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Pensions Bill

I am disappointed with what the noble Baroness said, because we are creating a world in which the law says things about non-executive members but a code applies to executive members. The law is clear: the Secretary of State has obligations not to appoint and to keep the matter under review. The noble Baroness’s response that executive members are public sector employees and are therefore subject to codes of conduct does not meet the point in any sense. We will move on to the definition of a conflict of interest in the next group of amendments. It is a significant provision—certainly as described in another place—and goes beyond proper conduct. It attacks an issue that is probably more about perception of conflict than conflict itself. I would like the noble Baroness and the Minister to reflect on whether it is proper to have that apartheid built into the Act and to assume that everything that is dealt with in paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 is reflected in the codes. The codes are not put in the same terms and will not deliver the same results. In particular, the Secretary of State does not have the same responsibility, and I am not sure that we have the right approach. Any member of the authority should be subject to the same standards as are applied in public life. It would not be right for those standards to be separated. We are approaching the witching hour and it is not the right time for me to continue, but I invite the Ministers to look at this matter more carefully before we return to it on Report.