Pensions Bill

My Lords, I rise briefly to support the amendment and apologise for not being here at the beginning of the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Joffe. The Committee is moving at a very fast pace all of a sudden and I am afraid that I was at a meeting. The amendment concerns a very important principle. It is an issue that we fought over long and hard during the passage of the then Companies Bill and the Climate Change Bill, and we made some very good progress. I welcome the fact that the Government have been engaging with us on this issue. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, was surely right when he said in Committee that pensions should be about equality, dignity and fairness, and that should also apply to the question of where pension money is invested. It can of course be a power for good but equally, as we very well know, that may not be the case. Surely it is self-evident that pension money should not be invested in companies associated with, as stated in the amendment, crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. The amendment is in line with what we agreed in the Companies Act and more recently in the Climate Change Bill, although we have to ensure that the amendments that were agreed in this House are adhered to and not watered down in the other place. As we know, companies are moving in this direction in terms of corporate responsibility, and that is an extremely welcome development. These are not mandatory requirements, welcome though that might have been, but they open up what policies are in place by having the written policy on ethical factors there to try to motivate investment decisions. For pension funds to assess this issue properly, they need to take corporate responsibility into account as a factor. That does not necessarily go against corporate interest in that pressure on companies in such a situation will have an effect on their share price. Pension funds are of course mindful of that and their members are now much more likely to hear about and react to such stories than used to be the case prior to the internet and the spread of global information. As I and the noble Lord, Lord Joffe, said, the Government seem to have been listening. That is very welcome, and I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say in reply.