Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 Debate

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Department: Department for Work and Pensions

Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Viscount Eccles Excerpts
Tuesday 15th January 2019

(5 years, 11 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Viscount Eccles Portrait Viscount Eccles (Con)
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Over how many weeks would the noble Lord suggest that the consultation should take place?

Lord Deben Portrait Lord Deben
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My noble friend is right to say that the problem with all this legislation is that it takes time. If you are going to make fundamental changes, you have to face it: it is better to have short consultation periods in which everyone is told that there is a consultation, rather than this egregious kind of concept where you say, “We have had a bit of a consultation and we have ongoing talks”. We cannot get up in this House and say that we have had a consultation that shows that we have covered everything. I agree with my noble friend that you have to have a short consultation but it must be public and clear. It is frankly not our fault that we have lost a lot of time. It is because the Government did not start two years ago to prepare for what might be a no-deal exit.