Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

I cannot say precisely what discussions took place with the trustees. However, I can tell the right hon. Gentleman about conversations that I have had, particularly with my right hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn (Mr. Touhig), on behalf of the chairman of the trustees, who is currently indisposed through illness. I hope to give the Committee some comfort about two key issues that the trustees have raised with me. The first issue relates to accrued rights—that is, the rights to a pension that Members have already accrued. These provisions are silent on whether IPSA could change accrued rights peremptorily, and there is some anxiety about that. That is no part of our intention, nor that of IPSA. The Committee will be aware that section 67 of the Pensions Act 1995 sets out the requirements that have to be followed if there are proposals to change accrued rights. If a so-called protective modification is to be made, the informed consent of the Members affected is required. Since what we are seeking to do through the whole IPSA arrangements is to put Members of Parliament in no better and no worse a position than members of the public in ordinary employment, we accept that there should be a similar protection for accrued rights. Discussions have taken place about how that might be done. Officials are considering whether, for example, provisions for Members' pensions should hook in with the provision in the 1995 Act, which might be the most sensible way of doing it. The second issue, which relates to trustees, has been raised by several Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller). I have been to Ellesmere Port many times—[Interruption.] No, it was not briefly at all. There is a huge petrol refinery there, and when we almost ran out of petrol in September 2000, and I was Home Secretary and therefore to blame, I made it my business to visit all the refineries in the country to try to avoid a similar crisis happening again. That is why I know my hon. Friend's constituency intimately. The provisions as drafted give IPSA the right to appoint whomsoever it wishes as trustees. There is provision in the Pensions Act 2004 that at least one third of trustees of any pension scheme should be representative of the members of the scheme. We propose to look at that to see whether such a provision could be brought in as an amendment on Report.