Clause 27 - Notification of trustees, managers,

Part of Pensions Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:30 am on 11 March 2004.

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Photo of George Osborne George Osborne Shadow Minister (Treasury) 10:30, 11 March 2004

May I take the Under-Secretary back to his exchange with the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Kevin Brennan)? Subsection (3) states:

''The Regulator may . . . direct the trustees or managers of the scheme to notify . . . the members''.

I am not sure why that should not be a requirement rather than a right. It should be a requirement of trustees and managers to inform scheme members that their scheme is subject to a freezing order. Why is there not that mandatory requirement? Even where there are poor scheme records, the trustees could place an advert in a newspaper if they had to. That might be a blunt instrument, but at least they could make an attempt to inform scheme members.