Pensions Bill

I have a brief contribution to make on this important change being introduced by the Government. First, I assume from the way in which the Minister introduced the amendment that the regulations that will flow as a consequence will be affirmative and not negative. I see him nodding, which is a comfort, because it is important for Parliament to be careful about how this power is used. I am in favour of data-sharing, and very much in favour of using the technology sensitively to produce better services for our most financially disadvantaged families. There is an issue of consent here, which slightly troubles me, because I know from previous experience that a number of pensioner householders in this country do not want to apply for pension credit. They do not want to become involved in the system at all as a matter of principle. Those who do want to become involved in it still consider it, rightly or wrongly, to have a stigma attached to it. When the Government and the electricity and gas-supplying authorities get together to share this information, they must be very careful about how they use it, because they are using it without consent. I guess it is impossible to acquire the consent of everyone involved and to be able to take advantage of some of the consequences that might flow from it. However, we must be very careful about consent as we go down this route. This issue will probably expand, rather than contract, in the way in which the Government interface with financially disadvantaged households. I am keen to hear more about how the Government will handle informed consent, and I will certainly raise the matter in proceedings on any affirmative regulations that come before the House as a result of this amendment to the primary legislation. The issue of fuel poverty is hugely important now. We are living at a time when energy prices will stay high. They may not all be in the $150-per-barrel league, but we are far removed from $30 a barrel and are not going back to it—of that I am absolutely certain. The Government must therefore do everything that they can to anticipate the hardship that is an inevitable consequence for disadvantaged households in this country. Fuel poverty will become even worse because the economy will, at least in the immediate future, see something of a downturn. For all these reasons, urgent action needs to be taken. If this all works, and if everything that can go right does go right, we may end up with a two-way dialogue that gives information back to the DWP and that informs it, perhaps for the first time, that things are much worse in some of these households than it currently imagines. The Government cannot simply say that it is for the electricity and gas-supply industries to deal with the consequences, although there are lots of important things that can be addressed, such as metering and the unfair treatment of people who pay cash and do not have debit cards or pay by direct debit. We all know about this. Some issues have been on the stocks for many years that need actively to be resolved. Surely the DWP must accept some responsibility if the flow of information that starts as a result of this amendment throws up new situations. It should be big enough to stand behind that change, recognise that it is a valuable improvement and come to the table with some financial improvements that will deal with some of its consequences.