Speeches by Milne.

“Q But would you agree that that could have very stable returns—say a 5% return for affordable housing, or for a care home—because effectively the customers are also coming via the local authority? Councillor Phillips: There is great potential in all the activities that local government can do, but the fiduciary duty is…”

“Q Pension scheme funding ladders can go up, and they largely have done in recent years, but also they can go down. Do you think that the proposals and the framework in this Bill for surplus extraction have the right balance of risk versus actually achieving the objective? Helen Forrest Hall: From a principles basis, ye…”

“Q Auto-enrolment is a great success story. It has certainly got lots more people investing in a pension than would have done otherwise. However, the fact remains that large numbers of them are nowhere near on course to have a reasonable pension in retirement. Small pot consolidation helps, but we have to admit that it …”

“Q Is there anything you think should or could be in this Bill that would help? Patrick Heath-Lay: I completely agree with what Ian just said. The review is the right way, and we need to look at the interaction between saving rates, state pension and the general economic conditions. One thing that we were concerned abou…”

“Q From your perspective, what would be the main obstacles or difficulties in fulfilling the value for money requirement in the Bill? Dale Critchley: From a practical perspective, producing all the data. We need clarity in the regulations and clear definitions, so that everyone is producing the same data in the same way…”

“Q Do you think there is evidence that fiduciary duties are not interpreted in a way that optimises outcomes for pensions savers? If so, would you support any change in legislation to help? Christopher Brooks: Yes; I think a lot of schemes do not interpret it broadly, so they probably take things literally regarding fin…”

“Q Do you think that the finance industry has a clear understanding of how to apply its fiduciary duty? Do you think the Bill makes that clearer or muddies the waters, or somewhere in between? Patrick Coyne: I think that fiduciary duty is a powerful force for good. Across the Bill, this is about giving those trustees th…”

“Q Do you think that the proposed value for money framework could have the unintended effect of causing excess caution or short-termism in investment decisions? If so, what mitigations would you suggest? Zoe Alexander: There will of course be metrics in the value for money framework that look at the longer term, and loo…”

“Q So to summarise, you approve of the attempt to take control, as it were. William Wright: Absolutely. One of the huge challenges in the UK pensions debate over the past 25 or 30 years has been that we sort of knew what was not working and where corporate DB pensions were going to go, and then there was a hiatus and no…”

“Q It has been a long-standing battle over pre-1997 compensation rights. Would you agree that this Bill is perhaps an opportunity to at last address that issue, perhaps by a judicious amendment or two? Do you think that that is feasible, and what framework might that take? Michelle Ostermann: We have been progressing on…”

“Q The Bill makes the notion of using pension money for macroeconomic benefit—investment in the UK—an explicit objective. Other countries seem to have done this already. Did they do so explicitly and deliberately, or was it just an accidental outcome of good investment decisions? Did it take a conscious effort to make i…”

“Q The DWP argues that the funds are on the public balance sheet and therefore they object to using them for this purpose. Do you think that is fair, given that the funds were not acquired by the taxpayer? Michelle Ostermann: To clarify the word “using”, as I think it is important, the PPF is an arm’s length body and th…”

“I want to move on to another area: housing. This is a very important issue nationally and in my constituency of Horsham, where, as it happens, I will attend a local housing summit on affordability tomorrow, so I am hoping to pick up a couple of tips and some advice from you today. The temporary accommodation subsidy al…”

“And on the specific question of ringfencing?”

“I completely agree with the long-term ambitions and on the necessity. However, the short-term problems are considerable. The neighbouring constituency of Crawley, for instance, is suffering very greatly from temporary accommodation issues. But I will move on—”

“They are coming together in a rather big way in a couple of years.”

“I shall pass that on tomorrow. The Government have also said that they intend to merge discretionary housing payments and the household support fund into a new crisis and resilience fund. How do you think that might work in practice? For example, will any funding for needs such as housing be ringfenced within that?”

“I am happy to do that.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. Since my election last year, I have visited most of the schools in my constituency. That has been one of the nicest parts of my new job, but it has been less nice to hear about the tremendous pressure that schools face in coping with the ever-increasing demand…”

“The targets are centrally driven and set by the standard method. In many areas, they are extremely difficult to fulfil, and that is why we get pressure on the green belt or protected conservation areas. That is the fundamental cause. Across the country, many councils of many different persuasions all face the same prob…”