What funds should I choose?

You are seeing a financial adviser. UNless its a tied sales rep then you shouldnt be picking the funds. That is the job of the adviser. If you are seeing a tied Zurich rep then cancel the appointment and see a real adviser instead.

the pension and stakeholder pension have not performed well at all.

Compared to what? its easy to poo poo a product or fund if you are trying to "sell" an alternative but are the funds bad because they are bad or have they not performed as well as you hoped beacuse of market conditions?

I think it's worth me sticking with the pension due to the tax benefits

Dont let the tax tail wag the dog. Is the maturity process of the pension and your overall retirement provision suited towards using a pension?

I would like to stop the stock and shares ISA and re-invest the funds in a high rate bank account or and NS&I product.

Possibly now (and the last year) has been a good time to be in a regular contribution ISA.

I'm pretty sure there was a 4 year tie-in period for the stock and share ISA, so may not be able to do this just yet.

Its open ended with no defined term. You dont mention how you are invested so we cant really comment on whether you are doing the right thing or not.

What are considered the safest possible funds that I can put my stakeholder pension money

cash/deposit funds but dont expect to make much money using deposits.

and stock and share ISA into?

short term cash is available but you also have fixed interest/bond funds.

I realise that nothing is guaranteed,

guarnateed options do exist or some options with limited or certain capital protections.

I think the real problem is that I don't trust the financial advisor that I have because he really pushed Sterling/Zurich and later I found out that he makes more out of this due to the double layer of charges which he definatley did not explain clearly to me.

Is this an IFA or a Zurich tied agent?

Sterling are not a very good fund supermarket. They are typically used by the greedy sales reps and so called advisers. That said, before anyone else reading with a Sterling ISA thinks they have been ripped off, the second layer of charges is not automatic. The adviser themselves can choose to levy it and the genuine ones are not likely to.

I also think that I signed to say I would stay with the ISA for 4 years, or would have to pay a penalty.

Hopefully you will learn from this.

I really want to change advisors, but I think I would have to pay to get out of the existing deal. (sorry about the double post)

I dont blame you wanting to change. Its these sorts of adviser that the RDR (FSA's retail distribution review due to kick in next year but with a transitional period) will hopefully kick into touch and allow us to rid ourselves of a few more bad apples.

I suggest you ask for a copy of your fee agreement. The adviser should have a copy on file. If they cannot supply it then they have nothing to enforce any fees that you may or may not have agreed to.

If you are feeling brave then you may wish to consider threatening to make a complaint against the adviser. If you complain to the FOS, the adviser pays £400 whether the complaint is upheld or not. So, you could threaten the adviser that you feel the charges that he has taken are excessive for the work done and that you want to appoint a new adviser and no longer pay into the ISA and if he rejects to this, you will take your complaint to the FOS which will see him charged £400 as well as having a complaint on his record (which may hinder future employment or impact on his PI insurance).

The FSA have been doing an increased number of inspections of adviser firms recently and one common theme has been dealing with cases where the advisers have taken more than the natural commission in extra fees but not being able to justify what they are doing for those extra fees. They have been critical of this and your Sterling ISA fees are just the thing that are looking at as being excessive.