Baroness Noakes (Con)

My Lords, I tabled Motion G1 in this group. The Bill will consolidate today’s pensions market into a small number of large firms. It may well bring benefits, but it also carries the risk that the market will ossify around those large firms. Healthy markets need to be open to the challenge of new entrants, which can provide healthy competition to the incumbents. In turn, that has the potential to deliver for pension savers in the long run. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what is good for savers. I agree with the Minister on that. In rejecting my Amendments 35 and 43, the other place said that “it is not necessary to impose further requirements relating to innovation and competition”. The Bill does not mention competition at all. It talks about restricting new entrants, and it mentions innovation only once. Innovation and competition are absolutely central to markets that work for consumers. My noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott’s Amendment 37B in lieu now incorporates innovation, so I have confined my Amendment 35B in lieu to the broader concept of competition. My amendment would require only that regulations have regard to competition among providers of pension schemes; it is no more onerous than that. It would apply to the several regulation-making powers of the Secretary of State attached to Clause 40 and to the powers of the regulators to make regulations under Clauses 42 and 44. Regulations can create barriers to entry, which is why large firms love them. I believe that the Secretary of State and the regulators should use their powers to foster competition so that barriers to entry are not erected and new entrants are given a proper chance to flourish. If those making the regulations do not secure this for the benefit of pension savers, no one else will. My amendment in lieu would help to ensure that the scale provisions in the Bill deliver long-term benefits for pension savers.