Clause 17 - External funds
Local Government Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
Members of the Committee who have spoken on the matter have raised some reasonable points. As I understand it, the purpose of the clause is to keep local authorities' superannuation funds' capital controls ''as now'', as it says in the explanatory notes. Perhaps the Minister will confirm that there is nothing new in the safeguards, unless in fact there is. My hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Mr. Syms) mentioned the problem of the superannuation fund borrowing from the local authority. I wonder whether he read, at clause 17(1)(c):
''entry into a credit arrangement by a local authority''.
It would be useful for the Committee to know whether these are normal arrangements and whether that has ever occurred.
Finally, will the Minister clarify what is meant in subsection (2)(b) by
''a trust fund of which the authority is a trustee''?
Is that a normal pension fund arrangement or does the provision envisage other arrangements that may be being used to get around current financial controls?