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Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 112J: 112J: Schedule 1, page 56, line 21, leave out ““and, under paragraph (1)(1)(b)”” and insert ““or, after the initial period”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendment No. 112K. Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 deals with conflicts of interest. My amendments are not addressed to the need for members to avoid conflicts of interest, but to the Secretary of State’s ongoing involvement. He is not only involved in appointing someone who does not have a conflict of interest, but has to keep an eye on this ““from time to time””. That is, under the terms of this Bill, the Secretary of State has both an initial and an ongoing requirement to monitor the status of members of the corporation, outside the initial period, even if he has not appointed them. I do not understand the need for this or the need to create within the Department for Work and Pensions the mechanism to monitor—on behalf of the Secretary of State—conflicts of interest within the trustee corporation. My amendments remove the Secretary of State from the process once the initial period has passed. The responsibility would then be with the trustee corporation, which is as it should be. That is what happens in organisations such as boards; they have to ensure that conflicts of interest do not get in the way of business, and that important ones do not exist. My amendments seek to take the Secretary of State out of the process because it would be impractical—or, indeed, involve too much public sector, Civil Service effort—to comply with this after the initial phase. I beg to move.