Ros Altmann knows her stuff, which bodes well for pensions

Outlook Ros Altmann is perhaps the most refreshing of all the new ministerial appointments. She’s been made a Tory peer to facilitate her replacing Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat who had served as a reforming, and rather effective, pensions minister until he got caught up in the rout of his party. It didn’t hurt that he managed to get rid of the revolving door that had been installed outside the pension minister’s office.

You’d hope that Ms Altmann would be able to stick around for a while too. She is, after all, a rarity in Government in that she actually knows what she’s talking about. Her appointment also suggests the new Government takes the subject seriously.

I’ve talked to Ms Altmann at length, and it’s fair to say that she has some radical views when it comes to reform of the pension system. It will be interesting to see how successful she will be in bringing them to bear upon her policy area.

Ms Altmann, of course, was an adviser to Tony Blair in a previous life. So she should at least know what she’s in for. She may need to call upon some of what she learned then, as well as on her knowledge of her brief, if she is to succeed. And with Britain’s ageing and under-pensioned population, it is in all of our interests that she does.