§ Mr. DeanI beg to move Amendment No. 14, in page 11, leave out lines 27 to 30 and insert:
'and, where he determine not to lay a draft order, he shall with the report laid before Parliament under subsection (6) above lay a copy of a report by the Government Actuary on the consequences for the Fund which may, in the Actuary's opinion, follow from that determination'.The amendment fulfils a promise given in Committee. In replying to Opposition amendments about Government Actuary reports on annual reviews of contributions, on behalf of the Government I accepted the principle underlying the amendments and undertook that, as their drafting was defective, the Government would move their own amendments on Report.Under the Bill as it stands, the Secretary of State has to lay a Government Actuary report when he lays a draft order proposing changes following his annual review of contributions. He would not, however, have to lay a Government Actuary report if in a particular year he proposed no contribution changes but simply to report under Clause 7(6) giving his reasons why no changes would be necessary.
The amendment alters this position so that a Government Actuary report is required in these circumstances. In practice the contributions and benefits aspects of an uprating cannot be viewed 516 separately, and it seems likely that the normal practice will be for the Government Actuary to make a report on the uprating as a whole, whether or not contribution changes are proposed.
Nonetheless, the Government accept that, as the Bill deals separately with contributions and with benefits, there should be a specific requirement for a Government Actuary report to cover the situation where no contribution changes are proposed.
Amendment No. 41 makes a corresponding amendment to Clause 38 about annual review of benefits. We are grateful to the Opposition for the suggestion that they have made, and perhaps I will do as I did in Committee and welcome them as the joint authors of the Bill.
§ Amendment agreed to.