John Penrose

Conservative Party | Weston-super-Mare

Pension Bill

John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare) (Con): My hon. Friend will of course be aware of the comments made by Lord Turner in his report to the effect that one has to give people a minimum length of time to complete the financial planning for their retirement. While it probably would be possible to compress the timescale in the way that he is describing, there is a cut-off point because after a certain stage in people’s working life they cannot alter their financial plans that much. There might be some scope for compression, but there would be a limit to it.

Sir John Butterfill: My hon. Friend is right, but the Government propose an extremely long timescale, which is much longer than that delivered in other countries. We should seek to be more ambitious than we are being at present.

Mr. Weir: The hon. Gentleman mentions longevity, but does he accept that one problem is the disparity in longevity between areas? It was recognised by Lord Turner to some extent, when he suggested that pension credit should apply at age 60 for some groups. Does the hon. Gentleman see any solution to the problem, given that he proposes accelerating the change to retirement age?

Sir John Butterfill: The hon. Gentleman is right to say that in parts of the United Kingdom, notably the one that he represents, longevity is not as good as it is elsewhere, but that is largely due to poorer health, with greater rates of smoking and unhealthy eating habits. Education is the major key to equalising longevity throughout the UK, because there is nothing inherently unhealthy about living in Scotland. Most medical opinion is of that view. However, I do understand that at present there are wide disparities.

Mr. Weir: There are also massive disparities in England. The same problems found in parts of urban Scotland are also found in parts of England and Wales, for historical reasons. It will take a long time before those disparities disappear.