest pensioners first, is my hon. Friend aware that many, many pensioners are still unhappy with the situation? Is not the problem the 1.1 per cent. index inflation figure from last September, which has failed to maintain the value of the basic pension? In making plans for next year, will she ensure that a realistic inflation index is used? Will she make up for the shortfall in this year's figure? If she can add something more, it will be even clearer that the Government are committed to
increasing pensioner incomes, unlike the Conservative party, whose policy of giving with one hand and taking away with the other would give pensioners only 42p.
Dawn Primarolo: On current inflation forecasts, we expect the basic state pension rise in April 2001 to be more than £2 for single pensioners and more than £3 for couples. Over the Parliament, the Government are
spending more than £2 billion more in real terms on pensioners than if we had restored the earnings link in the state pension. The combination of measures--the winter allowance, the change to the capital limits for the minimum income guarantee, the level of the income guarantee and the fact that it is pegged to earnings--in addition to the development of pensioner tax credits is the way forward to ensure that those who are poorest get the help that they urgently need.Business of the House
12.31 pm
Sir George Young (North-West Hampshire): May I ask the right hon. Lady to give the House the business for next week?
The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Margaret Beckett): The business for next week will be as follows:
Monday 26 June--Motion relating to the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, followed by the remaining stages of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate Bill [Lords].
Tuesday 27 June--Remaining stages of the Learning and Skills Bill [Lords].
Wednesday 28 June--Remaining stages of the Limited Liability Partnership Bill [Lords], followed by the remaining stages of the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill.
Thursday 29 June--Opposition Day [15th Allotted Day]. There will be a debate on "Priorities in the NHS" on an Opposition motion.
Friday 30 June--The House will not be sitting.
The provisional business for the following week will be:
Monday 3 July--Opposition Day [16th Allotted Day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion whose subject is to be announced.
Tuesday 4 July--Progress on remaining stages of the Local Government Bill [Lords].
Wednesday 5 July--Conclusion of remaining stages of the Local Government Bill [Lords]. The Chairman of Ways and Means is expected to name opposed private business for consideration at 7 o'clock.
Thursday 6 July--Estimates Day [2nd Allotted Day]. At 7 o'clock, the House will be asked to agree all outstanding estimates.
Friday 7 July--Debate on the report of the Committee of Inquiry into hunting with dogs in England and Wales on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
I should also like to inform the House of business to be taken in Westminster Hall during July.
Thursday 6 July--Debate on the development of Community Legal Services.
Thursday 13 July--Debate on EC development assistance.
Thursday 20 and Thursday 27 July--Debates on Select Committee reports are scheduled, both subjects to be announced.
Sir George Young: The House is grateful for next week's business and an indication of the business for the following week.
The House was hoping for the date of the summer recess, not least because it was hinted at by one of the right hon. Lady's ministerial colleagues in a speech in Westminster Hall yesterday.
In the Queen's Speech, it was announced that legislation would be introduced to improve the education of children with special educational needs. As the parliamentary Session matures, what has happened to that Bill and, indeed, to the Disqualifications Bill, which the
House dealt with, at some inconvenience, in January and which has subsequently sunk without trace? Is that not further evidence of a badly managed legislative programme?Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the Government would produce a plan in the next few days to strengthen the post office network. Will the right hon. Lady confirm that that will be outlined in an oral statement, given the widespread concern about the matter? In villages in my constituency, fashionable addresses such as the old rectory and the old school house are now being joined by the old post office.
Before the House rises for the summer recess, will we have the third of the three armed forces debates, this one on procurement, given widespread concern about redundances at British Aerospace? Would it be reasonable to assume that the Chancellor will be making his statement on the comprehensive spending review in the second of the two weeks? What has happened to the arrangements for discussing the economy?
Following our exchange last week, when there was widespread support for a public holiday to commemorate the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother, has the right hon. Lady had the promised discussion with the Home Secretary?
Mrs. Beckett: I should have liked to be able to give the recess date today, and I apologise that I am not able to do so. I said some time ago that I hoped that the House would not need to sit in August, and that hope has strengthened. That is all I can tell the right hon. Gentleman today.
The right hon. Gentleman asked me about the debate on special educational needs. I am aware that that matter is being considered. He will know that since the Bill was first proposed, there has been a pertinent, relevant, but unfortunately rather late further report about disability, which my right hon. Friend is considering alongside earlier proposals.
The right hon. Gentleman referred to the Disqualifications Bill. The Session is not yet at an end, and the Bill has had some hearing in the House. If I recall correctly, it had an extensive hearing.
The right hon. Gentleman asked me also about the Post Office. I anticipate that when proposals for the Post Office come forward, there is likely to be an oral statement. As for his reference to the address, the old post office, no doubt in rural areas like the one he represents there are already such addresses--so many post offices closed under the Government of whom he was such a star member.
As for the armed forces debate, I am aware of the pressure last week in the context of British Aerospace. I cannot announce a debate in Government time, but I have announced a number of opportunities in Opposition time, for which Conservative Members can press their right hon. and hon. Friends. I hope and anticipate that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be able to make a statement about the comprehensive spending review in the not too distant future.
As for whether there should be a holiday to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday, I undertook last week to raise the matter with the relevant authorities, and have done so.
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough): I wonder whether we could have an opportunity soon to discuss the work of
the Modernisation Committee and the hours of the House. Many of us had hoped that we would be able to discuss these matters and come to conclusions before the end of the Session; I had hoped that we might hear some news today.
Mrs. Beckett: The matter remains under discussion in the Modernisation Committee. It is my hope that in the not too distant future the Committee may have reached conclusions that it is in a position to lay before the House in a report. I cannot, of course, anticipate the judgment of the Committee. I would remind my hon. Friend that the Session does not end until the autumn.
Mr. Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove): Bearing in mind the rather strange sequence of events surrounding Question 12 in the Chancellor's Question Time, will the Leader of the House provide time for him to make a statement on the euro and his approach to it? If he is too busy, perhaps she can persuade the Foreign Secretary to come instead.
May I draw the right hon. Lady's attention to early-day motion 526?
[That this House notes that the 1986 Social Security Act introduced a halving of widows' SERPS entitlements in respect of deaths occurring after April 2000; notes that DSS leaflets and correspondence failed to reflect that change for at least a decade after the Act reached the statute book, leading to an investigation by the Parliamentary Ombudsman; notes that many more pensioners who were not actively misled by these leaflets nonetheless knew nothing about the change until they were too old to make realistic alternative provision; and therefore calls on the Government not only to compensate those future pensioners who were misled but also to exempt from the proposed cut any person who has already reached state pension age.]
There continue to be real anger and dismay at the failure to correct the Conservatives' administrative blunder, going back more than 10 years. Can the right hon. Lady find time for a Minister to explain to the House in detail how those affected can establish a claim and receive compensation for that major pensions mis-selling scandal?
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