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Sir Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield) (Con): I am delighted that the right hon. Gentleman has raised, openly and transparently, the matter of pensions. Would he comment on the tens of thousands of people in occupational pension schemes who have lost their pensions, especially since the Chancellor took more than £5 billion a year from them, from his first Budget onwards, by the changes to advance corporation tax? Does the right hon. Gentleman think that it would have been a good investment, among the Chancellor's largesse today, to allow those people to benefit from the findings of the parliamentary ombudsman, Mrs. Abraham, in their favour, due to maladministration by the Government?
Mr. McFall:
The hon. Gentleman has conflated two issues. On the first issue, I believe that some 85,000 workers are involved, including some of my constituency. One can have nothing but real sorrow for their plight. However, when it comes to macro-
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economic issues and Government commitments on public expenditure, it is evident that neither the Government nor the Opposition are willing to make a proposal. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister asked last week whether the taxpayer should pick up the bill for those schemes. I accept that point, but I hope that discussions will continue because it was only yesterday that many of those affected came to lobby us on that issue.
Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): Does the right hon. Gentleman share my disappointment that pensioner poverty was largely ignored in the Budget? In particular, the opportunity was lost to introduce a decent state pension for all pensioners. Many of those eligible do not claim the means-tested pension credit, so should not the proposals by Adair Turner be implemented instead?
Mr. McFall: The hon. Lady and I share a constituency boundary: she represents East Dunbartonshire and I represent West Dunbartonshire
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton, South-West) (Lab): West is best.
Mr. McFall: That may be so, but the hon. Lady's constituency is more affluent than mine. Irrespective of where I go in my constituency, including social clubs for pensioners, people are grateful for the pension credit that the Government have introduced. There is now much more money in pensioners' pockets. If the hon. Lady is suggesting that there is a case for examining the position in the medium and long term, I agree, but a short-term solution has been found to pensioner poverty. We may have to embrace the medium and long-term issues in the pension report.
Julia Goldsworthy (Falmouth and Camborne) (LD): Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that 1.7 million pensioners who are entitled to pension credit do not receive it and that that is a scandal that needs urgent attention?
Mr. McFall: I recommend that the hon. Lady does what I and several other hon. Members have done. In conjunction with the Pension Service, we have held meetings in our constituencies to encourage people to apply for the pension credit. The Department for Work and Pensions has been very helpful to me and other hon. Members in organising such open days.
The Turner commission report raised two or three other important issues, including industry regulation. We know that the industry's commission-based model has produced inherent conflicts of interest that successive Governments have used regulation to manage. The mis-selling scandals led to tighter regulation, which, while protecting some consumers, has increased distribution costs and made it uneconomic for the long-term savings industry to service consumers on below-average incomes. Embracing the needs of lower-income consumers is one of the issues with which Turner, the Government and others will have to grapple. As Turner pointed out,
"it is very difficult for the financial services industry to sell pensions to people of average earnings and below, working for small and medium size companies, or even to sell pension schemes
That highlights the need for two solutions: first, the Government need to make the pension system simpler, to reduce the cost of regulated advice; and secondly, the industry needs to develop and encourage the take-up of simple, low-cost stakeholder products for that larger market.
The Financial Services Authority has a role in that regard. It did not go as far as it could on simpler regulation for stakeholder productswe have to get regulation right before we start considering the management costs, which must be low. Turner recommended 0.3 per cent. and at the weekend Aviva became the first insurance company to propose a figure, which was 0.6 per cent. However, we should be striving to reach Turner's figure.
The fiscal policy framework has stood the test of time. The Chancellor mentioned that the golden rule had been met, but the Treasury Committee and the International Monetary Fund consider that current fiscal rules may need strengthening towards the end of an economic cycle, to reinforce the credibility of the framework. The Committee will reconsider that issue over the next few months.
Some of the challenges to the framework will come in the form of the spending pressures to which the Government will have to respond in the 2007 comprehensive spending review. Their capacity to do so successfully will be enhanced if their preparations are transparent and Members and Select Committees can both examine and contribute to the process, so I welcome the announcement about independence for the Office for National Statistics. I received a letter about the proposals from my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, which stated that the Government are
"entrenching independence in legislation . . . introducing direct reporting and accountability to Parliament, rather than through Ministers".
So I presume that it will be through the Treasury Committee. The letter noted that the Government were
"placing a statutory responsibility on a new independent governing board to assess and approve all National Statistics against the code of practice, also backed by statute"
As the Minister knows, an open and fair appointments system is important. Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Monetary Policy Committee, which may be a good time look at openness and transparency in appointments to such bodies. Given our experience of the work of the MPC over the past 10 years, I want Ministers to anticipate issues and problems, so that if they come up in Parliament the appointments system can be seen to be open and fair.
It is important that statistics services are seen to be independent. In February, a MORI survey of public opinion on statistics for the Statistics Commission found that there was
"little consensus on whether the statistical service is subject to undue influence from the Government. Many, in particular those with a connection to Parliament, are confident that the statistical service operates independently and with integrity".
I am sure that we would find that view in the Housebut it is not the House that matters, it is the outside world. The survey continued:
"However, for those outside the 'Westminster sphere of influence', there is far more scepticism as to whether this is actually the case. While most still regard the ONS as an authoritative, trusted source of information, there are doubts over the validity of figures produced by individual Government departments."
As the Finance Bill goes through the House, it is important that Ministers take account of that point, which will also be of interest to Members in Committee.
The Chancellor was correct to stress the measures we need to adopt to enhance the UK's global competitiveness. That is welcome, not least for women. The women and work commission produced a report in February, "Shaping a Fairer Future", which set out 40 practical recommendations to tackle job segregation and the gender pay gap, which still exists despite 30 years of equal pay legislation. The only way that we will respond to global challenges on competitiveness is to ensure that we upgrade our skills, so I welcome the continuation of the new deal and the upgrading of skills, especially for women in low-paid employment.
The Treasury Committee has been seized by what globalisation will mean for the UK. We have undertaken an inquiry into globalisation, to which both the Governor of the Bank of England and the Chancellor have agreed to give evidence. Part of our inquiry will look at the role of the IMF. The Chancellor and the Governorin a speech a month or so backhave both focused on the IMF, about which there are a number of fundamental questions.
What is the fund for? Do we need an IMF? Is there a role for a multilateral monetary system and, if so, what is it? In 1946, the international monetary system was built around fixed exchange rates and controls on capital investment, and each country met its international responsibilities by running a balanced current account. That is a world away from the situation faced by financial services in the 21st century. The IMF is increasingly seen as the lender of last resort, and until the repayment of loans by Argentina and Brazil, 70 per cent. of its outstanding loans were to only three countries. The IMF lending book is the lowest that it has ever been, and we can be sure that the Asian economies, including Japan, having built up their foreign exchange reserves, will not be coming back to the IMF. They were scarred by the experience of the 1990s.
The IMF has a number of tasks, especially at a time of such massive global imbalances. It should be a forum for transparent discussion of the way forward with national Governments about risks to the world economy. Recently, the Treasury Committee visited the United States where we had the opportunity to talk to a wide number of people. One issue relating to economic risk is trade protectionism, and the possibility of its being translated into policy change in the US should not be dismissed. It is a risk and a Bill proposing further protectionism is currently before Congress. However, it is important that we emphasise to our US colleagues that protectionism will not get us anywhere.
There is also a risk of sharp adjustments in US current accounts spilling over to sharp adjustments in assets, markets and energy prices. The high and volatile energy market remains a concern in a globalised world where new alliances are being formed in the global economy.
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A new world order has been established, as people have indicated, and the US economic hegemony is being challenged by the rise of the new economic superpowers, so an understanding of global economic development no longer needs to begin in Washingtonhence the Treasury Committee in its inquiry has already visited China and, in June, hopes to visit India, which has been labelled the new China. I will not go over all the statistics on Chinamost hon. Members are familiar with thembut the UK needs policy responses to them.
The Government have indicated that they have a UK-China task force and have identified five key issues, with which I agreeenergy, financial services, water, health care and information and communications technologybut I suggest to Ministers that we should also take on board both education and legal services. On a visit to Hong Kong in September, at the invitation of the Hong Kong Government, it was obvious that there are opportunities in education and legal services, and Hong Kong is a good base for us to be involved in that exercise.
We have globalisation at a time of threats in the US and in Europe. We saw the almost xenophobic response by people in France and Belgium to the possible takeover of the steelmaker Areclor by Mr. Mittal. We saw the US reaction to the P&O takeover by Dubai Ports World. Only in the past couple of weeks, we have seen the locking out of an Italian energy company by the French, who designated 11 sensitive sectors that must be safeguarded against foreign bids.
We must avoid a perilous collision between nationalism and globalisation. Therefore, it is very important to have a cross-party view on the issue so that we can respond to the long-term challenges, which have a habit of coming sooner than we expect. The Chancellor is right to focus on those long-term challenges, but we also have short-term challenges, on which the Treasury Committee will, no doubt, examine the Chancellor. Over two and half hours, all of us who serve on the Committee will have an opportunity to pinpoint those issues.
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