Lord Ashcombe (Con)

My Lords, I speak to my Amendment 34 in this group, and I am grateful for the support from the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough. Pensions legislation is, as many of your Lordships appreciate, inherently complex and difficult to understand. It is also currently undergoing further refinement in this House, which will inevitably bring more change. My amendment seeks to make life easier for those who provide pensions and those who invest in them. Its purpose is straightforward: to require the Treasury, should this Bill pass, to publish all documents, guidance, consultations, regulations and reviews arising from the Act in a single, publicly accessible and advertised location. This would support transparency and ensure that both Parliament and business can easily find the information that they need. In Committee last week, the Minister referred to at least four different documents containing differing information and mentioned them this morning or this afternoon as well. This week, we learnt in the Times that Sir Steve Webb made a freedom of information request asking for a more detailed breakdown of the composition of the £4.5 billion to be raised in 2029 as a result of this Bill, who will be affected and how employers are expected to react to the changes. HMRC indicated that the information requested would “undermine” the policy-making process. Is it not our duty to ask the questions and expect a proper response in order to hold the Government to account? This would, of course, have added another document to those that would be publicly accessible. In my professional life, I work for Marsh, a global company whose code of conduct for the greater good includes two principles that are particularly relevant to this debate—the code, of course, is written with the regulators in mind. They are that we treat customers fairly and we that communicate honestly and professionally with investors and the public. I am not convinced that the current approach to information accessibility meets either of these standards. It is difficult to imagine customers or investors being satisfied if told that essential documents are scattered across multiple websites and must be hunted down individually. Yet this is precisely the situation facing those who wish to understand the documents associated with this Bill. Why should the Government not be held to the same standards as the private sector? This amendment is simply about ensuring openness and transparency. It would create a single, reliable point of access for all relevant material, replacing the current scramble to locate information needed to make what are often complex and consequential decisions. I beg to move.