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Mr. Gordon Marsden accordingly presented a Bill to prohibit unsolicited household visits to sell property repairs, maintenance and improvements; to provide penalties and powers of arrest in connection with this prohibition; to require all doorstep vendors of property repairs, maintenance and improvements to give seven days' notice in writing of an intended visit to a home; and to extend property owners' rights to cancel any contract entered into for the provision of property repairs, maintenance or improvement; and for connected purposes: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 16 July, and to be printed. [Bill 111].
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Pensions Bill (Programme) (No. 3)
12.47 pm
The Minister for Pensions (Malcolm Wicks): I beg to move,
That the Order of 2nd March 2004 (Pensions Bill (Programme)) as amended by the Order of 19th April 2004 be amended by the substitution for paragraphs 4 and 5 of the following—
'4. Proceedings on consideration shall be taken in the order shown in the first column of the following Table. In that column, any reference to new Clauses or Amendments relating to Part 1, 3, 4 or 5 does not include new Clauses or Amendments relating to any arrangements for financial assistance for members where pension schemes are wound up.
5. The proceedings shown in the first column of the Table shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the time specified in the second column.
| Proceedings | Time for conclusion of proceedings |
| New Clauses standing in the name of a Minister of the Crown, other than new Clauses relating to Part 2 or to any other arrangements for financial assistance for members where pension schemes are wound up; remaining new Clauses and Amendments relating to Part 1; remaining new Clauses and Amendments relating to Part 3; remaining new Clauses and amendments relating to Part 4; remaining new Clauses and amendments relating to Part 5 | At the moment of interruption on the first allotted day. |
| New Clauses and Amendments relating to any arrangements otherwise than through the Pension Protection Fund for financial assistance for members where pension schemes are wound up or relating to the categories of scheme in relation to which the Pension Protection Fund applies | Two hours before the moment of interruption on the second allotted day. |
| New Clauses and Amendments relating to Part 2; remaining new Clauses and Amendments relating to Part 6; remaining new Clauses and Amendments relating to Part 7; remaining new Clauses; Amendments relating to Schedules; new Schedules | Three hours before the moment of interruption on the third allotted day. |
5A. In the Table "allotted day" means a day on which the Bill is put down on the main business as first Government Order of the Day. 5B. Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the moment of interruption on the third allotted day.'.
The Pensions Bill is a long and technically complex piece of legislation. Following considerable scrutiny during 22 sittings—all enjoyable, I might add—in Standing Committee B, we are now returning to the House for consideration and Third Reading. Not only is the Bill large; it is also very important legislation, and hon. Members deserve time to discuss the amendments tabled at this stage, without debate being unduly restricted. We have a very full agenda to deal with on Report, and for this reason the Government propose to set aside a greater length of time than originally planned for the consideration and Third Reading of the Bill.
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Members of the Standing Committee will recognise some of the amendments before us over the next few days, but the Government are tabling further new clauses to reflect changes brought about by both the Finance Bill and the European directive on occupational pensions. We will be hearing further about those subjects later today.
The programme motion before us means that we also intend to discuss today all the Government new clauses. We also intend to take today any amendments or Opposition new clauses that relate to the regulator, scheme-specific funding, retirement planning and part 5 of the Bill, which relates to personal and occupational pension schemes. This will give us a full programme of deliberation today.
Mr. Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab): Will my hon. Friend give way?
Malcolm Wicks: Perhaps I can anticipate my right hon. Friend's question.
The exception to the new clauses is that Government new clause 34—this might have been my right hon. Friend's question—
Mr. Field: The English is poor.
Malcolm Wicks: Yes, the English is poor. The exception is that Government new clause 34 will be taken tomorrow, together with amendments to it. That will be followed by new clauses and amendments that relate to the pension protection fund. The Government are fully aware that many hon. Members will want to join in the discussion of this new clause and the remaining business on the PPF. For this reason we believe it is important to set aside a reasonable amount of time for consideration of the subject and so have added a further day's debate for this important new measure. I trust that hon. Members in all parts of the House will welcome the opportunity to support the Government's new proposals in this crucial area. We will conclude our business and any remaining amendments on Thursday, before moving to Third Reading on Thursday afternoon.
Throughout our deliberations in Standing Committee we have had constructive debate on all the issues, and I am grateful to the hon. Members for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) and for Northavon (Mr. Webb) for their co-operation—I hope that I can still say that in three days' time. They sought assurances that the timetable would allow sufficient time to discuss new clauses and amendments on Report, and I hope they agree that the Government have paid heed to their requests by providing the extra time.
I do not want to use up valuable time by debating this motion for longer than is necessary, because it seems more sensible and productive to spend our time discussing the real issues of concern to the House.
12.50 pm
Mr. David Willetts (Havant) (Con):
The Minister is right: we should not allow the programme motion to delay us for too long, but I shall make some quick comments on what he just said and the process by which the Bill has been considered in the House. I did not serve
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in Committee, and I pay tribute to the members of the Committee from both sides of the House who took on that onerous obligation.
When we heard that we would get three days on Report, we were pleasantly surprised because we thought that that would give us time to consider the Bill properly. We did not expect the Government to concede three days with quite such alacrity. At first, I thought that it was because the Minister is a reasonable man, but I now see that it is because we are considering 28 Government new clauses and 128 Government amendments. Even with three days, we cannot be confident that it will be possible properly to scrutinise 28 Government new clauses and 128 Government amendments.
This debate is the latest example of how the Government have presented the Bill. Hundreds of Government amendments and 36 Government new clauses were introduced in Committee, where the Minister, who is smiling in a slightly guilty way, said:
"I had better not describe it"—
"as a work in progress".—[Official Report, Standing Committee B, 9 March 2004; c. 34.]
The Bill is clearly work in progress, and it has been subject to continuous amendment as it has made its way through this House.
The Green Paper was produced in December 2002 and the White Paper came out in June 2003, but nearly one year later, amendments are being tabled with virtually no time for scrutiny, which suggests that the Government lack a clear and rigorous strategy to tackle the pensions crisis. The Minister is like a schoolboy who is in a perpetual crisis about getting his homework in on time.
It is good to see the Minister in the House. We thought that he might be in Blackpool speaking to the National Pensioners Convention, where my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) is now. Cynics might suggest that one reason why the Bill is on Report today is to give the Minister a good reason not to go to Blackpool to confront the pensioners, who might have told him what they think of the Government's record on pensions.
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