HC Deb 20 October 2003 vol 411 cc353-4W
17. Mr. Randall

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on saving for retirement. [132617]

Malcolm Wicks

Our aim is to help people choose how they plan for retirement, how much they save and how long they keep working. Our immediate priority was to tackle pensioner poverty and we have, through the Pension Credit, both increased the amount individual receive and also rewarded those who have saved. Through our Green Paper and Action on Occupational Pensions proposals we have sought to increase security, promote flexibility of provision and reinvigorate the pensions partnership. We want to give individuals real choices about the savings decisions they take through the provision of the right information and the right products—this we are doing through our informed choice programme and proposed suite of stakeholder products, as proposed in the Sandler review. The Government's overall objective is to promote secure and sustainable pensions provision for individuals.