Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)

My Lords, I will speak to the amendments in my name in this group. Before turning to the detail, I should briefly note that almost all these amendments were previously tabled by the Government in Committee, where, in light of concerns expressed about the way in which they were tabled, the Government agreed to bring them back on Report. The group contains a modest number of minor and technical amendments, which are not unusual for a Bill of this size. They do not alter the underlying policy of the Bill. Their purpose is to ensure the Bill is relevant and that the relevant provisions in FSMA operate clearly and consistently. I will try to be quite quick, therefore, in going through them all, so as not to tire your Lordships. First, turning to Amendments 18, 21 and 23 to 25. These are minor technical corrections to Schedule 2 to the Bill, which, taken with Clause 13, abolishes the Payment Systems Regulator and gives broadly equivalent functions to the FCA. Amendment 18 removes the duplicative provision from new Section 131Z19. Amendment 21 corrects a cross-reference so that the Bill refers to the correct FCA payment system. Amendments 23 to 25 ensure that references to the chair of the PSR, which should be obsolete after the PSR is abolished, are deleted in the correct places. I hope this is all making sense, but if noble Lords have a particular thing they want to talk about, please do indicate. Amendments 73 to 75 are, once again, minor and technical amendments. Amendment 12, which relates to Clause 4, makes a consequential amendment. New paragraph 1B of Schedule 17 to FSMA, inserted by Clause 4, permits any function of the Financial Ombudsman to be performed by any member of staff. Amendments 76 to 79 relate to Clause 33. As noble Lords will be aware, the Bill introduces a more flexible senior management approvals framework, including the ability for firms to apply for conditional or time-limited approval in specified circumstances. These are technical amendments to ensure that the framework operates consistently and in line with the original policy intent. As regards Amendment 81, finally, when the Bill before us gains Royal Assent, there will already exist a number of overseas recognition regimes created under existing powers in FSMA 2023 to restate regimes inherited from the EU. This amendment enables the Treasury to make consolidating provision, which would restate the existing regimes within the new overseas recognition regime framework. This is essentially a tidying-up exercise. In summary, this group of government amendments makes technical corrections to ensure the Bill works as intended. I hope noble Lords will join me in supporting them.