Clause 55
Pensions Bill
3:15 pm
Nigel Waterson (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Eastbourne, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 31, in clause 55, page 26, line 19, leave out ‘have regard to’ and insert ‘take account of’.
This is a cheeky little amendment but it deserves an outing. It is the procedure for rules that are made under clause 50 in setting up the scheme. The clause starts well by saying that anyone who is proposing these rules
“must publish a draft of the rules and invite comments.”
So far, so good. It then goes on to say:
“They must have regard to any comments made in accordance with the invitation.”
Having checked the Oxford Dictionary, it seems to me that to “have regard” is a pretty weak injunction on people; it might just invite the odd glance and will then be ignored completely. We are proposing to toughen that up and say, “take account of”, which is a rather sterner injunction and one which we think perfectly appropriate in these circumstances.