Edward Leigh MP, the chairman of the public accounts committee, has today called on the occupational pensions regulatory authority and the department for work and pensions to revise their approach to pensions regulation and focus more on tackling major risks to pension scheme members.

A spokesman for the DWP told ePolitix.com: "This report comes at a timely moment, when the government is currently analysing the many responses to the recent green paper.

"We are already creating a new pro-active regulatlr that will be charged with tackling the rists to pension scheme members.

"This new body will build on the work of Opra, taking account of the views of the public accounts committee, and the responses to the green paper."

Forum Response: Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority

A spokeswoman for OPRA told ePolitix.com: ""We accept most of the criticisms and recommendations of the public accounts committee report. Most of these are not new recommendations - the report follows the conclusions put forward by the National Audit Office last year.

"We have learned from our five years experience of regulating pension schemes and have already started to implement some of the recommendations."

Forum Response: Counsel and Care

Martin Green, chief executive of Counsel and Care, told ePolitix.com: "I agree that there needs to be better mechanisms in place to ensure that money invested will be available to pensioners."

Forum Response: Help the Aged

Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, said: "Help the Aged agrees with the public accounts committee about the shortcomings of OPRA.

"In fact, the government is proposing a new pensions regulator anyway (in the Green Paper published last December), but it is important that these ideas feed into new arrangements.

"The aspirations described in the green paper were rather modest, and the committee is making more robust proposals: it is also suggesting an urgency which is missing from the green paper, but is vital for the adequate protection of pension scheme members."