Clause 9 - Functions exercisable by the
Pensions Bill
3:30 pm
Mr Chris Pond (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Gravesham, Labour)
In a moment, we shall discuss the little list to which the hon. Gentleman referred and we shall talk about the role and functions of the non-executive committee.
As the hon. Gentleman said, the amendment would give an additional duty to the non-executive committee of the regulator. The primary reason to have such a committee is to provide a degree of autonomy in overseeing the governance and strategy of the
organisation. That is one of the issues that he is concerned about. The creation of a non-executive committee will ensure that the regulator remains efficient and accountable; that is what it is there for. That makes the most appropriate use of the regulator's resources, which will be paid for by the levy and therefore by schemes.
A duty to monitor the costs of the legislation once it is in force would not sit well with the committee's other duties. It is also likely to be administratively costly, which would again feed through into the levy. We have discussed on points of order the regulatory impact assessment and my hon. Friend the Minister of State has given an assurance that we will get that to people as soon as possible. That is of course an important mechanism for considering the Bill's impact. With that assurance, we ask that the amendment be withdrawn.