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Pensions Bill

I see the point the Minister is making; that without the Secretary of State’s involvement beyond initial appointments there will be no levers if the Secretary of State thought that people were staying beyond their term. However, the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, is very valid. The Government have taken an advisory limit and turned it into a lower absolute maximum. That advisory limit is already higher than the figure that the Government have drafted into the Bill and our experience—especially from pension boards, of which the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, has much experience, and certainly from corporate life generally—is that this is likely to constrain rather than assist in operating this properly. I would think that the Government would want to avoid having to get rid of a damn good member who really knew the personal accounts scheme backwards, knew the legislation and had all the relationships, was still young, vital and whatever because eight years had come up. That is not how good organisations operate. I had hoped that the Minister might be able to take this away and think about it. In the long-term interests of creating an effective board, the Government need to provide a little more flexibility. I take the point that the Minister made about having levers. It may be that a higher overall limit, which can then be communicated in advisory terms between the Secretary of State and the board informally, would serve the needs of the pension accounts trustee corporation better than what the Government have currently drafted.