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Pensions Bill

I had a good discussion with the people at BrightonRock, who were kind enough to explain things. The more I talked to them, the less I liked this model. Quite frankly, they were very unconvincing as to what assets or strength they had behind them. In this situation, just to say that you could get reinsurance is not good enough. When one thinks about it, it is almost like a competing fire brigade to the existing fire brigade. We are not just talking about a monopoly. It reminds me of the old joke about Screaming Lord Sutch, who asked, ““Why is there only one monopolies commission?””. For a very good reason, there is only one fire brigade that everyone has to pay for. After Northern Rock, I do not share the noble Baroness’s confidence that it is all right for the matter to be left to the FSA. I do not want pension funds to land up in the financial services compensation scheme. With a considerable amount of effort in this House, we set up the PPF. It is not exactly a lender, but it is a good underwriter of last resort. De-risking pension schemes for employers is not the same thing necessarily as de-risking pension schemes for pensioners and employees. From the past year or two, we all should have learnt that it is much too easy to talk about reinsurance. Some of the very big insurers in America cannot meet their obligations and that ultimate risk is a very serious problem. I would be much more comfortable sticking with the PPF.