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Pensions Bill

Despite the debate in Commons Committee on 22 January, reporter at cols. 174-9, where Members of that Committee were told that companies such as Tesco needed time to adjust their existing schemes to qualifying requirements, I simply do not understand the need for Clause 4. It depends totally on the timing. The Bill allows the Secretary of State to delay regulations in all sorts of areas. On many occasions, we know, because the Minister has as good as confirmed it several times, that the Government are waiting for PADA to, if I am putting it nicely, advise them; if I am putting it nastily, tell them what to do. What we do not know is how quick off the mark these regulations will be. If they are announced, say, a year in advance, that will be plenty of time for organisations such as Tesco to change their scheme into a qualifying scheme. However, if the regulations are to be laid at the last minute, I suppose that there is a need for a clause such as this. After all, the clause permits the Secretary of State to lay an order postponing auto-enrolment, because the normal arrangement is that a worker is to be in the scheme from his first day at work. In the event of a comparatively early laying of the regulations, I cannot envisage any circumstances when the clause may be used. Secondly, subsection (2), which describes the minimum period in which a jobholder may not leave a scheme, is also very curious. The Explanatory Notes state: "““Employers that are permitted to delay automatic enrolment may be required to ensure that members remain in such a scheme for a prescribed period of time, unless the jobholder leaves that employment or chooses to leave the scheme””." I do not understand the word ““ensure””. Does that really mean that a jobholder will be forced to remain in a scheme that may not be a qualifying scheme at the end of the day? Given that Clause 4 is entitled ““Postponement of automatic enrolment””, why cannot the employee choose to leave the scheme, as he can under normal auto-enrolment rules? Yet again, I am confused, and it would be helpful to hear the Minister's explanation. I beg to move.