§ 20. Linda Gilroy (Plymouth, Sutton)What response he has had to the consultation on the pension credit from people and organisations in the south-west of England. [462]
§ The Minister for Pensions (Mr. Ian McCartney)We received more than 400 responses, including from the west country, to the consultation exercise. The credit delivered from 2003 will tackle pensioner poverty, first by ensuring that no pensioner lives on less than £100 a week and no pensioner couple lives on less than £154 a week. We are rewarding, not penalising, pensioners for having worked and saved so that they can provide for themselves by giving incomes of up to £135 a week to single pensioners and £200 a week to couples. Secondly, we have reformed the capital limits and the unrealistic rates of return that go with them, abolished the weekly means test and modernised the way in which we deliver pensions by simplifying the rules and significantly reducing from the outset the complex information that is available. Over time, we will reduce the intrusion and hassle experienced by pensioners.
§ Linda GilroyI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply and welcome him to his new responsibilities. I also welcome the proposal in the Queen's Speech to introduce the pension credit through legislation this Session. May I urge him to ensure, as soon as he can, that straightforward 384 information is made available in good time to the many thousands of people in my constituency who could benefit from that new pension credit?
§ Mr. McCartneyI thank my hon. Friend for her kind remarks and give an absolute guarantee we will keep in regular contact with all hon. Members and the pensioners who will benefit from the pension credit so that they receive information on their rights at appropriate times. The purpose of creating the new pension service—a national service delivered locally—is to improve dramatically across the United Kingdom pensioners' access to information and to income.
§ Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire)Does the Minister agree with Mr. Mervyn Kohler, the director general of Help the Aged, who thinks that the pension credit
is far too complex and over-elaborate"?
§ Mr. McCartneyThe gentleman that the hon. Gentleman mentions may have been misinterpreted because, in principle, his organisation welcomes the purpose of the pension credit, which, as I have said, is intended to reduce complexity, intrusion and hassle and to ensure that people have early access to it. When pensioners see the proposals, they will find that the Government have been true to their word in introducing a credit that gives pensioners easy, transparent and quick access to additional forms of income.