Pension Schemes Bill (First sitting)

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Public Bill Committees

[Kirsty Blackman]

Q Do the majority of trustees already take into account what they think scheme members would think about certain investments anyway, or about ESG, for example?

Charlotte Clark: Almost certainly.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

Q I want to ask about Unison’s point about LGPS funds requiring equal member and employer representation on boards—I should declare an interest as a member of said trade union. According to Unison, the Bill will mean a lack of member voice on LGPS board governance. I wonder how you respond to that criticism?

Patrick Coyne: TPR’s responsibility is not for the asset pools, which are FCA-regulated entities, but we do have responsibility for governance across public sector schemes, including LGPS funds. It is really important to recognise the member voice within good decision-making, as Ms Blackman’s question indicated, but there are a number of ways to do that within standardised corporate governance boards and reporting functions, and that is something that we would look to explore over the coming months. With the LGPS boards, like the rest of the Bill, there is the ability, through greater scale, to start hiring better colleagues, introduce better systems and processes, and put in place better governance practices, and we would expect to see that come to pass.

[The Chair]

A last, short question.