Steve Webb, speaking to Lib Dem conference:
I found out that I was, indeed, the 11th different pensions minister in the last 14 years.
Steve Webb, speaking to Lib Dem conference:
I found out that I was, indeed, the 11th different pensions minister in the last 14 years.
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The implication being that, with too frequent reshuffles, the department then becomes too much the creature of its civil servants.
Steve, of course, had the advantage of having having worked on the subject for a lot of the last 20 years, at least, and thus already understood his brief.
Pensions is one of the most long-term issues that a government deals with, and needs a wise and informed minister. (As an example, I have been a member of the same pension scheme, as contributor or pensioner, since before Steve was born.)
The state of some Occupational Pensions in this country is a national disgrace – legalised robbery in some cases. Eleven ministers in fourteen years sums up the neglect by governments ever since Barbara Castle tried to introduce a proper scheme.
I’ve heard that the Australian system works well.