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Banking Bill

I certainly would not want to encourage the Minister to repeat himself at length; I find it difficult to see how he could do so on the amendments that he is about to move, but wonders will never cease. The Minister has said extremely helpfully that he does not wish to affect any accrued rights. Yet the Bill, at face value, gives the Government the power to do just that. Perhaps he ought to think between now and Report about an amendment to Clause 71, so that it covers those who have deferred rights—current employees with accruing service or, indeed, those with pensions in payment—but makes it clear that there is no intention to deal with accrued rights. That would be extremely helpful. I know that the Minister cites Article 1, or whatever it is, of the European Convention on Human Rights, but frankly that overarches a lot of things. It is not a first-line provision of restraint on the use of a power; it simply indicates that some people might have to resort to that in due course if challenging it in a court of law. It is not as preferable as having clear statements in the Bill, especially if we are dealing with employee rights. That is an important point in respect of accrued rights. Separately, the Bill appears to say that rights can be changed for the future because provision can be made to amend the terms of a pension scheme. That could indicate that you could change the terms of future accrual in the pension scheme from defined benefit to defined contribution, or, if in defined benefit, from 60ths to 80ths, or whatever might give you a lower pension entitlement. I do not think the Minister is saying that; I think he is saying that he wishes to use the clause to make more efficient what can be quite complicated and take quite a long time in the real world. I certainly would not challenge the Government on having that sort of power, but I am most unhappy with a power that is drafted as it is and which appears to suggest that the Government can use it to make fundamental changes to one of the most important rights that people have in their current or former employment with an organisation.