Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 18: 18: Clause 80, page 41, line 31, after ““may”” insert ““, with the consent of the Treasury,”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall also speak to the other amendments in this group. They have similar wording and intent, but the amendments to Clause 80 apply to financial provisions for the delivery authority while those to Schedule 1 are to provisions for the trustee corporation. There has been considerable interest in the financial arrangements for the personal accounts scheme during the passage of the Bill through the House. I recognise the legitimate concerns raised by a number of noble Lords, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, that there must be adequate protection for the taxpayer. That is the Government’s intention but I accept that there is scope to make that clearer on the face of the Bill. On Report I undertook to look again at the financial provisions in Clause 80 and Schedule 1, and as a result I have tabled these amendments to the finance provisions in the Bill to make clear that any financial assistance that the Secretary of State may make to the delivery authority or the trustee corporation will be consistent with general rules on government lending. In particular, the amendments specify that any loans must attract an interest rate consistent with the conditions that would apply under Section 5 of the National Loans Act 1968; that is to say, at a minimum they must cover the Government’s cost of borrowing. The amendments therefore reinforce our policy commitment to delivery the scheme at nil cost to taxpayers and that the scheme should be self-financing over the longer term. These amendments give Parliament further reassurance of the Government’s intentions with regard to funding the personal accounts scheme. I beg to move.