§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he will take to ensure local authorities are allowed to offer stakeholder pensions to employees within the local government pension scheme. [143505]
§ Mr. RookerThe Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions is responsible for the regulation of the Local Government Pension Scheme. As every local government employee has the right to join the Local Government Pension Scheme, participating employers are not required to offer their employees access to a stakeholder pension. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions will consider any proposals from local government to give Local Government Pension Scheme employers the choice of offering their employees access to a stakeholder pension under the rules relating to concurrency. It is of course possible for members of the Local Government Pension Scheme to take out Stakeholder Pensions individually within the same rules.