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Pensions Bill

Schedule 1 includes provisions that deal with the period for which a person can be appointed to be a member of the corporate trustee. It sets the period of appointment of a member, or the chair, of the corporation at no more than four years and prevents someone being reappointed more than once. In other words, no one can serve for more than eight years. The amendment would entirely remove those limits. In responding to this amendment, I should first explain that we intend appointments to the corporation, which will be a non-departmental public body, to follow the principles in the code of practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments—the OCPA. This code suggests that it is in the public interest to limit the length of appointments made by Ministers to be no longer than a total of 10 years to encourage new blood and new ideas, and to give other people an opportunity to serve on a public body. Of course, in the case of the trustee corporation, appointments after the initial period will be made not by Ministers but by the corporation. The good practice of limiting the term of appointment should be included in this Bill for several reasons. First, it will continue the practice begun by the Secretary of State, who will make the initial appointments to this NDPB in accordance with the principles of the OCPA. Secondly, as the scheme is being set up to fulfil a public policy objective, it will be appropriate for members of the corporation charged with running that scheme to follow the good practice of the OCPA. Thirdly, beyond the initial stage, the members of the trustee corporation collectively will be making appointments. This amendment could therefore effectively allow them to appoint themselves for unlimited periods, or might result in different members being appointed for different periods. Clearly, this could lead to unfairness and accusations of unfair treatment, and we simply cannot take that risk. The most effective blend of members of the trustee corporation will be a mix of fresh faces, new ideas, experience, pensions expertise and corporate memory. The appointment periods set out in the Bill will ensure that such a blend can exist. Furthermore, I believe that the limits on the period of appointments that we have chosen match the responsibilities of the trustee corporation, while remaining well within the maximum proposed in the guidelines of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Setting a reasonable limit on the periods of appointment will strike a good balance between the independence of the members of the trustee corporation and the good practice of the OCPA. I hope that the noble Baroness is reassured about the reasons for these limits and I ask her to withdraw the amendment.