Pensions Bill

My Lords, I have added my name to the amendment and I am glad to support my Seaview neighbour. I shall speak briefly. In my view, this is one of the more important amendments—if not the most important amendment—before the House. It follows amendments that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, and I tabled in Committee. They were not quite the same but they were pretty indistinguishable. I would put the case in this way. For years the clamour at Westminster has been for pre-legislative scrutiny. The argument has been that if only we had thoroughly examined the legislation before it was introduced, then all would be well and all the faults eliminated. There is nothing wrong with pre-legislative scrutiny but it is only half the story and, arguably, not the most important half. Post-legislative scrutiny is also required. Many of the most expensive mistakes in pensions over the past 30 or 40 years have happened not because the legislation was badly prepared or unclear; they happened because the legislation was not implemented properly. Frankly, it would have been very simple and very easy to prevent those errors and mistakes. I gave an example in Committee from my own experience, regarding legislation that we introduced in 1986. The clearest assurance was given—it could not have been clearer—that wide publicity would be given to a change affecting widows and their pensions. The assurance was given by the then Minister of State, John Major, and it was emphatic. Was the assurance followed? Emphatically, it was not. The fault was not in the legislation or in parliamentary scrutiny; in fact, Mr Major gave the commitment in response to opposition requests for such an assurance. The fault was in the fact that the assurance was not honoured. That was frankly admitted by the then Permanent Secretary in the pensions department when I went to see her. She told me quite plainly that the Civil Service had been in error and was to blame. That can happen. I make no particular criticism of the Civil Service; we all make errors. It is also true that Ministers take responsibility for anything that takes place. In this case, it should be recognised that the Ministers—self-evidently, I was not one of them—were not at fault. The point is that all of that, and the cost that went with it, could have been avoided by decent post-legislative scrutiny. A commission with the type of remit suggested in the amendment would prevent such errors and faults taking place. I have a final point. I do not mind what argument is used against an independent commission examining what has taken place in pensions, but I would like to be preserved from the argument that was used in the last important debate that we had, on costs. This measure would save the Treasury money, not lose it. There is no comparison between the puny cost of an independent commission, where we are talking about very modest sums indeed, and the sums—the tens of millions and hundreds of millions of pounds—that could be lost. In many ways this is probably the most cost-effective measure that could be introduced at this stage. This is a sensible step forward. It is not particularly radical. It is certainly in line with the Pensions Commission and with sensible pensions policy. It keeps us up to date—above all, it keeps the Government up to date—on what is happening in the pensions area. It keeps us up to date on the emerging cost of public sector pensions. I make this argument with no particular optimism that the Government will accept it, but if they fall down on this legislation and other legislation which they have passed, they will have no one to blame but themselves. Worst of all, they will lose taxpayers’ money in putting these things right. One must remember that if errors are made on pensions, the final bill can be very big indeed. Even at this stage, I urge the Minister to accept the amendment. It will not weaken his policy but strengthen it.