My Lords, I would like to speak briefly in support of the amendment. I see it as a way of advising the parties on the details in the contracts, which are quite often unclear or not there at all. As we have debated before, and many noble Lords have said, we are dealing with some very large companies and very large amounts of money are at stake. So I think there is a comfort in having something like this, but the key is probably who will be on the expert panel and what their background, experience and history will be.
The Minister said in her response to the last amendment that the Government took independent advice on the strike price and scrutiny from technical experts. I would like to ask who they work for, or have worked for, because I am afraid that that sometimes colours how one thinks about these things and how they might like to think. If they are seconded from the big six, as consultants or something, how independent are they? It would be very helpful if the Minister could write to me and say who these people are, and who they work
for or have worked for. At this stage, it would give people a lot of comfort to know that there was something like this—an expert panel to look at these things and form an independent view on things such as strike prices and all the other things in Clause 2. I do not think that Members of either House, in the Chambers or the committees, will want to look at those things in too much detail.
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