---

Pensions Bill

I previously explained why it is important that potential conflicts of interest are taken into account when considering appointments to the trustee corporation. The Bill sets out two circumstances in which it is assumed that a person will not be taken to have a conflict of interest for those reasons alone—first, if a person has been working on behalf of the Government in relation to pensions and, secondly, if a person has been a trustee or manager of a pension scheme. However, this is not an exhaustive list. The amendment seeks to add to the list individuals who worked for the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority but, as I have just said, the list is not exhaustive and therefore working for or being a member of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority would not automatically disqualify somebody from being a member of the trustee corporation on the grounds of conflict of interest. A member or member of staff of the delivery authority could, like anyone else, apply for appointment to the trustee corporation. They would be considered, like anyone else, as part of the recruitment process and this would include considering whether there were any conflicts of interest. The delivery authority will be advising Government on the recruitment process for individual members of the trustee corporation, but decisions about who to appoint in the initial period will be for the Secretary of State. It is worth noting that the trustee corporation will be a completely different organisation from the delivery authority and that very different skills are required to design a pension scheme compared to those required for running one as a trustee. Therefore we would not want to make any assumptions and each case will have to be considered on its merits. I hope this has reassured the noble Baroness that individuals who have worked for the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority would not on those grounds alone be excluded from being members of the trustee corporation. I can see there might be some merit in making that specific on the Bill but I believe it is unnecessary. I hope I have put this clearly for the record.