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Banking Bill

I intervene at this point because I have a meeting elsewhere in the House at 4.30 pm and may not be able to speak on whether Clause 71 should stand part of the Bill. I agree with my noble friend on the Front Bench. It seems that this clause enables the Government and the Treasury to do almost anything with regard to a failed bank’s pension scheme, as compared with the situation that would exist if the bank failed—I was going to say ““in the normal course of events””—without the Government having set up the arrangements in the Bill. In that context, I ask the Minister to what extent there has been consultation on this clause with anyone representing trustees of pension schemes or organisations involved in pension schemes generally? This issue is of great importance if, indeed, under subsection (4) powers are being taken to amend the terms of a pension scheme with apparently no qualification whatever regarding the protection of existing pension interests. If a bank fails, perhaps the pension scheme and pension fund will have certain protections, but what will the situation be with regard to the pension fund as against the more general assets of a failed bank? In particular, I presume that provision could be made to change a final salary scheme to a defined contribution scheme to the disadvantage of the pensioners, but that may or may not happen if the bank has not been operating under a new regime established by the Bill. Therefore, I think that very grave issues are raised, and the fact that all this is contained in a single clause indicates that the detail of how the Government envisage the clause, and in particular subsection (4), operating is rather lacking.