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Proceeding contribution from Lord McKenzie of Luton (Labour) in the House of Lords on Monday, 11 June 2007. It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL) and Debate on bill on Pensions Bill.


Pensions Bill

I presume that the noble Lord was talking to Clause 20 stand part. We have gone through a whole series of amendments. I genuinely believe that most of them were considering detail that we will debate under the next Bill. He asked what information will be made available. The answer is the whole Bill—the whole of the proposals. There will be plenty of opportunity to understand the advice that the delivery authority has given and what that leads to in the framework of the next Bill, and to probe what guidance was given by the Secretary of State and what other information was taken into account. I am not sure why the noble Lord is so exercised by this, because the whole process to date has been open, transparent and inclusive. There has been engagement with stakeholders and opposition parties. There is nothing sinister about this, but he has pressed us continually tonight on a range of matters that are the detail that will flow from that advice. Specifically on the issue that the authority, "““may do anything that it thinks appropriate””," although that may seem quite broad, we must consider the power in its entirety. The clause goes on to describe the parameters within which the authority must work and makes it clear that the authority is limited in its remit. It can advise only on clearly defined proposals about personal accounts. We will return to this in detail at the next stage. There is nothing that we will consider in the next Bill which the noble Lord and his colleagues will not be fully able to probe so as to understand the parametersin which it has been developed, and to challenge or try to amend it, as he and his colleagues do very effectively.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
692 c1551 
Session
2006-07
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Disclosure of information Data protection Costs Annuities Allowances Civil service Advisory services Conflict of interests Women Equality Finance Families Freedom of information ICT Information Discrimination Misconduct Private sector NHS Low incomes Northern Ireland Pay Public appointments Workplace pensions Pensions Public sector Public participation Standards Teachers Small businesses Tax allowances Pensions Commission Gender impact assessment Personal Accounts Delivery Authority Pensions Advisory Service National employment savings trust scheme
Legislation
Pensions Bill 2006-07
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk