Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)

I begin by welcoming you, Mr. Sayeed, back to your role of looking after our deliberations.

Clause 11 enables the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to establish and maintain a nuclear pension scheme covering those involved in decommissioning and clean-up. Continuity of pensions provision will be very important in retaining a skilled work force, particularly when individuals can expect to change their employer from time to time without changing their work. The NDA is being given powers to operate a pension scheme in which those working for NDA purposes can remain, whatever their employment arrangements.

The Bill provides pension protection for public sector employees who are transferred for NDA purposes—the Committee will generally welcome that—when such a transfer requires those employees to leave their current pension scheme. The powers in the Bill to establish and maintain an industry-wide scheme will allow the establishment of a scheme that may be the appropriate alternative scheme for those who transfer.

The clause also allows the NDA to administer a compensation scheme for the nuclear industry if it is decided that that is appropriate. The role is currently being performed by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. and, in future, the NDA may take the view that it should do that, in which case the clause would allow that. I commend the clause to the Committee.

Mr Norman Baker (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Lewes, Liberal Democrat)

Can the Minister make it clear whether that point relates solely to the public sector or whether in any regard the NDA might take over responsibility for pensions in the private sector nuclear industry?

Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)

The provision is in the Bill because of the position in which people who are currently in the public sector would find themselves if they transferred. For example, Treasury policy does not permit employees who leave the public sector to remain members of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority pension scheme and there has been a good deal of concern about that. UKAEA scheme members

transferred to the private sector for NDA purposes would be required to leave their scheme. In those circumstances, schedule 8 imposes a duty on the Secretary of State in the case of transfer schemes—and the NDA in the case of other types of transfer—to ensure that transferred employees are offered a pension scheme that is no less favourable when considered as a whole.

Mr Norman Baker (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Lewes, Liberal Democrat)

I understand that and perhaps I expressed myself badly. I have no objection to the UKAEA being covered in that way. I was seeking clarification on whether the clause would enable the scheme to be extended to what is already the private sector in the nuclear industry.

Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the remit and initial task of the NDA is the clean-up of public sector sites. I imagine that if there were an extension of that role to private sector sites—we have had some discussion about the circumstances in which that might be permitted—with costs being borne by the private sector, there would be nothing under the clause to exclude people engaged in that work from being members of the scheme being set up. However, that is not the principal intention and, as he knows, a number of significant hurdles would have to be overcome before the NDA reached the stage of having its role extended in the way that he envisages. However, people already working for private sector contractors on public sector sites could be covered by the scheme that the clause allows to be established.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 11 ordered to stand part of the Bill.