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Pensions Bill

I said earlier—I believe it to be true—that auto-enrolment is crucial to the success of the policy. It is one of the two things that the noble Lord, Lord Turner, insisted on getting right for the whole basis of the reform to succeed. I want to do everything within reason to get people enrolled, re-enrolled and re-enrolled again if necessary. Obviously there is a balance to be struck, with the employer—not the trustee, although the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, raised a good question in that direction—active from day one in enrolling and re-enrolling people. It should get the support of the Government to make that a consistent part of the policy as it unfolds. We have seen the worrying experience in New Zealand. Of course the policies are not in parallel exactly because the rules and the scale are different, but we now learn that the KiwiSaver scheme is approaching a 30 per cent opt-out level, after some years. That is a real worry. A lot of effort is necessary on the part of all the stakeholders, the Government and the employers to make sure that everyone who can be captured sensibly in the personal accounts should be so captured. Therefore, there is a role for the Government to support employers as much as they can. I do not know why three years is the given figure either. It is a good question. I want as short a period as possible, to ensure that the vast majority of people for whom the arrangements are appropriate are captured in the scheme. If not, we will go the way of New Zealand and haemorrhage participants. That would not be in the long-term interests of the policy.