§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to improve uptake of stakeholder pensions. [31841]
§ Mr. McCartney[holding answer 31 January 2002]: Stakeholder pension sales of over 600,000 in the first nine months on the market are a very encouraging start. In addition, figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show 312,096 employers had designated stakeholder pension schemes for their staff by the end of December 2001.
The sales of stakeholder pension have had a wider impact, ABI figures show increased new pension sales of 9 per cent. for the quarter July-September 2001 amounting to £2.8 billion. Regular premium pension business rose by 50 per cent. to £584 million on the same period last year, and new single premium pension policies rose by 2 per cent. to £2.2 billion.
We are also working to provide information to help people make informed decisions about saving for their retirement. We have already greatly improved the general pension information available by actively promoting our series of pension education guides. In addition, we are working in partnership with employers and pension providers to introduce new pension forecasts giving both state and private pension details.