Pensions Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:07 pm on 27 October 2008.

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Photo of Baroness Noakes Baroness Noakes Shadow Minister, Treasury 3:07, 27 October 2008

moved Amendment No. 68:

After Clause 96, insert the following new Clause—

"Report to Parliament about costs and implementation of personal accounts

(1) Before the end of six months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State must prepare and lay before Parliament a report setting out the matters referred to in subsection (2).

(2) The matters referred to in subsection (1) are the Secretary of State's estimates of—

(a) the amounts of money that have been incurred on personal accounts up to the date of the report together with an estimate of the amounts that will be incurred during the 10 years beginning with the date of the report,(b) the amount, if any, of the money included in the estimates under paragraph (a) which will not be recovered from charges to members of a personal accounts pension scheme,(c) the charges which will be borne by members of a personal accounts pension scheme, and(d) the date on which the personal accounts pension scheme will start to operate and the date on which it will, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, be fully operational.

(3) References to the amounts of money incurred or to be incurred in subsection (2)(a) are to the amounts incurred by—

(a) the Secretary of State,(b) the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority,(c) the trustee corporation referred to in section 73, and(d) a personal accounts pension scheme.

(4) The charges which will be borne by members referred to in subsection (2)(c) shall be shown as an annual percentage of the sums expected to be invested in the personal accounts scheme or in any other way that the Secretary of State believes will provide a reasonable representation of the costs borne by members.

(5) References to personal accounts are references to the relevant proposals about personal accounts under section 21 of the Pensions Act 2007 (c. 22) and the matters dealt with under Chapters 5 and 6 of this Act.

(6) References to a personal accounts pension scheme are a reference to a scheme which has been or will be established under section 66 of this Act.

(7) A reference to the personal accounts pension scheme being fully operational is a reference to the scheme being capable of making arrangements which fulfil the obligations of an employer under section 3 of this Act with any employer which wishes to do so.

(8) If it appears to the Secretary of State that it would be prejudicial to securing the best value from the use of public money to publish any matter by including it in a report under this section, he may exclude that matter from that report.

(9) This section shall cease to have effect on the day on which the Secretary of State makes a written or oral statement to Parliament that in his opinion the pension scheme established under section 66 is fully operational."