Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)

My Lords, I will be brief. I declare my interests as a board adviser to a pension scheme and a non-executive director of a pension administration and consultancy firm. I support this amendment because, with such wide Henry VIII powers, it is really important to have some framework to hang our discussions and thoughts on or for future people looking at the Bill to understand its intentions. I was tempted to try to amend this amendment to change the word “savers”, which pervades the discussion about the Bill and lots of the background reading about it. Anyone who thinks that someone who is invested for the long term in a pension is a saver has misunderstood what saving is about. It should be “investors”, “members” or “customers” rather than “savers”. That is an important distinction when talking about providing for the long-term future of retirees in this country via a savings or investment mechanism which uses money that is put in to build up funds for the long term. I would also have added to this list something that I think is really important. I hope, perhaps against hope, that we might be able to improve the excellent measures in the Bill by improving the compensation and payments for pre-1997 accrual by the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme, in particular for members who have been denied inflation protection. We ought—within this Bill, I hope—be able to give them extra for the future.