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Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 112D: 112D: Schedule 1, page 56, line 11, at end insert— ““( ) Appointments of members other than the chair of the corporation made in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) shall be made after consultation with the chair of the corporation.”” The noble Baroness said: We now come to Schedule 1 and some of the detailed rules governing the trustee corporation. In moving the amendment I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 112G, 112P and 112R. These concern the role of the Secretary of State in appointments to the trustee corporation, removals from it and pay while they are members of it. The scheme of Schedule 1 is for the Secretary of State to appoint the members and chair of the trustee corporation when it is set up and for an initial period. We know that Secretaries of State like to leave their personal mark on bodies that they set up by appointing the initial members, whatever the involvement of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. We accept that there is no practical possibility of the trustee corporation appointing itself at the outset and that the initial appointments will be made by the Secretary of State. But we believe that it is wrong in principle that the Secretary of State should foist a large number of members of the corporation on a new chairman. Accordingly, Amendment No. 112D proposes that the Secretary of State must consult the chairman about appointments of other members. The chairman must be able to work with his members and it is dangerous if he has no say whatever in their selection. This is good practice and I hope that there would not be any other procedure that could conceivably be followed. Amendment No. 112G restricts the initial period in which appointments will be made by the Secretary of State to 12 months. I can see in the build-up period of the trustees, that it would not be appropriate for a small number to appoint the rest but we must not let that unusual power last for too long. In fact, 12 months may be too generous an allowance for the task of building the board. But the point of my amendment is that the time should be finite and on the face of the Bill. Amendment No. 112P amends paragraph 5 which allows the Secretary of State to remove members from office. I can see no need for this provision after the initial period. The circumstances listed in paragraph 5 are perfectly well handled by the corporation itself on an ongoing basis. I could see that the Secretary of State might have a reserve power if he came to the conclusion that the board overall was not fulfilling its remit, but there is no such targeted power in the Bill and the power in paragraph 5 is simply inappropriate on an ongoing basis to deal with the board’s composition. Lastly, Amendment No. 112R amends paragraph 7(l), under which it is up to the Secretary of State to determine pay. My amendment says that it is the corporation, after consultation with the Secretary of State, which will set pay. I see that the Secretary of State should have a formal role in consenting, but there is no need for him to get involved in pay matters. His civil servants have no expertise in pay, especially in the specialised area of running a pension trustee corporation, and there is no point in filling up their days with such matters. The Minister will have to talk a good story to justify the Secretary of State’s paws remaining over the pension trustee corporation. I beg to move.