Clause 57
Pensions Bill
3:47 pm
Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Pension Reform), Department for Work and Pensions; North Warwickshire, Labour)
The trustee corporation will be a non-departmental public body, which will ensure independence and accountability. If the trustee corporation was a Crown body, its staff would be civil servants and thus less independent. Standard practice, therefore, is for bodies that are not part of a Department not to be considered as part of the Crown and thus not to enjoy any immunity or privileges of the Crown. A trustee corporation will run the scheme in the sole interest of its members and independently of the Government, so its loyalty will be not to the Crown, but to the members. That means that it is more important for the trustee corporation to be without Crown status. On that basis, I hope that the hon. Gentleman is content.