Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 84: 84: Schedule 6, page 58, line 6, at end insert ““after consulting the chairman”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 98 to 100. Under the Bill the Secretary of State will appoint the chairman of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority, which seems reasonable, but he then goes on to make the first appointments of the other executive members, the chief executive and the non-executive members. Amendments Nos. 84, 99 and 100 would make all these appointments subject to consultation with the chairman. This delivery authority will not last very long: five years at the most, we hope. There is unlikely to be a real issue of second-time-around appointments, although inevitably some will arise. The whole character of the authority will thus be determined by the first appointments, and there needs to be some kind of brake on the Secretary of State simply filling the boardroom with his cronies. Since the chairman of the delivery authority may well be a crony, I accept that my amendment may not achieve much; but if we assume that the Secretary of State appoints a genuinely independent chairman, which is certainly what a number of outside interests earnestly hope, the chairman’s views must be sought on the composition of the authority, including the chief executive. As I say, the business community and other interest groups want a genuinely independent authority, starting with the chairman and going on through the other appointments. With that in mind, I suggest that the chairman should be consulted on the appointments. Amendment No. 98 deals with the deputy chairman, who may be appointed under Schedule 6(5). Most organisations, especially public sector bodies, operate perfectly well without a formally appointed deputy chairman written into their constitution. I suggest that that is doubly so for those with a limited life, but if the Government really want a power to create a deputy chairman, they can have one. However, paragraph 5(3) provides a power for the Secretary of State or the chairman to issue directions to the deputy chairman. Why is the Secretary of State interfering in the internal way that the delivery authority works? This is another example of the fact that the DWP will be able to exercise some degree of micromanagement of the delivery authority while pretending that it is independent. My Amendment No. 98 replaces ““chairman orthe Secretary of State”” with ““Authority””, but my preference would be for no one to give ““directions”” to the hapless individual who is the deputy chairman. We all know what a deputy does: he deputises, and he can undertake specific functions as agreed. He does not need directions for that. I beg to move.