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Pension Protection Fund (Investigation by PPF Ombudsman of Complaints of Maladministration) Regulations 2005

First, I thank noble Lords for the general welcome for the proposals. I shall attempt to answer some of the specific points that have been made. I do not agree with the line of attack of the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, that the Government’s attitude to pensions has been lackadaisical. Having an interest in pensions over many years, I have learnt that we have suffered from a lack of consensus about the long-term development of pensions policy. I think that the Adair Turner commission gives us a strong opportunity to try to resolve the best way forward on pensions policy. Three or four weeks ago, a number of us were fortunate enough to attend a seminar organised by Adair Turner. It was very constructive in his analysis of the issues that we face and his suggestions of some of the broad approaches that we may take forward. The noble Lord commented that there had been a general debate for a long time. The impact of the commission has been to step up the debate. While there has certainly been a debate about pensions among the rather select group of people who understand pensions, the debate has not until now embraced a large proportion of people in this country. What Adair Turner has done, and what I hope that we can encourage, is to get lots of people thinking and talking about pensions. As a successful pensions policy for the future will involve decisions of many individuals in this country, the more that we can embrace and involve people the better.