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Pensions Bill

I thank noble Lords who participated in this debate, which I found extremely interesting, particularly the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Leitch, who talked about the difficulties involved in persuading people to save. We have often discussed this in various committees with which I am associated. It is very difficult. We are asking people to save at a period in their lives when they are under considerable pressure: they are having to pay for a mortgage; very often, in mid-life, they are having to support children; they may even have to support elderly relatives, and so on. There is a lot of pressure on incomes. That is one of the reasons why the TUC supported personal accounts and automatic payment unless people opt out. It is a way of ensuring that people pay something. It is very important that that should be acknowledged. We should thank the Government for thinking of it. I entirely support the scheme. As regards representation on the delivery authority, I share the view expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. I thank her for her intervention. Clearly, we do not want too much flexibility. We want to be sure that our legitimate interests will be recognised by the Government. We accept that at this point in time the measure is not particularly appropriate. Other legislation will be introduced. We are not wedded to our wording. We simply wanted to get a discussion on the issue and to ensure that the Government were committed to our view that consumer interests had to be at the core of this scheme. The government Front Bench assured us that that was the case, for which I am grateful. We were told that consumer interests were regarded as vital vis-à-vis the delivery authority. We shall watch the situation very carefully to see how it develops. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 85A to 87 not moved.]