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Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 38: 38: Clause 14, page 14, line 36, leave out ““if”” and insert ““in respect of an earner in relation to whom”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendment No. 39. This is the first of a short series of amendments which have been suggested to us by the Law Society of Scotland, which I generally regard as providing sensible technical amendments to Bills. These amendments are probing in nature. If the Minister rejects them, which I anticipate he will because that is generally what officials tell Ministers to do, I shall want to consult the Law Society of Scotland in the light of his response. The two amendments in this group amend new subsections (1A) to be added to Sections 13 and 17 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 by Clause 14 of this Bill. The new subsections allow schemes to be amended so that they do not have to pay guaranteed minimum pensions if the conditions specified in Section 24B are satisfied. The Law Society of Scotland wants this condition to be replaced with the words, "““in respect of an earner in relation to whom … the conditions specified in section 24B are satisfied””." The crucial difference between the two formulations is that the Bill implies that the conditions must apply to all earners, whereas the amendment suggested by the Law Society of Scotland makes it explicit thatthe conditions need not apply to all earners within the scheme. I beg to move.