Schedule 1
Pensions Bill
3:47 pm
Nigel Waterson (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Eastbourne, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 55, in schedule 1, page 50, line 2, after ‘financial’, insert ‘, political.’
Again, I want to make a short but important point. Quite rightly, paragraph 2 to schedule 1 deals with potential conflicts of interest. It is important that we cater for that possibility, the most obvious of which is financial, as the measure says. Sub-paragraph (5) cites “financial or other interest”, which makes the net reasonably wide.
We are suggest that the measure should refer to “financial, political or other interest”, which would ensure that—of course, the whole question of recruitment is some way down the road—whichever Government were in power, we would not end up with political appointees being nudged in the direction of the trustee corporation. The men and women who will serve on it will be thoroughly independently minded and will, presumably, have substantial experience or expertise in this area. If they have a political background, that should at least be considered and made part of the selection process.