Displaying items by tag: Parliament

The cross-party Health and Social Care Committee has described pension tax rules a “national scandal” in a new report.

The Conservative General Election triumph means the much delayed Pensions Bill is likely to be back in Parliament soon, according to a number of financial services experts.

Following Nicky Morgan’s appointment to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, a new chair of the Treasury Select Committee has been selected.

Today’s Queen’s Speech, at the state opening of Parliament today, has brought the Pensions Dashboard closer and unveiled a number of other measures.

The current level of funding and the financial structure of FOS will have to change, FCA chairman Charles Randell told the Treasure Committee today.

The use of the wrong platform to launch a petition against scrapping the pensions dashboard mean that the issue will not be debated in Parliament, despite surpassing 100,000 signatures.
 
The petition, which has so far reached 130,768 signatures, was set up on the 38 Degrees website, but to qualify for Parliamentary time petitions must be created on the official petition.parliament.uk website.

Aegon has slammed the process as “smacking of Yes, Minister bureaucracy.”
 
The petition calls on Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, to keep to previous Government pronouncements and to follow through with delivery of the pensions dashboard.
 


Normally once a petition reaches 100,000 signatures it is considered for debate in Parliament, but only if petitions filed use the Government’s petition service.
 
Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, said: “It’s ridiculous in this digital age that the Government insists on people using its own petition service to get something debated in Parliament, and smacks of Yes, Minister bureaucracy.

“The pensions dashboard is an important consumer-facing initiative and one that is backed not only by the pension industry but by many others.

“The fact that over 130,000 people have signed the petition in a matter of weeks shows people’s passion for the pensions dashboard and has generated welcome publicity.

“The Government needs to acknowledge this and debate the issue in Parliament.”

The pension freedom reforms are a “potential trigger for future mass mis-selling”, MPs have warned.

MPs will this afternoon debate claims that retirement plans “have been shattered with devastating consequences” due to transitional state pension arrangements.

Pension firms have called for greater clarity on the state pension, following the Queen’s Speech yesterday.

There will be a second reading of the Pensions Bill in Parliament this afternoon (17 June).