Clause 13 - Provision of information,
Pensions Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Chris Pond (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Gravesham, Labour)
I wish to disentangle the debate because some strands are running through it and some of the anxieties that have been expressed are not related to the clause. This provision is not about requiring employers to provide information on pensions to their employees or anyone else. We will be dealing with that later in the Bill, when we reach clause 195.
Under clause 13, the role of the regulator should be not only to investigate and to sanction, but to provide education and guidance. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Pensions said earlier, there is a spectrum of powers, from the hard-edge enforcement end to the softer end of education and guidance. That fulfils an important function running alongside the role of the Pensions Advisory Service in providing guidance to individuals on their position in relation to occupational pensions and their individual pensions plan.
The clause says that the regulator has a proper role to play in raising the pensions literacy not only of employers and trustees, but of the company community as a whole, to ensure that we have the sort of transparency and understanding that could provide protection against some of the tragedies of the recent past. I hope that hon. Members can accept that as an important role of the regulator.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 13 ordered to stand part of the Bill.