Speeches by Garnier.

“In a broad sense, we are very happy to support the clause. There are, though, a number of issues, and the point about benchmarking and what performance is being valued against can be rather complicated. We heard from the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for Torbay, a little earlier about his father’s experie…”

“Sir Christopher, I am happy to proceed in order to get things moving. Question put, That the amendment be made.”

“I beg to move amendment 246, in clause 2, page 3, line 33, at end insert— “(4A) Scheme managers must publish a report annually on the local investments within their asset pool company. (4B) A report published under section (4A) must include— (a) the extent, and (b) financial performance, of these investments.” This ame…”

“In the interest of speed, I will not speak to these amendments, other than to say that we have no objection to them.”

“I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”

“I beg to move amendment 259, clause 20, page 21, line 23, leave out from “procedure” to end of line 29 This amendment would make all regulations on consolidation of small dormant pots in DC schemes to the affirmative procedure all times they were made rather than just after first use. The hon. Member for Aberdeen North…”

“Broadly, we welcome clause 20, which builds on important work that was started under the previous Government to address the issue of small, dormant pension pots. This is a critical step forward to consolidate small pots, which can otherwise be costly and inefficient both for pension schemes and, importantly, for their …”

“We are very happy with this measure. One of the important points, which has been made on a number of occasions, is to do with the wider financial education piece. One would hope that the satisfaction surveys would ask not only whether members of pension schemes are being given sufficient information, but whether they a…”

“Clause 12 seems fairly reasonable in its approach. Liberal Democrat new clause 42 seems in the broadest sense to follow our amendment 254 in respect of the Australian model; should it be pressed to a vote, we would be happy to support it. I have nothing more to add.”

“This seems like a very technical clause, and we certainly have no objections to it. I also have no doubt that we will not be voting against the Government amendment. I think we are very happy with it.”

“I thank the Minister for a great effort—“spot on”, maybe, but we still feel inclined to press the amendment to a vote. That is important, even though we know that, rather depressingly, we will probably lose it—although who knows? You never know. It is important to put on the record that we feel that certain measures ca…”

“That is a very good question. Ultimately it means, “What is the performance of the fund?” Members’ best interests can include a lot of different things, but ultimately we need to see the fund grow with the best performance it possibly can, given all things brought together. When members start to receive their pensions,…”

“I beg to move amendment 254, in clause 10, page 10, line 20, at end insert— “(2A) Value for money regulations must require responsible trustees and managers to make an assessment of, benchmark and regularly report the— (a) net benefit outcomes, (b) investment performance, (c) quality of service, and (d) long term membe…”

“These are not amendments that we feel particularly inclined to support. They would require pension fund managers to make, publish and keep under review data to show that their portfolio investments are consistent with the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change and clean energy. That would include publishing pre…”

“Conservative amendment 258 would ensure that all regulations made under proposed new section 37(2A) of the Pensions Act 1995, which governs surplus payments from defined-benefit pension schemes, are subject to the affirmative procedure always, not just the first time that they are made. That would give Parliament ongoi…”

“Forty-third! He looks 28. None the less, I hope he is getting plenty of pension advice; who knows when he may need it? This is a very good provision. The more informed people are about their retirement opportunities, the better. I suppose I have to declare a bit of an interest, inasmuch as I will retire in five years’ …”

“As we have heard, the amendment authorises the use of surplus pension funds to contribute to the provision of free, impartial pension advice and guidance services to scheme members. The age of 40 is very important, and I hope that the Minister, on his 42nd birthday—”

“Any decision to release surplus funds from defined-benefit pension schemes should rest firmly, as we have discussed, with the trustees. It is important to emphasise that trustees bear the ultimate responsibility for such decisions. We believe that surplus repayments to employers should be permitted only when members’ b…”

“I beg to move amendment 247, in clause 9, page 8, line 23, at end insert— “(aa) prohibiting the making of a payment unless the scheme’s assets have exceeded a buyout valuation,”. This amendment requires that surplus extraction is only permitted once buyout funding levels are achieved.”

“I will not take up too much of the Committee’s time, but suffice it to say that we all heard the evidence that was presented on Tuesday, and we in the Conservative party agree with the Liberal Democrats’ amendment. We will support it.”