Pensions Bill

I shall not waste 48 minutes of the House’s time, which is what the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) did. He lambasted the Bill, only to say that he would support it. I, too, support it, and it would have been much easier if he had said that he was going to do so at the start of his speech instead of waffling for 48 minutes. I welcome many of the Bill’s proposals, and many of today’s contributions have sensibly identified things that need a little tweaking in Committee and at later stages in proceedings. I was interested in what the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble) said about the changes that the Bill will bring about, particularly for women and carers. I am a new Member, so this is the first opportunity that I have had to debate the subject, but it is a scandal that women have been treated as second-class citizens in pension entitlement for many years. I was shocked to read a letter from the Office of the Pensions Advisory Service to my mother, who sadly divorced late in life. She had worked throughout her life and, at the beginning of her career, she signed a document and received the married woman’s stamp. She did not realise, however, that she was signing her rights away if her marriage did not last until she reached pensionable age. She is lucky, and she would be happy for me to tell the House that she has been swept off her feet by a wonderful younger man—he is two years her junior—who provides her with the financial security that she deserves. They live in Spain, but she had to endure a degrading experience. She worked all her life and paid her stamp, so it is morally wrong that payment of her pension depended on whether her husband was in work and whether the marriage lasted. The Bill addresses many of the problems experienced by that generation. The Bill addresses, too, many problems experienced by carers, whom we have all met in our constituency surgeries and during the course of our duties. Their work, dedication and love is flabbergasting, and that applies not just to part-time paid carers but to people who are looking after loved ones at home. I am worried about the problems that carers and workers in other industries may experience if the retirement age is raised to 70, and if the Minister does not have time to deal with my concerns tonight, I am happy for him to write to me. Carers try hard to do everything for their loved ones. They often lift their loved ones when they are not really strong enough to do so, as they hate to ask for help. We must provide that help, but I have visited many carers who try to do everything that they possibly can long after they are physically capable of doing so. I am concerned that carers will be asked to look after their loved ones until they are 60, 65 or 70, although they may not be physically capable of doing so. What back-up mechanisms are there? Hon. Members will know that, all too often, social services do not ask, ““How much time can we give?”” but ““How little time can we give?”” One of my constituents is confined to a wheelchair, and suffers from Parkinson’s and an extremely debilitating form of motor neurone disease. He is allowed 10 minutes’ help in the morning to get up, dressed and washed and 10 minutes’ help in the evening. He used to receive 20 minutes’ help and, before that, 30 minutes, but because of financial pressures on social services that period was reduced. I agree that we need to ask for advice from people such as GPs. The hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Miss Begg) said that GPs will not be interested in doing extra work, but I think that they will be if they are paid for it. If they are not paid, they will not do it, as that is part of their contract. I am concerned about other workers who will be expected to work until they are nearly 70. I come from a family of construction workers, and I have seen generations of workers do heavy work on construction sites, particularly groundwork. Gentlemen cannot physically do that work once they are in their 60s, and it is degrading for them to be asked to make the tea or undertake other duties on site. They are skilled workers, but their speciality is heavy work, and they cannot go on working in the construction industry until they are 70. I do not know what modelling the Government have done on the opportunities for those workers between the ages of 65 and 70 because, in most cases, they will not be able to carry on working on construction sites. It is important, however, that we do not expect them to undertake degrading duties.