HC Deb 16 July 2003 vol 409 c435W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Answer of 8 July 2003,Official Report, column 764–65W, on stakeholder schemes, how many companies the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority has fined for non-compliance with the workplace access requirements for stakeholder pensions schemes; and what the average value was of those fines. [126390]

Malcolm Wicks

The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) regulates compliance with the Stakeholder Pensions workplace access requirements by responding to whistleblowers' reports and by using surveys targeted by region and business sector. When cases of non-compliance come to light, Opra focuses on working with the employer to rectify the situation rather than taking a merely punitive approach. Since the requirements came into force on 8 October 2001, Opra has received 440 reports concerning the stakeholder access requirements. To date, 427 of these cases have been closed, either because, as a result of Opra and the employer working together, full compliance was achieved, or because the employer proved to be exempt from the requirements. The remaining 13 cases are still under investigation by Opra.