An ad hoc select committee on Intergenerational Fairness and Provision
7.Concern for intergenerational fairness is growing as the millennial generation appears to be worse off than the baby boomer generation were at a similar age. The Lords held a debate on intergenerational fairness in Government policy on 26 October 2017.1 Many Peers identified housing costs, a fall in real average earnings, student debt, and pension schemes as possible sources of intergenerational inequality. Global issues such as climate change were also noted as potential contributors to intergenerational inequality.
8.In the 2012–13 Session, the ad hoc committee on Public Service and Demographic Change published its report, “Ready for Ageing?”, which warned that the Government and society were woefully underprepared for ageing. In the 2015–16 Session, the ad hoc committee on Social Mobility considered the transition from school to work for the majority of young people. More recently, the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee published a report on Intergenerational Fairness in the 2016–17 Session.2 The Intergenerational Commission, convened by the Resolution Foundation, has also produced a number of publications on intergenerational fairness.3
9.An ad hoc committee could consider the issue in the round—assessing, for example, the collective impact on individuals, families, different generations, society at large and the Government. It could also explore whether Government policy fairly reflects the views and wishes of each generation; what the collective impact is of policies emanating from different Government departments; and whether the Government have the right mechanisms, tools and models to approach policy-making in this area holistically.
10.Some of the issues that an ad hoc committee might consider could include:
- What attitudes and perceptions do younger generations have regarding intergenerational fairness? How do these compare to the attitudes of other generations?
- How can debates around intergenerational fairness be made more inclusive, and less polarised towards one generation or another?
- What positive steps can be taken to build links between generations? (This might include consideration of initiatives such as those to co-locate nurseries with nursing homes, for example.) How can joined-up policy making across Government facilitate this?
- In an increasingly uncertain world, what is likely to be passed on to the next generation?
- Are current policies and practices alienating young people and what could be done to facilitate young people’s engagement in political discourse? For example, given that younger generations are ‘digital natives’, how can Government and Parliament better communicate in this medium?
- The Intergenerational Commission have hypothesised a link between political engagement and home ownership: renters of any age are much less likely to vote than homeowners.4 What is the connection between homeownership and stronger community engagement and political participation?
- What experiences can be learnt from other countries in how to tackle the problems of intergenerational unfairness (either real or perceived)?
11.The inquiry could also be a good opportunity for the House of Lords to increase engagement with young people in an innovative way. Thus, it could experiment with new avenues for engagement, by using communication styles and tools favoured by young people. This might include an increased use of social media, the convening of small focus groups, and committee visits to speak to young people.
12.We recommend the establishment of an ad hoc committee to consider the long-term implications of Government policy on intergenerational fairness and provision, to report by the end of March 2019.
1 HL Deb, 26 October 2017, cols 985-1028. See also: House of Lords Library, Intergenerational Fairness and Government Policy, Library Note, LLN-2017–0072, October 2017
2 House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, Intergenerational fairness (Third Report, Session 2016–17, HC 59)
3 The Intergenerational Commissions’s reports can be viewed online at https://www.intergencommission.org/publications/
4 Resolution Foundation, Votey McVoteface—Understanding the growing turnout gap between the generations (September 2016), p 8: http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2016/09/Generational-voting.pdf [accessed 19 March 2018]