asked the Prime Minister what she is doing to put into effect the Government's concept of a decade of retirement for British citizens between the age of 60 and 70 years.

Work is under way to re-examine the assumptions about retirement patterns and labour market behaviour which underpin any estimates of the overall cost of changes in pension age. Since cost is the main obstacle to introducing a flexible pension scheme on the lines suggested in the Green Paper on social security in June 1985, and since cost estimates are highly sensitive to changes in these basic assumptions, this work is a necessary foundation to further consideration of this issue.