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Postal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, the new public scheme, dealt with in Amendments 34 and 35, should be a public service pension scheme within the meaning of Section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, notwithstanding the fact that it was not established by a person employing qualifying members. Amendments 34 and 35 are about strengthening the protection for members in the new public scheme. In previous debates, my noble friend Lord McKenzie has said that there is no reason in principle why the new scheme cannot operate on a pay-as-you-go basis, just like some of the major public sector schemes such as those of the Civil Service and the National Health Service. The Minister said: ""The interests of members are reflected through statutory protection for benefits, and through other stakeholder consultation arrangements as part of the broader governance of the scheme"." He also said that the governance of the new scheme would follow the model used in other public schemes. He stated: ""Given the nature of the liabilities that will be transferred to the new scheme, and the protection for members provided through the Bill and in the related secondary legislation, the Government regard the established model for governance of public service schemes as the most appropriate model to be applied". —[Official Report, 20/4/09; col. 1284.]" However, members of the other public sector schemes, such as the Civil Service and NHS schemes, have some of the rights and protections of members of private sector trust-based schemes. For instance, they have the automatic right to the disclosure of information. That is because they fall within the statutory definition of a "public service pension scheme". Some generally applicable legislation applies to public service pension schemes, such as the disclosure of information regulations, and some does not, such as Section 67 of the Pensions Act 1995, which was much discussed in Committee and will not apply to the new scheme any more than it applies to, for instance, the Civil Service or NHS schemes. The new statutory scheme is neither fish nor fowl. It will clearly not be a trust-based scheme but it does not fall within the definition of a public service pension scheme like the NHS or Civil Service schemes because it has not been set up by an employer. The purpose of Amendment 34 is to bring the new scheme within the statutory definition in Section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993. That would mean that, just as my noble friend Lord McKenzie indicated, it would be subject to the same protections and rights as other public schemes. Secondly, although my noble friend Lord McKenzie said that the new scheme would follow the established model for the governance of public service schemes, there is, in fact, no such single model. Each scheme has a slightly different arrangement. For local government and NHS schemes, for instance, there is a statutory obligation to consult trade unions and employers before any amendments are made, but the power to amend is in the hands of the relevant Secretary of State. That protection is contained within primary legislation: the Superannuation Act 1972. For the Armed Forces pension scheme, by contrast, there is no statutory obligation to consult in the primary legislation although, in practice, there is a consultative committee. We said on numerous occasions in Committee that we want to see a protection of the accrued rights transferred to the new scheme. I am danger of trespassing upon the next amendment so, for the moment, I simply beg to move.