Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)

My Lords, I support these amendments and I have added my name to Amendments 19 and 20, which deal with issues around surpluses and distribution. There are important issues in all these areas, in particular when there is a surplus and councils are considering how to spend the money that they have under their control or will be receiving from council tax payers. We have to ask: where is the balance of interest between national and local taxpayers? Who picks up the tab if council tax cannot cover the costs of the local authority and its expenditure needs, whether it is on social care, filling potholes, providing housing or whatever? These are vital national services. It is important when we are discussing this Bill that we seriously consider these issues, because there is a mindset within local government that seems to ignore the principles of accountability, openness and good governance when it comes to their pension funds. I do not quite understand why, but that seems to be the case. In Amendment 18, when we are talking about the use of the LGPS excess funds, I would like to understand whether the Government object to the idea of having a review or a report into whether and how contributions can be reduced or offset against other employer spending needs. What is the balance between prudence, affordability for the employer and the council tax payer interests—and indeed the national taxpayer interests? National taxpayers underwrite the schemes. On transparency around actuarial assumptions, as the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, said, there is no proper transparency around how any of the assumptions feed through to the conclusion on contributions. Would the Government object to the administering authorities being required to publish statements showing the actuarial assumptions; comparing them between now and previous valuations; providing justification for the changes and for any prudence level; or explaining the impact and showing that they have considered the impact on the various scheme employers? These employers are struggling in the current environment because there is not enough resource to cover the commitments that these important bodies are being required to make. I hope that the Minister can help the Committee understand the Government’s view on how these pension schemes should be run in future—including, perhaps, a mindset change away from how we have been thinking about them up to now.