Examination of Witnesses

Part of Pension Schemes Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:15 pm on 2 September 2025.

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Photo of Mark Garnier Mark Garnier Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury), Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Work and Pensions) 4:15, 2 September 2025

Q On this derisking thing, a number of investment managers over the years have pointed out to me that the rules were brought in as a result of Maxwell absconding and taking a lot of money out of his pension fund. Deficits are now placed on to the balance sheet of the host company, which means that the inclination of those companies is to prefer those pension funds to be invested in less volatile assets, not equity markets, where you can have a stock market crash one day as a minor correction in a long-term growth market. Do you think that is the kind of thing that Michelle was referring to in talking about derisking, where legislation that was well-intentioned at the time has had perverse outcomes?