Local Government Pension Fund

Lord Pannick Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

That is very important, and the new system is partly to make sure that the fiduciary duty is undertaken by scheme managers and by the democratic oversight that these schemes have. I hope that all those involved in the Local Government Pension Scheme will take that responsibility as seriously as they always have. I was on a pensions committee for many years. We always took that very seriously because the whole purpose of the scheme is to make sure that people get what they are entitled to once they retire.

[Lord Pannick (CB)]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm that any new guidance in this context will approve the principles stated by the Law Commission in 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2020? Those principles assert that local government investment decisions

“must not involve a risk of significant financial detriment to the fund”.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I cannot comment specifically on the Law Commission principles, but I will write to the noble Lord on that. However, the LGPS, as a public sector scheme, is subject to particularly high expectations on responsible investment—as the noble Lord indicated—and must maintain the highest standards in managing financial risk while retaining local control and displaying transparency in accountability and investment decisions. Therefore, I think the guardrails are in place, but I will come back to him on the specific issue of the Law Commission recommendations.