Pension Schemes Bill

Debate between Lord Katz and Baroness Noakes

Committee stage
Monday 12th January 2026 Grand Committee

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I had better write to the noble Lord. I am afraid I do not have the details of that particular case to hand, but it is our understanding that it was coming from a voluntary perspective. But rather than speculating—I do not have the details here—I am very happy to write to him with more detail.

[Baroness Noakes (Con)]

I listened carefully to the Minister’s response, but I am not sure that he answered the question about why the Government need to take power to specify the sources of advice that scheme managers must take and whether that would result in a closed list of scheme advisers that had to be used in any event. Not only is that undesirable from a competition standpoint; it also seems likely to work against producing better returns longer term, because you will just ossify the situation as you find it at the point that the Government decide to make that decision.

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that question. I do not know whether this will give her complete satisfaction, but I understand that requiring funds to take advice from their pool could potentially be a conflict of interest. I would say that, first, asset pool companies will be required to have robust conflict of interest policies and procedures for identifying and managing those areas of conflict. As I said fairly early on in my remarks, integrated models—

[Baroness Noakes (Con)]

It has nothing to do with conflicts of interest; it is about whether the Government can specify a limited number of sources of advice that can be given to scheme managers, what the purpose of that is and whether that does not in fact work against achieving the best returns for members over time.

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I am sorry; I probably misunderstood the direction of the noble Baroness’s questions. I had better write to her to set that out. I think it is fair to say that—this might help a little—in contrast to external advisers, because asset pools are solely owned by old GPS administering authorities, they exist to provide services of their interests and they do not stand to gain financially, even from partner funds taking their advice or providing poor-quality advice. I am not entirely sure that that gets at her question, but the point is that we do not feel that there will be that impact from limiting sources of advice. I will write to her to provide more detail on that point.

Employment Rights Bill

Debate between Lord Katz and Baroness Noakes

Committee stage
Wednesday 18th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I am more than happy to. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, anticipates the comments that I was just about to come to—but we can address the point now. The noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, focused on this as well. This is not expanding legal aid. The power is intended to give the fair work agency a discretion to provide support in employment-related cases. It is not an alternative to legal aid and it will be used in specific cases. The Government will set out how and when the fair work agency will exercise its power in due course and will discuss this with a range of stakeholders. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, we have regular conversations with the Ministry of Justice, including on the Bill’s implementation.

I return to what I was saying about the importance of ensuring that the power of legal advice is appropriately bounded. It cannot be used to fund dispute resolution facilities delivered through other routes. Importantly, the clause protects the integrity of the courts and tribunals by confirming that nothing in the clause overrides existing restrictions on representation imposed by legislation or judicial practice. This clause complements the fair work agency’s wider role in promoting access to justice and fair treatment in the workplace. It provides a vital lever for supporting individuals who might otherwise face legal barriers alone or for ensuring compliance with relevant law, and it delivers our manifesto commitment on which Members in the other House were elected.

The noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, asked about the costs. These will be set out in due course and will be discussed with a range of stakeholders, particularly employers, trade unions and employees.

[Baroness Noakes (Con)]

That was a rather surprising statement. Is the Minister saying that these costs are not included in the estimates that have already been given for the costs of the fair work agency, which were included in the various documents surrounding the Bill? He has just implied that it will be done later. It is rather extraordinary to produce a clause in a Bill without having a costing for it. Can I press him again on what the costs are, whether they are included in the existing estimates of costs for the fair work agency and, if not, when they will actually be made clear?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that intervention. The costs are not factored in. As I said, they will be set out in due course, following discussions with a range of stakeholders. I hope that this has persuaded the noble Baroness that Clause 114 should stand part of the Bill.

I turn finally to the amendments on recovering costs for legal assistance. Regarding Amendment 272J, if an individual has received free legal assistance from the fair work agency, any cost award should be returned to where that assistance came from. To be clear, a cost award is separate from any other awards a tribunal may make in favour of an individual. This amendment will prevent the fair work agency recovering costs and could lead to situations whereby individuals receiving legal assistance could receive money for costs they had not incurred. I hope noble Lords will agree that this is completely unreasonable.

On Amendments 272K and 272L, removing the ability to provide for the appointment and expenditure incurred is unreasonable and could lead to uncertainty about what expenditure of the Secretary of State is recoverable. In addition, while Amendment 272L looks consequential to Amendment 272K, it would actually remove the requirement for regulations under Clause 115(5) to be subject to any parliamentary procedure. I am sure that this is not the intention of the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey. Needless to say, we oppose removing requirements of parliamentary procedures in this way.

In response to noble Baroness’s question on why the regulation for Clause 115(5) is negative, this follows precedent from the Equality Act. I indeed note and point out to the noble Baroness that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee has raised no concerns with the Government about this power.

The legal assistance powers within the Bill are necessary to deliver our manifesto commitment to strengthen enforcement and improve outcomes for workers through a fairer, more acceptable system. These amendments would hamper that goal and might even unintentionally limit access to justice. The current drafting has been carefully considered. It is both deliberate and necessary. I therefore ask the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, to withdraw Amendment 272BA.

[Baroness Noakes (Con)]

In the case of the noble Lord’s response to this group of amendments, and the response to the previous group of amendments by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, the Ministers have claimed that these clauses are covered by manifesto commitments. The Labour Party manifesto is not something I carry around in my handbag, but, from memory, I do not think it covered these particular clauses. What makes me so sure that this is the case is that these two clauses were introduced in the other place on Report. They were not part of the original Bill that was introduced. That means, inter alia, that they received no substantive examination or discussion whatever in the other place. More importantly, this suggests to me that they were not a part of the original package that can claim manifesto support. I think we will want to examine that extremely carefully. If the Minister has a response now, with a chapter and verse in the manifesto, I will be happy to look it up afterwards, but I think we find unconvincing this part of the Government’s defence of these clauses.

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I do not have chapter and verse but a page number. Noble Lords can find it on page 16 of the Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay document, which was part of our manifesto.