Pensions Bill

We strongly support the amendments, as does the Equal Opportunities Commission. I fear that I shall probably say exactly what everybody else has said for the past half-hour, but it is worth repeating. On Amendment No. 112, the gender impact assessment published with the Bill is very welcome; it gives a good lead to other Whitehall departments that are involved in issues where the different needs of women and men need to be highlighted. As has been pointed out throughout the Committee stage and just now by the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, women’s working lives and earning patterns are very different from those of most men. It is vital that the design of personal accounts is flexible enough to take account of this, especially because, as my noble friend Lord Oakeshott said on the previous amendment, it is estimated that 43 per cent of all female employees are low to middle earners, earning between £5,000 and £15,000 a year. We need to know, for example, about those people who could lose out because of the interaction of means-tested benefits in retirement by saving in personal accounts. The amendment hasa clear link to Amendment No. 115, which would require, "““a report on the information and advice needs of women and men in relation to””," personal accounts. The challenge has been well highlighted by the Resolution Foundation; it is to strike the right balance between presenting people with information and explaining their options, and encouraging them to remain opted in or suggesting that they opt out. It is clear that a good deal of work has been and is being done on this area, as the Minister said. I understand that we do not yet know how this advice will be delivered, as it is work in progress. The questions are clear. Should it be by telephone only? Should it be by letter? Should it be possible for people to have face-to-face interviews, as in a citizens advice bureau? I would like all these options to be available, but particularly for any advice to be written down in a clear format in easily understood English and—dareI say it?—written by a woman. As we have heard before, the whole pensions system is man-made rather than woman-made, and the balance needs to be redressed. I was going to ask the Minister how the Government were going to take forward the whole question of information and advice, but we have already been told that. Are the Government in close contact with Citizens Advice, whose bureaux bear the brunt of most financial advice at present?