Local Government Pension Fund Debate
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Lord Sahota
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Local Government Pension Fund
Lord Sahota Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
The Fit for the Future reforms do not seek to undermine the fiduciary duty of local pension funds in any way. The responsibility to set investment strategies—the key driver of investment returns—remains with the funds, making sure that they retain local accountability. New LGPS regulations will continue to require administering authorities to include preferences on environmental, social and governance factors in their investment strategies.
Lord Sahota (Lab)
My Lords, I congratulate the Government on planning to reintroduce the pension scheme for local councillors, which was abolished in 2015 by the noble Lord, Lord Pickles, when he was the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in the other place. Thousands of councillors lost their pensions. Does my noble friend the Minister agree with me that the noble Lord should apologise to all those councillors, of all political parties, for the loss of their pensions?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
We took a different view from the previous policy, and I think that was the right thing to do. Many local councillors will potentially give up many hours of their working life to undertake their duties. It is absolutely right that they should be eligible for the Local Government Pension Scheme.