My Lords, like others, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for the opportunity to debate this important matter, and I shall be brief.
The long and painful process of inquiry into the Hillsborough tragedy demonstrated atrocious behaviour by a number of organisations and individuals who fail…
My Lords, I, too, am grateful to my noble friend Lord Elliott for securing this very timely debate today. For inspiration as to what to say, I referred to the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a highly respected body founded by my noble friend. I agree wholeheartedly with the view expressed by John O’Connell, th…
My Lords, I expressed considerable concern about this part of the Bill in Committee. I have studied the amendments that have been put forward and, like the noble Baroness who has spoken on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, will reserve my position, since we can come back to this. The amendments, whic…
I have already taken the opportunity to reiterate the concerns I have expressed about parts of the Bill. I find myself in the somewhat against-the-grain position of agreeing with much of what was said on behalf of the Opposition. Amendment 26 seems to me entirely reasonable, given the level of conce…
I am grateful to my noble friend for his thoughts on that matter. I do not necessarily agree with him about private equity’s role in pension funds. It has an extremely important role in investing in the infrastructure and fast-growing companies that we want to see so that the UK economy can unlock t…
I think it is worth reminding the House that I spent my entire working life in the financial services industry in one form or another, and I am afraid to say that my practical experience of the industry has made me a sceptic of much of the promotion provided by it telling us how it will do the econo…
The speeches that have been made in this debate about an important issue are clear, and I strongly support those made on this side of the House. Because of the exigencies of where the issue arises in our consideration of the Bill, I have tabled manuscript Amendment 147A. Noble Lords may well be scra…
I thank my noble friend for his support. I reassure all noble Lords that this Government and our party have zero plans to change anything about the triple lock in this Parliament, which cannot be said of all political parties, unfortunately. With the Pensions Commission, we have brought together nat…
Okay. I just wanted to say thank you to my noble friend Lady Bryan.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her introduction to the Bill and for the ability to speak openly to her in the lead-up to today. I completely agree with the Minister that benefits should be easy to access for those who are in genuine need and difficult—even impossible—to access for those who are …
I think the reaction from noble Lords was to the use of the word “Orwellian”. No one is questioning the facts; it is the suggestion that a central arbitration commission is Orwellian.
Having raised these issues at the beginning of Committee, I just want to say that, following the favourable response of the Front Bench to the idea of arranging a meeting at which they can be discussed, I very much look forward—at least, I hope I can—to the reply of my noble friend the Minister.
I wanted to participate in this debate principally to congratulate my noble friend on his excellent introduction. Throughout the stages of the Bill, he has been clear and concise about the need for this legislation, and his contribution today was magnificent.
All the speeches have been clear about …
I appreciate that, at this late hour, there will be a keenness for everyone to go, but I want to remind the House of its history in opposing amendments such as that proposed by the noble Lord.
One has to remember that, without the right of the Prime Minister exercising the royal prerogative, we wou…
My Amendments 109A and 109B address the twin issues of affordability and minimising social harm. Amendment 109A deals with the Government’s proposed “affordability assessment”, which is my term, not the Government’s. Amendment 109B requires a de minimis amount to be left in an individual’s bank acco…
I thank the noble Viscount and my noble friend the Minister for comments on my amendments. It has been useful to receive a coherent assessment and description of how this process will work. I will read carefully what was said and consider whether it is an issue that needs to be pursued at a later st…
My Lords, it is a real pleasure to come on to the subject of pensions at 10.30 pm. However, I know not to try the patience of my noble friends or even the noble Opposition. In truth, the amendment, although it comes up here and refers to enforcement and the fair work agency, is really about the plac…
I thank my noble friend the Minister for his remarks. I am unpersuaded but, at this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 80. There is a certain amount of overlap with other amendments not just in this group, obviously, but in other groups. The mysteries of the grouping of amendments are beyond my pay grade, but we are in a situation where we are bound to discuss the same subject …
It is clear that we are talking about two different stages here. The first intervention into the bank accounts of individuals will be done algorithmically. The DWP will provide the banks or whoever with the set of criteria that they should apply, and the banks will run it through their computers and…
I came into the House today to support this Bill, and I am glad we have found the time for it. The context is that this country has a long and honourable history of welcoming refugees. That is something that we can feel proud of and from which we have benefited over many centuries. That is the backg…
I am grateful to my noble friend for his question and for his birthday wishes—that was very kind of him. Obviously, we had to achieve the right balance between a simple system to administer and getting the support to those who need it most. The system that we have come up with sticks with the existi…
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Sikka very much regrets not being here today, for totally understandable personal reasons.
Could the noble Lord wait, please?
As the noble Lord has reminded me, my noble friend’s amendments are in the next group. My noble friend Lord Sikka will not be here and the lead amendment will not be moved; however, the issues raised in those amendments are directly relevant to this group. In orde…
My Lords, as someone who has spoken from these Benches against this proposal, I very much welcome the Government’s decision. The way the change has been characterised is a bit misleading. Does the Minister not agree that this represents a rejection of means testing and a return to universal benefits…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this important debate before the Grand Committee today. While technical in nature, the debate strikes at the very heart of our pensions system. It concerns the management of risk, the generation of returns for pension schemes and the financial security of …
I thank my noble friend for his powerful and clear speech; he has said it all. I just want to add that this issue has arisen from the P&O scandal that took place three years ago. The maritime unions are particularly concerned about this, and I hope that my noble friend the Minister will be able …
My Lords, I ask noble Lords to cast their minds back three years to 24 March 2022, when the P&O Ferries chief executive officer Peter Hebblethwaite made it clear to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee that he knew that his decision to sack 786 British seafarers broke the law. He went…
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Spielman, on her maiden speech, and we welcome her to the House.
I rise as a Liberal Democrat to speak in firm opposition to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. While we all share a goal of preventing fraud and ensuring the inte…
This may be a matter that we might more usefully explore in Committee, but I shall give my noble friend a simple example. There are certain compensation payments that are not taken into account in terms of eligibility for benefits. They are excluded from the capital limits. So it may be that somebod…
My noble friend will know that Ministers in the DWP and the Treasury are very cognisant of the need to ensure we have an uptake by people who need and qualify for the winter fuel payment who currently do not have it. My understanding is that the DWP has written to all those pensioners. There have be…
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for his replies and for the Statement in the Commons. I understand why my noble friend and the Minister in the Commons avoided tackling the issue of mandation, even though there was clearly a Treasury-inspired leak about the issue on Monday. Does my noble friend und…
I speak in support of my noble friend Lady Lister of Burtersett, and in support of more being done on statutory sick pay. I welcome the Government’s commitment to strengthen statutory sick pay by removing the lower earnings limit and the waiting period, but they must go further to ensure that people…