To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what studies he has made of the evolution of pension policies in other European Union countries; and what steps he has taken to reflect the findings of these studies in his policy on pensions provision. [98329]
The United Kingdom has contributed to the voluntary exchange of information and good practice by EU Member States within a framework of common objectives on pensions covering adequacy, financial sustainability and modernisation agreed during the Swedish Presidency of the EU.As part of this process the European Commission published a draft joint report on adequate and sustainable pensions in December 2002 based on national contributions. The draft report recognises that Member States have pension systems that have developed in very different ways and do not conform to one single model of provision. A major theme in the draft report is the need for urgent reform in many public pension systems to ensure they are financially sustainable in the future. This concurs with the UK's position that financial sustainability is a prerequisite for the adequacy of public pension provision. The UK public pension system is one of those found to be financially sustainable in the long term.The draft report concludes that the major challenge for the UK system is ensuring that there is increased access to occupational and personal pension provision and people are encouraged to save enough to meet their expectations in retirement. These same issues are addressed by the proposals set out in the Green Paper published in December 2002 on which we are currently consulting.