Pensions Bill

My Lords, there is an automatic engagement with the effect of reforms and the review of what is happening, not only through the detailed information that will be routinely published by the DWP and the Treasury but through the work of this House and the other place. This is quite apart from the ongoing engagement that we have with stakeholders and the specific reviews that will be undertaken on the underlying assumptions from time to time. The outcome of the reforms—what is happening in practice—will feature in a range of ways through public expenditure reports and a host of other data. So the suggestion that we eschew any kind of review or recognition that there must be an ongoing engagement to make sure that the reforms we want to see put in place will be effective is not right. We say that we do not need a standing commission to do that. In relation to public sector pensions, given the negotiations that are under way at the moment, the introduction of a commission could slow up the process of getting the benefits we want.