I beg to move amendment No. 145, in clause 32, page 14, line 28, at end add—

‘(h) the Secretary of State shall have the power to apportion such amount as the Secretary of State thinks appropriate of fixed penalty notice payments for the benefit of qualifying jobholders in circumstances where their employers are unable to pay the prescribed contributions.’.

The amendment is an attempt to open up the question of where the money paid in fixed penalty notices will  go. Will it all go straight into the Government’s general coffers? Will it go to the Pensions Regulator? Is there, perhaps, the possibility I am suggesting; that jobholders—either the jobholders from the employer to whom the fixed penalty notice has been issued or jobholders more generally, who could be the subject of some sort of hardship fund if their employer had gone bust and contributions were not possible—might be able to benefit from these fixed penalty notices?

There are various times in public life when money is raised by fines or penalties of one sort or another. It is not always clear to the public where that money goes, what happens to it, or for what purposes it will be used. Amendment No. 145 is worded in a very wide way. It just gives the Secretary of State a permissive power to apply such moneys raised by way of fixed penalty notices for the benefit of jobholders, should he or she see fit to do so, at any time. It does not require the Secretary of State to do anything; it is purely a permissive power. On that basis, I would commend it to the Minister.