Pensions Bill

My Lords, we move on to a different subject, which is pension sharing on divorce. This is a very ...

My Lords, I put my name to this amendment because I spent a happy half hour with my noble friend ...

My Lords, I intend to make a very short contribution to this debate. As my noble friend Lady Holl...

My Lords, by way of background, the additional state pension can be considered as an asset in a d...

The Minister also gave those figures last time, when we debated the amendment on divorcees and th...

Rather than going into the sub-detail of what is already a very detailed point, I ought to commit...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friends Lord McKenzie and Lord Browne for their contributions...

My Lords, I think it is at the point of divorce.

So it is at the point of divorce. Thereafter, from what the Minister has said, if they wish to se...

That is exactly right. We have the information and people who want to double check it can ask, al...

If it is 150 people, how much does an inquiry cost to handle?

I beg your pardon.

If we are talking about 150 people, how much does it cost to respond to each inquiry?

My Lords, as I said, in practice we have not had an inquiry. We have to manage 150 sharing orders...

I am grateful for the Minister’s promise of further information and, on that basis, I am happy to...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

31A: Clause 16, page 8, line 19, leave out subsection...

My Lords, I speak to the amendment and to Amendment 31B which are in my name and that of my noble...

My Lords, the simple answer is one word: simplicity. However, I will embellish a little. Clauses ...

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his response, to the extent to which he responded. I ...

My Lords, the power provides the flexibility to respond quickly should the need arise to amend th...

I am grateful to the Minister for engaging with the challenge that I encouraged him to engage wit...

My Lords, so that we do not waste a lot of extra time on this matter, this replicates the power t...

I reassure the Minister that I do not see any malevolent intention masked by this power. It occur...

Moved by

Baroness Hollis of Heigham)

32: Clause 17, page 8, line 27, at beginning ins...

My Lords, I would just point out that the clock seems to have frozen on the display.

Time has stood still.

It does not matter. I am grateful for the additional statistics on this issue provided by the Bil...

My Lords, I support this amendment. The background seems to be one of a general lack of provision...

My Lords, I do not want to detain the Committee for any length of time here but my noble friend h...

My Lords, I have added my name to this amendment and I wholeheartedly support the points my noble...

My Lords, I, too, will not detain the Committee very long. When we go through a Bill, there is al...

My Lords, in speaking to these amendments, I seek to achieve a better and more precise understand...

My Lords, as several noble Lords have said, the Bill does not provide an option for those deferri...

Why did the Minister in another place, Steve Webb, argue that one of the reasons for doing this w...

It is a timing issue, of course, because you take the money in earlier. That is where the costs t...

If the Government were making that monetary saving, they would have to show us that that would be...

I do not have the crossover point figure. I could look into that. Clearly, it would be different ...

Will the Minister help me on another point about simplicity? We will come on to discuss 3A volunt...

Yes. The reason is that that is the equivalent of the private pension provision, which is a purch...

That cannot be reasonable, can it? After all, the new state pension combines the element, includi...

Deferrals of lumps sums are both complex to understand and cumbersome to administer.

Why are they complex to understand?

That complexity is illustrated in the DWP information booklet which provides guidance on deferral...

But that means, does it not, that the Minister is giving the option of a deferred lump sum within...

Yes, that is the distinction between the existing system, where there is a lump sum, and the post...

Could the Minister help us further? Is he saying that at the end of the first year post the conve...

That is what I am saying.

Well, why? Why is it okay to do it for one year and not for two?

That is the standard position whereby, if you are in arrears for a year, you can take the provisi...

My Lords, I invite the Minister to comment on the more general point as we are getting into speci...

I am not sure that parliamentary privilege covers me for giving financial advice. Perhaps the nob...

I think that the Minister is right not to give advice as to whether or not it suits an individual...

Personal circumstances to the fore!

I must thank the noble Baroness for keeping me out of jail. Many a seminar that I have been to wo...

If I may have another little bite of the cherry, I do not wish the Minister or the Government to ...

I actually have very strong views on this matter but I think they are personal. I am going to utt...

Could we come too?

My Lords, very few people on the Committee will know that the last time that I had tea with the M...

I have to accept that the right reverend Prelate is on a very important and interesting point, on...

My Lords, I am pleased and not surprised that a cup of tea with the Minister can last one a very ...

My Lords, if it is a nest egg that noble Lords are worrying about, then the arrears approach is n...

My Lords, I am extremely grateful to all Members of the Committee. I am sorry we did not hear fro...

To go back to the point of how people use their lump sum, it is towards the latter end of the pen...

How does the Minister know? I represented one of the poorest wards in the city of Norwich and the...

Moved by

Lord German

33A: Clause 20, page 10, line 5, at end insert “including those ...

My Lords, the amendment is an attempt to find an alternative approach to the solution of the anom...

My Lords, I had not expected to come in on this, but I am intrigued by the concept of mutual adva...

My Lords, I wish to speak to Amendment 33A in the name of the noble Lord, Lord German, and to sup...

My Lords, we have the benefit of the Government’s estimate of the cost of uprating those pensions...

My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, pointed out, the policy on the uprating of state pe...

My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have taken part in this debate. It is an interesting one becaus...

I am intrigued by the notion of it being mutually advantageous. The noble Lord raised this—rightl...

Perhaps I could put inverted commas around the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, and r...

I am sorry to interrupt the noble Lord again; he is being very tolerant, for which I am grateful....

We have gone a very long way from what might be the first step in this direction. We have not yet...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

34: Clause 23, page 11, line 30, at end insert—