Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 118: 118: Clause 20, page 23, line 43, at end insert— ““( ) In discharging its function under this section, the Authority shall ensure that its actions and advice support the objectives for the scheme that— (a) investment strategy will be set in the best interests of members; (b) members will have appropriate levels of choice; (c) charges will be fair and reasonable; and (d) funds will be invested in the best interests of the members.”” The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 118 groups together some of the things that the Government said in their White Paper about the personal accounts scheme. In this amendment, I am trying to ensure that those things are within the remit of the delivery authority. I am sure that it is uncontroversial to specify that investment strategy and execution should be in the best interests of members and that charges will be fair and reasonable, although that covers a multitude of sins. One thing that did not find its way into the final list of the remit for the personal accounts system in the White Paper was members having an appropriate degree of choice. However, we know from elsewhere in the Government’s White Paper that they believein enabling choice, so I hope that that, too, is uncontroversial. Choice should be part of the personal accounts scheme and therefore part of what the delivery authority takes into account when framing its advice and preparing the scheme for implementation. All in all, I do not believe that the amendment goes beyond what the Government have stated are the objectives of the personal accounts scheme and therefore should be the objectives of the delivery authority. I beg to move.