My Lords, I first declare an interest as a recipient of the parliamentary pension fund. I support the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. I will also refer to Amendments 85 to 88 in the Minister’s name, which make particular reference to Northern Ireland.
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On Amendment 34, I firmly agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, that there is a need to ensure that pension schemes take account of climate change treaties such as the Paris Agreement, are fully resilient in relation to such matters and take on board the broader environmental, social and governance issues. As the noble Baroness said, we live in a world where there is a series of climate change shocks, and Covid and other issues with the wider environment and society. Pension schemes therefore have to be fully resilient to deal with these issues.
Pensions legislation in Northern Ireland is normally devolved. As a former Minister in Northern Ireland, with responsibility for benefits and pensions from 2007 to 2010, I used to bring forward similar legislation in the Northern Ireland Assembly, but it was the same because we adhered to the principle of parity. That goes back to the early 1920s when the original Northern Ireland Parliament was established. I worked closely on these issues with the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, as he was the Minister at the time.
At Second Reading on 28 January, the Minister helpfully explained that the Northern Ireland Office and the Department for Communities wanted the Department for Work and Pensions to take forward combined legislation for Northern Ireland due to the absence of devolution at that time, when they were discussing the legislation back in 2019. It is interesting to note that on the date of the Second Reading in your Lordships’ House, devolution had been restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was restored on 11 January. In fact, this Bill was presented to the Lords for its First Reading on 7 January. In that same week, the final negotiations for the resumption of the Assembly took place, which led to the first meeting of the restored Assembly on Saturday 11 January.
In view of that, I ask the Minister why the Government did not bring forward amending legislation in Committee to allow separate but similar pensions legislation in Northern Ireland. As an advocate of devolution, I firmly believe that should have taken place. We value devolution in Northern Ireland, now that it has been restored. I come from that tradition that was very angry when it was collapsed back in January 2017 and was glad when it was restored.
Did the Minister or her senior officials receive further correspondence from, or have meetings with, the equivalent Minister in Northern Ireland about wishing to bring forward that separate legislation, in view of the fact that devolution was restored? It is interesting that the first stage of the pensions Bill is coming to the Northern Ireland Assembly today, but not this current Bill because the provisions for Northern Ireland are in this legislation. It actually equates to Westminster’s Pension Schemes Act 2017. I can see fairly clearly that the problem is a matter of capacity and space in its timetable.
It is interesting to note that New Decade, New Approach, which dealt with the resumption of devolution, was all about restoring confidence in devolved government. How can this restore confidence in the ability of the local Assembly when it will not pass separate legislation? Very helpfully, the Minister’s amendments deal with the Paris Agreement, and she clearly recognises that pensions legislation must be resilient to those external shocks that have an impact on our environment, on society and on business in general.
It is also interesting to note that the Northern Ireland Assembly will introduce legislation and targets for reducing carbon emissions in line with the Paris climate change accord—as specified in New Decade, New Approach, which dealt with the resumption of devolution—so why could it not take on this new pensions Bill? I tried to raise this with the Northern Ireland Assembly Bill Office and did not get much response. Perhaps the Minister can provide some clarification for me today. I support her amendments and those of the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones of Whitchurch and Lady Bennett of Manor Castle.