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Pensions Bill

I am very grateful for that, and there are plenty of people outside who will be even more grateful. When defending the regulator’s decision to insist on long cohorts, the Minister talks as if the more prudence that is used in deciding actuarial assumptions, the better. That is at least a familiar argument. The Pension Protection Fund, which I mentioned in my opening speech in the clause-stand-part debate, insists that pension schemes are overfunded to 140 per cent before they can be let off the major part of the levy, regardless of the possibility that overpaying into a fund by that margin might actively harm the future prospects of a company. The same applies in this case. An overly prudent set of assumptions will mean that the company and the contributors will have to pay higher contributions than is necessary. With no clear understanding of how a surplus is to be repaid, overpayment is most certainly not to the advantage of those involved. The question remains: who is the right person to look at each scheme individually and make a decision as to the correct set of assumptions that the trustees have made? I point out fairly forcefully that cohorts is only one of a number of assumptions that must be made on a case-by-case basis, using knowledge of the unique characteristics of the sponsoring company, the make-up of the contributors, and so on. I am glad to have the Minister’s assurance, which I think I unravelled from his words, that the regulator will not enforce long cohorts. Have I got that right?