Pensions Bill

My Lords, my preparation for this debate seems rapidly to have been made irrelevant by the previous speeches and that is not surprising, given the knowledge of many speakers, including the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis. For once, that degree of forensic ability has been mainly on my side. The Minister should note that many noble Lords have said that they agree with the general thrust and interests of the Bill—as they sharpen their knives. I hope that he will be his usual smiling self at the end of this process. What is really happening is that we are finding common threads; one is the fact that the problems of certain groups are not being dealt with properly, although some effort has been made. For instance, my noble friend Lady Thomas and the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, spoke about the fact that women’s needs are not fully addressed by the Bill in terms of care, although some movement has been made. A point that best summed up the problem was that we are not creating something new, but are sticking new bits onto what is already there; we are trying to tag on, prepare, support and go through. One measure that will be necessary if those who we are trying to help are to receive it is to ensure that they have sufficient advice and support on how to access the system—both as it exists and as it will exist after the passage of the Bill. Generic financial advice—a term that I had not previously come across—in a briefing note that I received from the Resolution Foundation, crystallised this. We have a complicated system onto which we will stick more regulation and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, suggested, we will probably stick something onto it again and again—and when one bit does not work, we will replace it with something else and then change it. The process will have to ensure that more advice is made available to those groups of people who do not traditionally think they need it or even think they have the time to need it. A family with an income of, say, £23,000 a year or someone earning £10,000 or £12,000 a year are the kinds of people for whom most of the financial products available commercially will be irrelevant. They do not have enough spare income available for these services long term, and you do not worry about the long term if you are not coping now. When will the Government structure something into the process to give advice to these people and ensure that they get the best out of the system? We have come across this situation in many other Bills from the department. The idea that we should ensure that people get support and help to claim the right benefits so that they are not left in poverty is an extension of that line of logic. If the Minister can give an assurance that, effectively, an aggressive approach will be taken by the Government to ensure that these people get the best out of the system, many of the problems which have been outlined here might be ameliorated to a degree. We need an ongoing process to ensure that the information reaches those groups of people who do not normally consider themselves to be in need of help and who are not big financial targets for the private sector. Such people are not like those in real poverty who are constantly on benefits and who automatically get attention, so can the Government give assurances that the information will reach them through the system? If it does not reach such people—even if the Government are right and their critics are wrong—much of the good in the Bill will be wasted.