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Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009

My Lords, that was to do with changes to the rate of income tax. Our adjustment was accompanied by changes in the rate of corporation tax that enabled and encouraged companies to continue to invest in their businesses so that, as their businesses grew, they could pay bigger dividends in the future. In the three years immediately following that change, the value of pension schemes rocketed. What effectively did the damage was the dotcom collapse and what that did to equity values, not only in the UK but around the world. So we reject the contention that there was a raid, in the noble Lord’s terms, on pension schemes. That is not a fair analysis of what took place. On public sector pensions, I understand that the noble Lord’s leader has proposals to produce a double whammy, with defined contributions in public sector schemes at the same time as having a "pay as you go" basis for existing pensions. Is that right? If so, it would be a very interesting development and, I suspect, a very costly one. There have been amendments and changes to public sector pensions. The normal retirement age has been changed for new entrants and there have been changes to cost capping and cost sharing. The long-term financial projection over 50 or 60 years shows that those pensions remain affordable, going from around 1.5 per cent at the moment to up to 2 per cent of GDP. So, again, I reject the noble Lord’s assertions on that. However, I know that that is straying somewhat, as indeed did the noble Lord, from the regulations, which, despite some areas of disagreement, seem to be supported. Motion agreed.