Clause 51 - Penalties relating to sections 46 to 49
Pensions Bill
4:00 pm
Mr George Osborne (Tatton, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 209, in
clause 51, page 33, line 3, at end insert
', save that it shall be a defence under this section if a person who neglects or refuses to produce any document, to answer a question or to provide information when so required, does so on the basis that he first wishes to take legal advice.'.
The clause deals with the penalties that can be imposed on people who fail to comply with the various requirements that we have been discussing. Under
subsection 2(c), a penalty could be imposed on someone who, without reasonable excuse,
''neglects to or refuses to answer a question or to provide information when so required''.
The excuse that my amendment provides may turn out to qualify as a reasonable excuse already—perhaps that is what the Under-Secretary will tell me, but I wanted to be sure. For someone to neglect or refuse to answer a question or provide information when so required because they wish to take legal advice first seems perfectly reasonable, and it may well be covered by the description in subsection (2)(c) of
''A person who without reasonable excuse . . . neglects or refuses to answer a question''.
I want to make sure that a wish to take legal advice is accepted as a reasonable excuse. Severe penalties can be imposed on individuals, and they may get themselves into trouble and incriminate themselves by answering such questions, so I wanted to ensure that they could take legal advice first. I also wanted to know whether the right to silence is a defence under the Bill.