Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)

I thank my noble friend the Minister for his clear and helpful introduction of these regulations. I just have two issues to raise; it would overegg them to describe them as issues of concern, but we need to recognise them. First, these clearing obligations are there to protect investors. The level of risk is materially increased by removing those obligations; we need to understand that. On balance, it may still be a reasonable thing to do, but we need to recognise that there is risk involved. The second, bigger issue is that the Pension Schemes Bill, which was published an hour ago—I am holding it in my hand—makes significant on pension schemes in terms of the investments that they hold and the way in which they undertake their investment policy. It needs to be recognised that this very minor measure is part of that more general review, which will take place because of the Bill. I was very glad to hear my noble friend the Minister report that the policy will be kept under review. The fact that we have this pensions Bill means that it will inevitably be part of that process. The whole thing needs to fit together both to provide the investments that secure members’ benefits and to provide members with the reassurance that their money is being kept well.