Speeches by Bell.

“I will not get into what the Government’s policy will be because I think that needs to be set out to the House and the whole House at the right time.”

“I will try to engage with that subject with the caveat that I cannot talk about what we will do. Let’s look at pension credit in particular. One thing from the discussion over the last 11 months is that we need to get into the weeds of how pension credit works. A lot of colleagues have said to me, “Can’t we just increa…”

“I have encouraged previous Chancellors of all parties to focus on GDP per capita, absolutely.”

“I do not agree with that characterisation. As you said, I was enjoying a different phase of life at that point, but I do not agree with that characterisation. Specifically on some of the points you have raised, for example, we did see a large increase in pension credit uptake ahead of the winter because of exactly that…”

“I am afraid you get another boring answer, John, which is that we are looking at all the policy options for how this eligibility can be extended. When I have more to tell you about that, I will and I am sure it will be scrutinised in detail by you and other colleagues. I did not make the wider point that I was going to…”

“I hear a wide range of ways in which people spend it, and we live in a liberal country, John, where people should be able to make different choices in how they spend it.”

“I am not sure I agree with that, Chair, but we all have different experiences on the doorstep.”

“I would say you will have to wait for us to set out the policy and we will engage directly with the point you are raising. I will make two wider points, one relating to some of the other questions that have been raised in the Committee and one that is directly to you. We all know that public services in Britain are not…”

“I am not judging anyone for trying. I just want to give you a straight answer so that no one is in doubt. In so far as I can answer your question, we are committed to the principle that there should be some means testing and that those on the highest incomes should not be receiving winter fuel payments, in the context …”

“You are slightly tempting me, John, to talk about things that I will not talk about. I want to be really honest about that because I do not want to waste the Committee’s time.”

“I can probably do partial justice to that because it is a very broad question. What lessons do we learn? Let’s start with the good news. What have we learnt on take-up over the course of the last nine months? We have learnt that, particularly if we have close collaboration between local authorities and central Governme…”

“I will say a number of things there. The first thing is that you are right to reflect on lessons from the last 20 years about different parts of government policymaking having substantial effects on other parts of the system. The effect of social care on the NHS is one obvious example that I know you are very alive to.…”

“On excess deaths, you do not need to look at predictions, you can look at what happened in the data over last winter. First of all, we saw negative excess deaths, so fewer deaths than normal. That is due to a wide range of factors. If we look at the cohorts particularly affected by changes in the winter fuel payments, …”

“There is a legal requirement on the Government to engage in an equality impact assessment before any decisions are made, and we will be doing that. We do consider wider impacts. What I will say on the health aspect is that we definitely need to think about the debates around health in a wider context. What is the big p…”

“There is no need to be cynical, Danny, in life. The straight answer is I will not be able to give you a lot of detail and I will not be able to answer a lot of the questions I am sure you all reasonably have. Obviously, the work is going on with that. I will repeat what the Prime Minister has said, which is that we all…”

“Let me say a little bit directly on that question to set the winter fuel payment debate in a slightly broader context. The straight answer to your question is no, I do not have lots to add to what you have heard from the Prime Minister in the Chamber and then over the recent days. Of course, the announcement as and whe…”

“No, I think we can get going. I will say this is an important inquiry covering an issue that has been a big part of British politics for at least 40 years. It is obviously a live debate in politics today and I have had a chance to see not all but most of the transcripts of the interesting evidence you have heard so far…”

“I would say that the pensions industry as a whole actually does have a very high degree of consensus about what it wants to see. It wants to see a move to bigger and better pension funds. That is what the pension investment review is laying out the ground for and within the defined contribution space, which is mainly t…”

“I agree with the statement you read out at the beginning, and I have met a lot of people affected, both as a Minister and as a constituent MP, so I am very aware of the consequences. It is the 20th anniversary of the PPF, which was one of the biggest successes of the last Labour Government—a far bigger success than peo…”

“So that the Chair does not tell me off too much, I will try to give quick answers to those. There is an ongoing judicial review now, so I will not go into a lot of detail because that is now a matter for the courts. All I would say on that is that the Government’s position has been set out in the Secretary of State’s f…”