• Parliamentary Select Committee Work & Pensions ~ Remit; Role; and Duties ;

• Chair and Membership ~ June 2020;

• W&P Select Committee Video Interview ~ TPO Arter.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a Select Committee(SelCom) of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Committees whose chairs are elected:
The Chairmanship of the Parliamentary Select Committee for Work and Pensions is a Chair which is elected.

The Chairmanships of the House of Commons Select Committees are elected under Standing Order Number 122B and the current Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee the Rt. Hon Stephen Timms MP with 10 other Members of the House selected by their Political Parties.  

For understanding the Rules governing the Political composition of a Select Committee there is a Brief Guide to Select Committees. Go Here.

The remit of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Committee is to scrutinise the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pensions and its associated public bodies which includes, but is not limited to; The Pension Protection Fund(The Government’s(Taxpayers) financial liferaft for pensioners when a pension fund collapses); The Pensions Regulator(TPR) ~ its regulatory teeth; The Pensions Ombudsman(TPO) ~ The resolution of Pension Complaints; The Pension Scheme Trustees(in its broadest sense) and Pension Scheme managers (whether delegated or not) and their Local Pension Board (4 in number) appointed by the Scheme manager(Another of Hutton’s silly ideas)  associated administrators, and staff.

SelComs have virtually limitless powers of investigation and scrutiny including organisations both public and private and most particularly those in charge of, managing, and administering them.

However, W&P SelCom does not empower itself to deal with individual Pension Complaints as this would be a duplication of the powers of those outlined above, which primarily lie with TPR and TPO, but it does reserve the right to investigate and call to public account instances drawn to its attention where it is clear systemic, institutionalised, pension fund maladministration and/or malfeasance, and/or criminal fraud, is leading to, or can if left uncorrected lead to a pension fund failure with the result that a failing fund will become a direct burden on the Taxpayers via the Pension Protection Fund(The Government’s(Taxpayers) financial life-raft for pensioners when a pension fund collapses.

They have not a good , if any record, in this respect.

All SelComs are supported by the direct democratic powers of the House of Commons to whom they report on an almost daily basis via Reports and Hanzard (The daily diary of the House and its Members activities).

Indeed all SelComs have also historical martial powers to ‘encourage’ those Citizens  minded to ignore Parliament and its Committees in the form of the Sergeant-at-Arms who can physically command the attendance of anyone that Parliament seeks to interview.

The office of Sergeant at Arms dates back to 1415 and the reign of Henry V when the Serjeant was responsible for carrying out the orders of the House of Commons, including making arrests.

Today, the Sergeant at Arms performs ceremonial duties that date back to the early days of the office, for example the Sergeant is required to carry the Mace in the Speaker’s Procession each day and also into the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament but nevertheless in very recent times those lacking in the spirit of cooperation have been forcefully reminded of the delegated powers of the Sergeant at Arms….

Having made it through the Portcullis for those who are ‘invited’ or commanded to present evidence to a Select Committee there is also a Guidance Note. Go Here.

TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO GO TO LIBRARY ~ OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ~ YEAR 2020.

First a few technical thoughts on this SelCom video which can be downloaded direct from Parliament. It is about 1.25hrs long (650 Meg). This required Bluehost the Bugler’s server to increase the file upload capacity so that it can be brought direct to the Bugler’s Readership.

It would be helpful technically to TMB, if Readers would kindly download this video to their own systems, from the TMB ‘Official Documents Library’ where a link is provided should they be minded. In about 1 month the Bugler will remove this file to Archive to free up some space on the website.Now removed..but available direct from Bugler.

But before then the Bugler thought it might be a great idea to bring a few chuckles to comrades who are unwell at the moment or house bound with special greetings to comrades in the Scottish FRS…Go Here.

Now on with the more serious work…

This was a golden opportunity to study the ‘Great Architect’ Mr. Arter up close to whom many of the woes and frustrations of FSVs dealing with his organisation over the last 5.5 years can be directly attributable.

Mr. Arter can hand it out but would he be able to handle it by himself sans menials doing his dirty work for him?

The Bugler having spent half a decade on the Parole Board and a further half a decade on HMP work and having dealt face to face with hundreds of criminals it was an opportunity for the Bugler to see how Mr.Arter would measure up to this direct personal scrutiny.

Mr.S. Timms MP, the Chair, led the question charge.

The first question of three penetrating questions from the Chair was a real middle stumper in which ‘R’(how he refers to his ‘customers) was asked about his curious role, in association with his chum ‘L’ , Mr. Counsel at TPR in the matter of pension scheme criminality at Norton Motorcycles to the tune of £14mil in 2018.

This is a Tale of two murky bureaucratic Cities, the City of TPO and the City of TPR. The question is who do you really believe in these two tales of Norton Motorcycles?

The Bugler in an earlier report had exposed, on face value, complicity between C and L the point of which was to rescue Arter’s sullied and somnolent reputation by passing him some headline grabbing action for self-publication and thus L avoided some more scrutiny himself for his failure to act.

In February 2020 the first action of the W&P Chair had been to ask L where had he and TPR been over Norton since 2018?

But according to R’s Tale on the 3^rd July 2020  the Norton saga was his moment of triumph not TPR’s and thus he was the Hero. So where had he been since 2018 as well ?

The fact of the matter is that if L and TPR had both been doing their jobs properly in the first place before 2018 they would have been monitoring Norton’s pension schemes and the matter of the Norton Scheme fraud would have been picked up by him and TPR much earlier and the Members’ money protected instead of which, until this money is (if ever) recovered, the Tax Payers emergency pension fund will have to pick up the bill.

This is now juxtaposed by R’s tale who states he discovered Norton via the Complaints of 30 Scheme members coming to him in 2018 which he knows he was duty bound to report immediately to TPR but he does not tell us whether or not he did that?

Instead exceeding his remit and bailiwick he runs off to his pals in the pension industry where his 27 pension scheme shares are held as is his future employment when shortly he comes to the end of his tenure at TPO.

In this case he goes to Emerald  trustees at Norton, who failed their Statutory duty also and who happen to have a director named Strachan; one wonders if there is a coincidence here with the notorious Strachan(The Obstructer) employed at the TPO; and if so what his role might have been in delaying the 2017 Complaints of the Norton scheme Members?

This whole issue of Norton is yet another example of the shady/lazy way both TPR and TPO do operate even though they are informed of these criminal frauds taking place…the Bugler has first hand experience in his archives where TPR twice failed to act, indeed declined to act.

In response to these pointed initial questions by the Chair there was much gulping by R and slithering around the question whilst R misled an obviously ignorant and/or lazy (the old guard) of this ‘new’ Committee but one hopes he will only be able to pull that stunt once as the newbies get up to speed… which will never be the case with the old guard who must be returned to sleepy hollow where they remained asleep on Watch on this Fire Service pension issue for the last 5.5 years…

One wonders if R realises that every time he lies he touches his nose or face, aside of course from being perpetually shifty ?

Of course R simply confirmed the Bugler’s experience. R told these convicted fraudsters at Norton to hand the money back which had them quaking in their boots because their ‘brief’ will have told them just ignore TPO because has no power to do anything and this pompous notion that the County Court would fawn over his ‘Determination’ is simply nonsense because his ‘Determination’, as we are seeing, is open to the Appeals procedure of the Courts.

Presumably the poor individual Members at Norton will have to go and seek an Enforcement Order at their own expense at County Court, R and TPO having abandoned them in the meantime?

At this point the W&P Chair will have both ‘Tales’ to hand, TPR and TPO and can decide what he is going to do about both organisations, as he must.

The Bugler heard the word ‘customer’ twice in this 1.25 hours semi monologue from R so much for the pension saver being at the forefront of his mind…he repeatedly engaged in filibustering waffle which surely no one in their right minds, including McCabe MP, the litmus test for workhouse custard could not avoid recognising. Then it was general question time…

Abrahams came twice…the first forgettable…but the second she managed to elucidate from R that actually he had no powers unlike TPR and the statement that his Awards in sanctions were ‘unlimited’ was both a falsehood and risible when he has a policy of Awarding a very handsome maximum if £1k to a little fighting widow woman…

Along came Sir Desmond…who pointedly challenged the existence of TPO…Huzzah!… and could be built upon if he engaged more on the side the pension saver rather than the City of London but was seen off by R with a load of filibustering waffle…but do come back Sire, but with a well informed sharper lance, there is much fun to be had in the skewering…

Bailie…it was so illuminating the Bugler cannot recall even if a question was put or a response given…

Dr.Ben Spencer an expert in psychiatry was new and it showed, but he actually spoke that magic word ‘customers’ with concern but when this scouser informs himself from the Morning Bugler of the head case criminals the Bugler has had to deal with for the last 13 years he will feel completely at home.

Meantime R give him an example to work on of filibuster and waffle, in that he was putting new measures in place to handle Complaints; now was that Pension Complaints? Or Service Delivery Failure Complaints for his chum Fiona Nicol,  Head of Cases  to investigate and find no faults?

Dr. Ben will have a field day in TPO where they suffer delusions of grandeur overlaid with layers of mendacity, now unpeel those onions please…

Nigel was wonderful, God love him, but the Bugler had trouble getting beyond 13% or was it 30%…but when we did R told him in a direct falsehood that there was no Appeal from his ‘Determinations’ but he was hoping that an employer(WHAT!), naturally a criminal employer like the Lancashire Fire Authority would make a Pension Complaint against itself…well I never said the Bugler… headcase work for Dr. Ben here without a doubt…

Finally bright eyed and bushy tailed came the perfect Prefect Ms Selaine Rachel Saxby MP politically dashing back and forth across the floor of the ‘House’ gushing to R ‘we must share your brilliant success with others’ believing without demure that the head case who came from the DWP to ‘report’ on TPO and then wrote his undiluted garbage of a ‘report’ whilst ignoring the fact surely he must be already in the queue waiting to see the goodly Dr. Ben…

Where do they get from… Cambridge ?… is there a special mold there they have not had the heart to smash yet?

Ms Selaine has to be a cruel joke from Conservative Central Office….sorry but she will have to go…naivety is not in fashion in the ‘House’, particularly one who believes in self-investigation….

Finally, the Chair asked Mr. Arter when he planned on leaving though it was not quite put like that…Huzzah!!