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Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 119: 119: Clause 20, page 23, line 43, at end insert— ““( ) In discharging its function under this section, the Authority shall ensure that its actions and advice support the objectives for the scheme that— (a) the administration of the scheme will be secure; (b) the scheme will be run economically and efficiently; (c) the scheme will be governed in the best interests of members and beneficiaries; and (d) those managing and directing the scheme will act impartially, prudently, responsibly and honestly.”” The noble Baroness said: The two amendments in this group are complementary and address the design of the scheme from the perspective of how well it is operated. Amendment No. 199 has four objectives for the scheme. The first is that the administration of the scheme should be secure, and this links to the requirement in Amendment No. 121 to ensure that the Data Protection Act is complied with. I am sure that the Minister will tell me that the Data Protection Act is not disapplied by the Bill and that therefore the amendment is unnecessary. But the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that the delivery authority designs the personal accounts scheme with the Data Protection Act and, importantly, with the principles in Schedule 1 to that Act firmly in mind, because they are extremely important. One other matter listed in Amendment No. 119 is that the scheme should be run economically and efficiently. That sounds obvious but we know that gold-plating has a seductive allure to all those who design systems that they will not themselves pay for. At this stage, there is not even a cost envelope to constrain the well intentioned designers of bells and whistles in the scheme. We need to ensure that the delivery authority—this is for the delivery authority and not for the organisation that ends up runningthe scheme—has value for money written into its remit; otherwise, when it comes to prepare for implementation, it will not necessarily have taken those issues fully on board. Lastly, there are two requirements for the scheme: that it should be governed in the best interests of members and beneficiaries; and that managers act impartially, prudently, honestly and responsibly. This might sound like motherhood and apple pie but such things can get overlooked when other objectives seem more important and start to crowd in. I hope that the Minister will welcome the amendments. I beg to move.