Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 55: 55: Schedule 1, page 77, line 8, leave out ““four”” and insert ““five”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 57. I am sure that noble Lords will remember our debates in Committee about the trustee corporation. In particular, we had an interesting debate on the period for which a person can be appointed to be a member of the trustee corporation. We agreed to take away the valid points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, and the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, about the value of experience and continuity in such positions. After consideration, we believe that it is sensible to increase the maximum period of tenure to two terms of five years, rather than two terms of four. Amendment No. 55 means that, although we are extending the maximum limit, it will remain in line with the principles in the code of practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, which suggests that it is in the public interest to limit the length of appointments made by Ministers to be no longer than a total of 10 years. On Amendment No. 57, while the corporation will comprise the nine to 15 individuals who make up the sole corporate trustee, the corporation will, of course, need to employ staff to carry out the day-to-day running of the scheme. At this stage, it is simply not possible to know how the trustee corporation will want to staff itself and who the best candidates for the various roles will be. It is possible, especially in the early years, that industry experts may be interested in joining the corporation to assist in its set-up but that they would want to do this on a short-term secondment basis, rather than as formal employees. We want to ensure that the trustee corporation has the flexibility to appoint the best possible people for the job. Amendment No. 57 enables the trustee corporation to delegate functions to all members of staff, not just employees. Many, if not all, senior positions are likely to include delegated functions. Finally, I reiterate that the trustee corporation is required to act in the best interests of members. This means that, regardless of whether an employee or secondee, the trustee will still have to consider the appropriateness of any delegation and ensure that proper controls are put in place. This amendment will not dilute that responsibility in any way. I thank noble Lords again for their compelling contributions in Committee and I hope that these amendments address the concerns that they raised then. I beg to move.