§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) of 11 February 1999,Official Report, column 376, on pensions, what are the reasons for the lower cost of the state second pension compared with SERPS in 2010 and 2020. [73397]
§ Mr. TimmsExpenditure on State Second Pension will be lower than on SERPS over the first 20 years or so because the provisions for carers and the long-term disabled take longer to build up than the previous Government's policy of extending Home Responsibilities Protection to SERPS (which is included in the SERPS baseline). The main reason for this is that few carers of pre-school age children will reach State pension age before 2020.
§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) of 11 February 1999,Official Report, column 379, how much of the £2.5 billion package of measures to tackle pensioner poverty over the next three years is accounted for by the cost of (a) the minimum income guarantee, (b) winter fuel payments, (c) free eye tests and (d) concessionary travel, in each of those years. [73396]
§ Mr. TimmsI refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on 22 February 1999,Official Report, column 173.