Pensions Bill

I thank my noble friends who moved and spoke to the amendment and my noble friend Lord Leitch for giving his broad sweep of the personal accounts landscape. He brings an experienced and knowledgeable eye to the risks and opportunities that personal accounts represent. The amendments before us focus on membership of the delivery authority and, in particular, the arrangements for consumer representation. These are both important issues. The board will be the driving force of the organisation, providing the strategic leadership as it discharges its functions, so it is vital that the right people are appointed. Consumer representation is an issue which we rightly recognise as crucial to the success of the personal accounts scheme. I shall talk first about the membership of the authority board. I can assure noble Lords that we recognise the importance of ensuring the board contains individuals with a breadth of knowledge and experience, from a range of different backgrounds. The Secretary of State will of course be mindful of this when making or approving appointments. Noble Lords should be reassured by this, as it is likely that the delivery authority will contain members with the knowledge and experience outlined in Amendment No. 87. However, we might also wish to have members from other backgrounds and with other experience, so we do not want to specify in legislation the particular skills or experience members must have and thereby restrict the flexibility to recruit the right person at the right time. The specific calls from my noble friends Lady Turner and Lady Gibson for board-level representation of consumer interests also highlight an important issue. As the White Paper makes clear, we consider it essential to the success of the scheme that members’ needs are at the core of personal accounts. I can reassure the Committee that each board member will be acting in the interests of prospective members, although each member will, of course, bring different knowledge, skills and backgrounds to their role. We want the authority to have the flexibility to recruit the best person for the job. The noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, also effectively aired the point about the board members’ representing the whole board rather than sectional interests. Amendments Nos. 104 and 104A seek to oblige the delivery authority to establish a committee for the purpose of representing the interests of prospective scheme members. As I made clear, we consider it essential that members’ needs are at the core of personal accounts. However, at this initial stage, it is the Government who will continue to take policy decisions and set the framework within which the delivery authority must work. It is therefore more appropriate for prospective members’ comments or concerns on personal accounts policy to be directed at this stage to the Department for Work and Pensions. I can reassure noble Lords that officials within the department have regular engagement with a range of stakeholders, and maintain productive and valuable relationships with groups that represent the issues of prospective members. If my noble friends have other contacts, we would certainly be more than happy to engage with them as part of that process. We recently had a very productive and interesting meeting with Which? and agree with it that consumer representation is fundamental if trust and confidence in personal accounts is to be upheld. I can also reassure the Committee that we are exploring the arrangements for member representation in the live running of the scheme. However, as I outlined, during this advisory stage it is more appropriate for stakeholders’ views to be directed to the DWP. It will be for the delivery authority to establish committees and to invite persons from outside the authority to sit on them as it deems appropriate. The delivery authority may wish to set up a committee to advise it on the interests of prospective members. Indeed, that is made possible by paragraph 9(1)(b). Again, however, we would not wish to specify in legislation specific committees to be established by the delivery authority. This would remove the delivery authority’s flexibility to use committees in the most effective way. Although I am not able to accept the amendments in the form in which they have been tabled, I hope that what I have said has been assuring to the noble Baroness and that she will be able to withdraw the amendment.