I shall be generous to the hon. Gentleman and suggest that he take a quick look at the amount of money that some of these people need. The Minister has met Marlene Cheshire, as she was one of the group of widows to whom I referred earlier. At that time, she was getting £20 a week, but she should have been getting £200. If we cannot talk about something like that in the House of Commons, I am in the wrong place. I do not want to criticise the hon. Gentleman, but there are pensioners in the Lobby today and he can go and talk to them. They will tell him that they are not getting the money that is due to them. However, I should add that I took the lady about whom I have told the House to see the Minister, and the shortfall in her income has since been addressed.
The maths of the FAS scheme is pretty simple: £3 million to be shared between 125,000 people. They are not getting anything like enough, and we need to talk about how we can help them today. We should not wait for a summer review: natural justice and the needs of personal dignity mean that we should do the right thing by them this afternoon.
Pensions Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Mike Penning
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 18 April 2007.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Pensions Bill.
About this proceeding contribution
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459 c356 Session
2006-07Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamberSubjects
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