Clause 2
Pensions Bill
11:00 am
Danny Alexander (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
This is a useful probing amendment to press a point about what sort of omissions the Government have in mind. Some omissions occur by accident and, while they will be prohibited by the phrase in the Bill, employers will want to make good their omissions straightforwardly and quickly. Equally, removing the reference to omissions, as the amendment proposes, would allow scope for unscrupulous employers to act by stealth and fail to carry out their obligations. By removing a reference to an omission, employers could fail to carry out their obligations and make it seem like an accident, which would get round some of the provisions in this Bill. That is my concern about the amendment, but I am interested to hear the Minister’s response to the points raised by the hon. Gentleman.