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"(4A) Regulations under subsection (4) may provide, in particular, that when calculating the amount or value of assets or protected liabilities of an eligible scheme at the relevant time which consist of any of the following—
(a) a debt (including any contingent debt) due to the trustees or managers of the scheme from the employer under section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 (c. 26) (deficiencies in the scheme assets),
(b) a debt due to the trustees or managers of the scheme by virtue of a contribution notice issued under section 39, 46 or 54,
 
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(c) an obligation arising under financial support for the scheme (within the meaning of section 45) put in place in accordance with a financial support direction issued under section 43, or
(d) an obligation imposed by a restoration order made under section 51 in respect of a transaction involving assets of the scheme,
account must be taken in the prescribed manner of prescribed events which occur during the pre-approval period."
Page 103, line 30, leave out "those matters" and insert "the matters mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection"
Page 103, line 37, at end insert—
"( ) Nothing in subsection (2) requires the actuarial valuation to be obtained during any period when the Board considers that an event may occur which, by virtue of regulations under subsection (2A) or (4), may affect the value of the assets or the amount of the protected liabilities of the scheme for the purposes of the valuation."
Page 104, line 1, leave out "In this section" and insert "For the purposes of this section—
(a) "actuarial valuation", in relation to the scheme, means a written valuation of the assets and protected liabilities of the scheme which—
(i) is in the prescribed form and contains the prescribed information, and
(ii) is prepared and signed by—
(a) a person with prescribed qualifications or experience, or
(b) a person approved by the Secretary of State,
(b) "the pre-approval period", in relation to the scheme, means the period which—
(i) begins immediately after the relevant time, and
(ii) ends immediately before the time the Board first approves a valuation of the scheme under section 142 after the relevant time,
(c) "the relevant time"—
(i) in a case within subsection (1) of section 125, has the meaning given in subsection (4)(b) of that section, and
(ii) in a case within subsection (1) of section 126, has the meaning given in subsection (3)(b) of that section, and
(d) "

On Question, amendments agreed to.

Clause 149 [Application for reconsideration]:

Baroness Hollis of Heigham moved Amendment No. 149:

Page 111, line 13, leave out from beginning to "within" in line 14 and insert "audited scheme accounts for a period which—

(i) begins with such date as may be determined in accordance with regulations, and
(ii) ends with a date which falls"

The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving this amendment I should like to speak also to Amendments Nos. 150 to 153, 155 to 162, 207 and 219 to 221. These amendments are minor and technical. Essentially they
 
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make three changes to the Bill. First, they require the trustees to obtain a set of audited accounts when applying for reconsideration. This replaces the need for an auditor's valuation—an incorrect use of terminology about which the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, was very fierce with me. The amendments respond to concerns raised in Committee and after consultation with the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Secondly, they amend Clause 152. This clause provides that where a public service pension scheme is required to be wound up, then provision may be made, by order, to modify any enactment in which the scheme is contained. The amendment clarifies that the order may be made by the appropriate authority, which is a Minister of the Crown or government department with responsibility for the scheme in question.

Lastly, they make a minor technical amendment to Clause 179 changing references to "the financial year" to "the period for which the levy is imposed". This is to ensure that the terminology in the clause fits with that used in Clause 172. I urge your Lordships to accept these technical amendments.

Lord Higgins: My Lords, this is a somewhat shotgun set of amendments. They seem to be aimed at various clauses all over the Bill. However, we accept that the Minister has sought to meet some points made in Committee and for that we express our appreciation. I am a little puzzled by one point the noble Baroness made in regard to the amendment which amends Clause 152—"Requirement to wind up schemes with sufficient assets to meet protected liabilities". The Minister referred to public sector schemes. I am not clear in what circumstances such schemes were being wound up. Perhaps she could elucidate further.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: My Lords, I am just trying to think. There could be a case where a body with a pension scheme could come to an end. There might be a need to wind the scheme up if an organisation went out of existence. I was pressed on this point in Committee by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale. All this does is to make it clear who has the power to do the winding up. We had some difficulty envisaging such a circumstance, but if it did occur we need the power to be able to act should such a body come to the end of its appropriate life. As I said, these are essentially public sector schemes where there is no Crown guarantee.

Lord Higgins: My Lords, the Minister is saying that it is a public sector scheme which has insufficient assets to do anything other than meet its protected liabilities. That seems very difficult to envisage.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: My Lords, the bulk of public sector schemes—Civil Service or whatever—are underwritten by Crown guarantee. However, there are some public sector schemes which are not underwritten by Crown guarantee. They tend to be associated with non-departmental government bodies such as the Arts Council, British Waterways, the Armouries and so on. Where they have no Crown guarantee they pay the levy and are eligible for protection and therefore potentially
 
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come within the PPF. But because they could need to be wound up, somebody needs to do it. All we are doing here is saying who has to do it.

On Question, amendment agreed to.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham moved Amendments No. 150 to 156.

Page 111, leave out lines 34 to 39 and insert—

""audited scheme accounts", in relation to a scheme, means—
(a) accounts obtained by the trustees or managers of the scheme ("the scheme accounts") which are prepared in accordance with subsections (8A) to (10) and audited by the auditor in relation to the scheme, and
(b) a report by the auditor, in the prescribed form, as to whether or not such requirements as may be prescribed are satisfied in relation to the scheme accounts;
"auditor", in relation to a scheme, has the meaning given by section 47 of the Pensions Act 1995 (c. 26);"
Page 111, line 44, leave out "date" and insert "time"
Page 112, line 7, at end insert—
"(8A) The scheme accounts are prepared in accordance with this subsection if, subject to subsections (9) and (10), they—
(a) include a statement of the assets of the scheme (excluding any assets representing the value of any rights in respect of money purchase benefits under the scheme rules) as at the reconsideration time, and
(b) are prepared in accordance with such other requirements as may be prescribed."
Page 112, line 7, at end insert—
"(8A) The scheme accounts are prepared in accordance with this subsection if, subject to subsections (9) and (10), they—
(a) include a statement of the assets of the scheme (excluding any assets representing the value of any rights in respect of money purchase benefits under the scheme rules) as at the reconsideration time, and
(b) are prepared in accordance with such other requirements as may be prescribed."
Page 112, line 8, after "section 141" insert "(other than regulations made by virtue of subsection (4A) of that section)"
Page 112, line 9, leave out from "to" to "as" in line 10 and insert "the scheme accounts"
Page 112, line 12, leave out from "provide" to end of line 18 and insert "that, where an asset of a prescribed description has been acquired during the assessment period, the value assigned to the asset as at the reconsideration time is to be determined, for the purposes of the scheme accounts, in the prescribed manner."

On Question, amendments agreed to.

Clause 150 [Duty to assume responsibility following reconsideration]:

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