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Pensions Bill

It just seems to me not to be a particularly fruitful exercise to bandy around specific dates. We have indicated that we currently plan and expect the scheme to start in 2012. Given the role that the authority has played in the development of the infrastructure and everything that goes with it, anyone should recognise that for it to continue even after the project has been turned over for running by the trustee—a bit of parallel involvement—must be prudent and sensible. Who knows what issues might arise in terms of the background thinking or policy development that went into the creation of the scheme and infrastructure as it will end up. To try to put some arbitrary date on that is not a particularly fruitful use of our time. We have made it clear that the authority will be time-limited, and we have made it clear that we want personal accounts to start in 2012. We recognise that there will be some overlap, as the authority will need to be on hand to support the trustee corporation in running the scheme. That seems to me to be clear enough and acceptable to noble Lords.