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Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 113J: 113J: Clause 71, page 35, line 5, after ““directions”” insert ““and guidance”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 113K, 113L and 113M. Clause 71 deals with directions and guidance, both of which may be given to PADA by the Secretary of State. My amendments pursue a theme of transparency. Amendment No. 113J amends Clause 71(4) so that guidance as well as directions must be in writing. Under Clause 71(2) PADA must have regard to guidance, so it seems impossibly informal and open to misunderstanding if that guidance is not reduced to writing. If there is no requirement for a formal record of guidance, the Bill will tolerate guidance given by a series of nods and winks or other communications that would lack clarity. There can be no excuse for not properly recording guidance. Clause 71(5) requires directions to be published, and Amendment No. 113K requires guidance also to be published. Amendment No. 113L requires publication of either guidance or directions to be within one month of the direction or guidance being issued. At present there is no limit at all on publication, hence the issue of directions under the clause—or guidance, if my earlier amendment is accepted—could be in six months or a year, or put in the annual report perhaps 15 months later. Amendment No. 113N would require the directions and guidance to be included in PADA’s annual report. These are not intended to be nitpicking amendments. What PADA does will have an impact on the world outside Whitehall, and it is vital that the basis on which it operates is, first, completely clear to PADA itself, so guidance should be clear and recorded in writing, and, in turn, clear and transparent to the outside world. I expect that the Minister will say that directions and, particularly, guidance will cover a lot of detailed matters of no interest to the outside world. The Government should let that world say what interests it, rather than having the Government decide that for it. I hope he will not hide behind some notion that giving guidance to PADA is not the kind of thing that should be exposed because it will raise issues of confidentiality; that is the kind of thing that gives the process of government a bad name. I say: let sunlight into the relationship between the Government and PADA. I beg to move.