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Pensions Bill

I remember that, some 20 years ago, when I was standing where the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, is now standing, I struggled, manfully, I hope, with the particular and peculiar place of share fishermen in social security legislation. It was a nightmare then, and it is a nightmare now. I am delighted that the Minister has seen fit to remove them from the Bill. It seems to me that persons working on vessels should be treated in exactly the same way as any other persons working on vessels, and I quite understand why Clause 84 eliminates share fishermen from the Bill. Amendment No. 118ZE widens ship workers from simply meaning share fisherman to any individual who works on a ship. I have no objection to that in principle, but is it not just a tiny bit vague? Is the new clause intended to cover seagoing personnel only? If so, it does not specifically say so. Of course, other people work on ships, even though they are shore-based. The obvious examples are cargo handlers and pilots, whose sole rationale is working on and around ships, although the first do some work on land. I am sure that the Government do not want to exempt them from auto-enrolment, and I hope that the new clause does not do so inadvertently. It is of particular note that people working on oil rigs under the second new clause in Amendment No. 118ZG are subject, quite rightly, to auto-enrolment. Incidentally, that amendment is identical, as far as I can see, to Amendment No. 118ZF, which has been withdrawn. What is the point of that? Is it to confuse the Committee even more? I am not sure why Amendment No. 136B is grouped, or why we have it at all. Can the Minister tell us which powers to make orders in the Bill are not conferred on the Secretary of State? Amendments Nos. 136B and 136C, 139ZA and 139B all cover order-making powers and have nothing, as far as I can see, in common with the two substantive amendments in this overly large group. Amendments Nos. 118ZE and 118ZG are, as I said, about ship and oil-rig workers. The only connection between the first set of amendments that I mentioned and them is that they contain order-making powers, but so do several other clauses.