Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

Yes, if a county court makes an order, it is payable, so it does not need a subsequent provision saying""as if it were payable under an order of that court"" It is an order of the court, so there must be some further meaning that I do not understand; it seems to me to be tautological and I do not like tautology in statute. I hope that we might avoid that, if at all possible. My final comments—I appreciate that this is a large group of amendments and that I have already spoken to them for some time—relate to pensions. I am pleased that the Lord Chancellor has said that he will look again at the provision. I do not think that it was drafted entirely in accordance with what Kelly recommended: in my opinion, it gives IPSA a much wider role than he intended. Its proposed role in the appointment and, particularly, the "disappointment" of trustees is unhelpful, and contradicts the normal practice applying to major pension schemes outside the House. In its excessive zeal to prevent MPs from determining their pension arrangements, the measure prevents them from taking a view as members of a pension scheme—rather than as Members of Parliament—on the administration of that scheme. I hope that when we next consider the issue, a revised proposal will have been tabled after proper discussion with the trustees of the pension scheme. It beggars belief that no one thought that that was a necessary prerequisite for the clause. I think that, in broad terms, the many new clauses and new schedules would implement what was proposed by Kelly, which is the only test to which I wish to submit them. As I have said, I think we should look further at aspect of them to ensure that they have internal logic and have been properly drafted, but I intend to support them. I hope that we shall be given an opportunity to improve them at a later stage if there are questions that remain unanswered, preferably as a result of the tabling of appropriate amendments by the Lord Chancellor.