HC Deb 25 June 2001 vol 370 cc369-70
4. Mr. David Amess (Southend, West)

What recent representations he has received on the level of the state retirement pension. [443]

The Minister for Pensions (Mr. Ian McCartney)

We are providing significant extra help for all pensioners, including a £200 winter fuel payment and a minimum income guarantee of more than £92 a week for single pensioners and £140 a week for couples. This year, we have increased the basic state pension by £5 a week for single people and £8 a week for couples. From April 2002, there will be further increases of £3 a week for single people and £4.80 for couples. In total, we are spending £4.4 billion more on pensioners in 2001–02 alone as a result of the changes that we have introduced. That is nearly £3 billion more than if we had restored the earnings link.

Mr. Amess

I welcome the Minister to his new role. Does he recall the Labour leader saying during the general election campaign that one of his biggest regrets was the insulting 75p increase that he gave to our pensioners? Why have the Government still got it in for our pensioners? Will the Minister comment on the official House of Commons Library figures that tell us that there are 500,000 more senior citizens living in poverty since this rotten Government came to power in 1997?

Mr. McCartney

The hon. Gentleman's shouting does not improve the quality of his response to my answer. The truth is that he has some brass neck. The Tory Government doubled means testing and left us a legacy not just of people in poverty, but of a generation of older people in poverty. This Government have tackled poverty in old age. This Government have put in extra spending of £2 billion on the poorest third of pensioners, which is five times more than the earnings link would ever have given them. This Government have introduced the winter fuel payment, free TV licences and the minimum income guarantee, all of which Conservative Members opposed and still oppose. That is why a lot of them were pensioned off at the election and we were put back into power.

Mr. Bill O'Brien (Normanton)

I welcome my right hon. Friend to his new post. Will he take note of the response that I have received from pensioners who welcome the state retirement pension increase? However, will he also consider the concerns over increased costs for telephones, water and sewerage and carefully monitor energy costs to ensure that pensioners get full value for the £200 winter fuel allowance and receive all that they are entitled to?

Mr. McCartney

The Government will introduce a new pension service whose purpose will be to ensure, quickly and effectively, that pensioners get all the benefits to which they are entitled. That is also true of our work with local government, and we are considering "Better Government for Older People" to achieve improvements in services for older people. In particular, when local government services are being designed, the needs of older people must be taken into account. With those links, in terms of income increases and improvements in services, this Government have become the first in living memory to put pensioners on the right side—we are the pensioners' advocate and the pensioners' ambassador.

Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East)

I warmly congratulate the Minister on his new appointment. Will he give the House an absolute guarantee that the Government will never again give pensioners a miserly 75p increase in their basic state pension?

Mr. McCartney

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks, and I hope that the ride is not as bumpy as some of his hon. Friends would like to make it for me. We will always do the right thing by pensioners, which is why we will introduce a pension credit Bill during this parliamentary Session. We have put other measures in place to ensure that no pensioner in Britain has to live in poverty, as they did under the Tories.