We are back on some fairly familiar ground, in respect of where we were this morning. The hon. Member for Eastbourne wanted me to take his contribution for read. I could perhaps say the same about mine, but I will not. I will once again revisit the issues about PADA funding.

Clause 64 amends schedule 6 of the Pensions Act 2007 to extend the ways the Secretary of State may fund the authority in carrying out its functions. In addition to grants, the Secretary of State may provide loans, guarantees and indemnities to the authority, which may be subject to conditions. This clause is linked with clause 61, which allows the delivery authority to borrow money.

I should like to reassure members that any costs arising from the authority’s work in relation to implementing the personal accounts scheme will be recovered from the revenue from membership charges. However, it is important to draw a distinction between the work the authority will be doing on the implementation of the scheme and other work it will be taking forward. As the Committee is aware, the Government are already funding the authority. This reflects its current role to provide advice to Government on the operational implications of policy. It is right that Government should meet the cost of that advice.

The hon. Member for Eastbourne asked me to say more about the £21 million allocation. He will know that it was an early estimate of the cost of establishing the delivery authority. The estimate was made even before the appointment of the chairman and chief executive. We currently anticipate that PADA will achieve its grant-in-aid status later in the current financial year. At that point it will be sufficiently well established to start incurring costs on its own account and to pay for these from its grant in aid. We have so far provided around £10 million in support for the creation of PADA. That figure is correct up to December 2007. I hope that that gives the hon. Gentleman a little bit of extra information.

This Bill will also extend the authority’s remit so that it can work with the Pensions Regulator to support the delivery of the systems that will enable employers to comply with their new duties. This will benefit all those eligible for auto-enrolment into any qualifying scheme, not just the members of the personal accounts scheme. It would not be right to require personal account scheme members to pay for this aspect of the authority’s work. We want to retain the flexibility to fund this activity in the right way, most probably through grant in aid from the Government.

Amendments Nos. 50 and 51 would remove that flexibility. As the hon. Gentleman knows, no decision has yet been made on the best approach to financing the personal accounts scheme in its initial stages. It will be for PADA to consider the options available to provide initial finance for the scheme, and then make  recommendations to the Secretary of State on the best possible approach. However, this work can occur only once the authority’s powers have been extended through this Bill, when it is able to take the next steps towards implementing the scheme.

I should like to reiterate that if any degree of Government support is involved to help the scheme get up and running, then it will be fully compliant with European requirements on competition and state aid. It is common practice to take broad powers to finance a non-departmental public body that will be tasked with the delivery of a major project such as personal accounts. Again, as I said in respect of a similar discussion this morning, it is important at this stage that we do not second guess the outcome of its work or restrict the authority in its considerations.