I thank the Minister for his response. However, I have struggled a wee bit to align some of the comments made by the Minister and by his loyal and noble friend Lord German. We have been accused of saying that bigger is beautiful, but no, we did not, and of saying that bigger is best, but no, we have not said that. The Minister has used the word “sledgehammer” to describe this minor, moderate amendment, and it is just not true. The noble Lord, Lord German, referred to a “forced marriage”. The only forced marriage I see is, more appropriately, across the Benches here and it is heading for a rocky end in divorce and mayhem and not on good terms either.
I repeat what the amendment would do. It would ensure that:
“The fiduciary duty of pension scheme trustees shall include a duty to consider whether the scheme has sufficient scale to deliver good value for members”.
The only duty is to consider. It is not a forced marriage, it is not bigger is best, it is not big is beautiful, and it is not a sledgehammer. I am losing track of all the various adjectives used here to describe this little amendment. We think it is a reasonable duty to give them to make sure they at least consider it. No force of any kind is envisaged at all. The Minister is not an extreme person but I am disappointed that he has perhaps been waylaid by his loyal and noble friend into using some extreme language which does not fit the amendment. However, I beg leave to withdraw.