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Pensions Bill

I very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, about the importance of enrolment, auto-enrolment and re-enrolment. That is key to the proposals. Both noble Lords asked why the period was three years. We asked stakeholders about the period for re-enrolment in the 2006 White Paper and, of the 22 respondents, the majority were in favour of three years. However, three years is only the minimum. It will be a matter for regulations in due course, but that is where we are and it cannot be more frequently than three years. I acknowledge that there is a balance to be struck. We are talking about enrolment or re-enrolment not just into personal accounts, but into the whole panoply of qualifying occupational provision. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, asked me about the provision of information. Amendment No. 10, to Clause 3, will permit qualifying workplace personal pensions to be used for automatic enrolment. Sorry—that does not deal with his point. He asked generally about what sort of information needed to be provided. Clause 9 talks about the information to be provided to jobholders, and clearly there are existing provisions relating to the requirements on pension providers to provide members of the schemes with routine information. The amendment—it mirrors earlier ones—recognises that information will have to flow to various people. It will have to flow from the employer to the employee in terms of the scheme with which the individual is involved. There will have to be some communication about the deductions process from earnings, and there will need to be communication from the employer and the scheme about who has been enrolled. It is on those sorts of issues that we are talking about an information flow; I do not think that there is anything more profound or sinister about it, but I might recap on my briefings and write to him if there is anything further with which I can reassure him on that point.