Member

However, I do not believe it is right that such investments should be directed by the Government. Administering authorities hold the liability to pay pensions as they fall due and it is therefore right that the responsibility for setting the investment strategy and strategic asset allocation—the key drivers of investment returns—should remain with administering authorities, ensuring they retain local accountability and decision-making and can drive performance. I certainly agree with the sentiment expressed by the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, that the ultimate responsibility of these schemes is fiduciary—to provide returns for their members, who, after all, have spent a long time paying into these pension funds. As we have noted on previous groups of amendments, the average pension level is not high; these are not very well-off people, and they deserve possibly the greatest levels of safeguards in terms of fiduciary responsibility.