§ Mr. Stallardasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what announcements have been made by his Department in response to the recommendations of the Social Services Select Committee's Report on the age of retirement; and when he expects to publish an official reaction.
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§ Mr. RossiNo formal announcements have been made, although I wrote to the Chairman of the Social Services Committee on 5 January in the following terms
Thank you for your letter of 25 November to Norman Fowler about the Committee's Third Report on the Age of Retirement. I am sorry for the delay in sending you a reply.We are as anxious as you are to ensure the earliest possible issue of the formal Government response to the Committee's Reports, so that they can be debated while fresh in everybody's minds. For reasons I know you will readily appreciate this is not always as easy as it sounds, but I can confirm that we are making every effort to ensure that our response to your latest Report on the Age of Retirement is available to the Committee by the end of February at the latest.Without prejudice to our final considered response, I should like to congratulate you and the Committee on this report. In reading it I was struck by the clear and considered way that the key issues had been analysed and by the care that had been taken to produce proposals that are workable if the necessary political consensus can be achieved. Whatever the timescale eventually decided for change, I feel certain that you are right to see the future development of pension schemes firmly in the context of the twin principles of flexibility and equality. I have no doubt that your report is an important benchmark on the road to achieving these goals".