Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)

My Lords, I start by referring to the reference the noble Lord, Lord Davies, made to “Mastermind”; I am tempted to say that I have started so I will finish. I thank the Government for bringing forward these technical amendments, which seek to protect schemes from unintended consequences arising from the Bill; to ensure that GMP equalisation is properly treated as a narrow legal correction rather than as full indexation; and to provide greater technical clarity and consistency across the relevant legislative framework. These seem very sensible and constructive changes, and I thank the Minister for her clarifications and the detail she gave. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, and the noble Viscount, Lord Thurso, for the points they succinctly raised on their amendments. As we have heard, Amendment 162 would require the Secretary of State to bring into force the currently uncommenced power in the Pensions Act 2004, allowing the PPF to discharge certain compensation liabilities by paying a cash lump sum. Activating this long-dormant paragraph would add a pragmatic fourth option alongside insurance policies, annuity contracts or transfers. As the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, said, it would not cost any money to do so. We therefore support the amendment because it would widen the PPF’s toolkit to act in the best interest of members, giving flexibility to settle appropriate cases efficiently where regulations specify the safeguards and calculation method while retaining parliamentary oversight under the negative procedure and the PPF’s core purpose of protecting members of failed schemes. I therefore say to the noble Viscount, Lord Thurso, and the House that, should he wish to seek the opinion of the House on Amendment 162, we will be minded to support him.