Pensions Bill

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, for allowing me this opportunity to provide some detail about our recruitment plans for senior personnel in the delivery authority. Noble Lords will no doubt have seenthe recent advertisements for some of these posts in the Sunday newspapers. I should like to reassure the Committee that our intention is for the chairman to be involved in the process as much as possible. The closing date for applications for the post of chairman and the first non-executive director was 8 May, and we hope to announce the successful candidates in the summer. This timetable allows the chairman to input into the recruitment of other board members, in particular the chief executive. We expect to announce the successful candidate for this post later in the year. All appointments will, of course, be subject to the Royal Assent of this Bill. We anticipate that there will eventually be nine delivery authority board members: a chairman, four non-executives and four executives, including the chief executive. This is in line with one of the central recommendations of the Higgs report that at least half of the board, excluding the chairman, should be independent non-executives. The intention is to make further appointments to the board later this year and early next. Amendment No. 98 concerns the role of the deputy chairman. The Bill allows for the chairman or the Secretary of State to provide directions to the deputy chairman should he be required to discharge some or all of the functions of the chairman. This is in line with good business practice. The chairman may decide to delegate certain functions to his deputy. This does not mean abdicating responsibility but provides the authority with the flexibility to focus efforts and skills in the most effective way possible to achieve its objectives. There may well be critical peaks in the work schedule. The authority will need to utilise its resources to best effect. Enabling the chairman to delegate certain functions will help to achieve this. Furthermore, this provision also covers for unforeseen circumstances, which is what I think the noble Baroness was pointing towards. For instance, if the authority were without a chairman due to illness, it would allow the Secretary of State to give some guidance to the deputy chairman who may be covering this crucial role on a temporary basis. It is not intended to be micromanagement. The provisions in the Bill do not compromise the independence of the delivery authority; they are intended to enable continuity of business in the event of the chairman being unable to discharge his duties. I hope that noble Lords are reassured by this and agree that these provisions work to best effect as they stand. I therefore hope the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw the amendment.