Pensioners Charter (Hansard, 30 November 1992)

§ 11. Mr. Skinner
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will now meet pension associations to discuss the implementation of a pensioners charter.

§ Miss Widdecombe
Pensioners already have a charter, the citizens charter, which works towards making the service to pensioners more accessible, accountable and responsive to their needs and expectations.

§ Mr. Skinner
The pensioners whom I have met throughout Britain do not rate that charter. They take the view that it will not do them any good. They are concerned about their own charter during this winter. They want to ensure that those pensioners who might well die of hypothermia will be able to use some of the 46 million tonnes of coal that we have in stock to keep themselves warm. Similarly, they want to be sure that those who are at risk of hypothermia will have enough food to ensure that they do not starve during the winter. They want the £20 back that the Tory Government took off them when they broke the link with earnings and prices. They want all pensioners to have a television licence.

§ Madam Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman knows that he must ask a question, and he is well capable of doing so.

§ Mr. Skinner
They want included in the charter the abolition of standing charges for pensioners. Unlike—

§ Madam Speaker
Order. I am waiting for the hon. Gentleman to ask a question. I want a question, not comment.

§ Mr. Skinner
To follow up the charter, I hope that the Minister will introduce a Bill to abolish standing charges for pensioners. If she cannot find the money to enable that to happen, she should go to the Treasury, which has paid out £4,500 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and say, "We want the money for the pensioners of Britain."

§ Miss Widdecombe
Indeed, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wants the money and he has the money. That is what was said in the autumn statement not long ago. Pensioners do not want to see their savings eroded by inflation, which is what happened during the 1970s under the Labour Government. They want to be able to rely on their Christmas bonus and not miss it for two years because there is an incompetent Labour Government. They want to ensure that the value of their incomes rises by 34 per cent., as it has under this Administration, and not by the miserable 3 per cent. that it rose under the Labour Government.

§ Mr. Jenkin
Will my hon. Friend confirm that people in glass houses should not throw stones? Does she agree that the only real threat of means-testing the basic state pension came from the right hon. and learned Member for Monklands, East (Mr. Smith)?

§ Miss Widdecombe
All real threats to pensioners come from the Opposition. It is true that the only serious suggestion of means-testing state pension came from the Leader of the Opposition when he was setting up what he deemed to be the commission for social justice. I do not know what social justice is involved in means-testing the pension.

§ Mr. Winnick
Means-testing was in fact suggested by a Tory pressure group two years ago. Why is it that Britain's pensioners are among the poorest in the European Community? This winter, hundreds of thousands of pensioners in this country will be fearful of heating their homes properly because they know that they would be unable to pay their fuel bills. Would not money be better spent on pensioners, rather than paying the Chancellor of the Exchequer's bill in respect of what was essentially a private matter?

§ Miss Widdecombe
I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman appears to be saying that the Labour party draws its policy from Tory pressure groups. Far from Britain's pensioners being the worst-off in Europe, they are among the best-off. Is the hon. Gentleman aware that only Britain and Spain supply free prescriptions to pensioners; that in any study of pensioners on half-average earnings, Britain's pensioners come out first or second; and that, unlike some other countries in Europe, we do not take into account children's income when assessing pensioners' rights? Should not the hon. Gentleman be ashamed? I recommend that he reads the good article that appeared in yesterday's Sunday Express.