Financial Guidance and Claims Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-04-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Luciana Clare Goldsmith (Berger) (Labour, Centre-left): I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 18 Disclosure of information Amendments made: 12, page 14, line 17, after "where" insert "— (i) the disclosure is for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the exercise of the consumer protection function, or (ii) " This amendment is consequential upon Amendment 10, which makes changes to the consumer protection function, including requiring the SFGB to pass information to the FCA in certain circumstances. This amendment ensures that disclosure of information in these circumstances is protected by subsection (7) of Clause 18. Amendment 43, page 14, line 26, leave out "Data Protection Act 1998" and insert "data protection legislation"—(John Glen.) This amendment changes the reference to the Data Protection Act 1998 to a reference to the "data protection legislation" (as defined in Clause 25 as amended by Amendment 44) to reflect the changes to data protection legislation that are to be made by the Data Protection Bill. Clause 19 Personal pension schemes: requirements to recommend guidance etc Amendments made: 13, page 14, line 40, leave out from beginning to end of line 8 on page 15 and insert— ‘(1B) As part of the application process, the trustees or managers must ensure that— (a) the member or survivor is referred to appropriate pensions guidance, and (b) the member or survivor is provided with an explanation of the nature and purpose of such guidance (1C) Before proceeding with the application, the trustees or managers must ensure that the member or survivor has either received appropriate pensions guidance or has opted out of receiving such guidance." This amendment will enable FCA rules to require trustees of a personal pension scheme who receive an application from a member to access or transfer their pension to refer them to SFGB guidance and explain its nature and purpose (or ensure that another person, such as the SFGB, does so) and will prevent them from proceeding unless the member confirms that they have received guidance or do not want it. Amendment 14, page 15, line 10, leave out from "guidance" to end of line 11 This amendment (and Amendment 13) removes references to independent financial advice from Clause 19, so that it refers only to pensions guidance given by the SFGB in pursuance of Clause 5 of the Bill. Amendment 15, page 15, line 14, at end insert— "() make further provision about how, and to whom, a member or survivor may indicate that they have received or opted out of receiving appropriate pensions guidance for the purposes of subsection (1C);" This amendment expressly envisages the rules making provision about how the opt-out (or confirmation of receipt of guidance) mentioned in the new subsection (1C) inserted by Amendment 13 must be expressed in order to be effective. Amendment 16, page 15, leave out line 17 and insert— "communication that is made for the purposes of complying with the duty in subsection (1C)". —(John Glen.) This amendment is consequential on the changes to the duties on trustees made by Amendment 13. Clause 20 Occupational pension schemes: requirements to recommend guidance etc Amendments made: 17, page 16, line 10, leave out from beginning to end of line 23 and insert— ‘(2) As part of the application process, the trustees or managers must ensure that— (a) the beneficiary is referred to appropriate pensions guidance, and (b) the beneficiary is provided with an explanation of the nature and purpose of such guidance (3) Before proceeding with the application, the trustees or managers must ensure that the beneficiary has either received appropriate pensions guidance or has opted out of receiving such guidance." This amendment makes equivalent changes to Clause 20(2), which relates to occupational pension schemes in Great Britain, to the changes made by Amendment 13 for personal pension schemes. Amendment 18, page 16, line 25, leave out from "guidance" to end of line 26 This amendment is the equivalent to Amendment 14 for occupational pension schemes in Great Britain. Amendment 19, page 16, line 29, at end insert— "() make further provision about how, and to whom, a beneficiary may indicate that they have received or opted out of receiving appropriate pensions guidance for the purposes of subsection (3);" This amendment is the equivalent to Amendment 15 for occupational pension schemes in Great Britain. Amendment 20, page 16, line 31, leave out from second "a" to end of line 32 and insert "communication that is made for the purposes of complying with the duty in subsection (3)" This amendment is the equivalent to Amendment 16 for occupational pension schemes in Great Britain. Amendment 21, page 17, line 27, leave out from beginning to end of line 40 and insert— ‘(2) As part of the application process, the trustees or managers must ensure that— (a) the beneficiary is referred to appropriate pensions guidance, and (b) the beneficiary is provided with an explanation of the nature and purpose of such guidance (3) Before proceeding with the application, the trustees or managers must ensure that the beneficiary has either received appropriate pensions guidance or has opted out of receiving such guidance." This amendment makes equivalent changes to Amendments 13 and 17 for occupational pension schemes in Northern Ireland. Amendment 22, page 17, line 42, leave out from "guidance" to end of line 43 This amendment is the equivalent to Amendments 14 and 18 for occupational pension schemes in Northern Ireland. Amendment 23, page 17, line 46, at end insert— "() make further provision about how, and to whom, a beneficiary may indicate that they have received or opted out of receiving appropriate pensions guidance for the purposes of subsection (3);" This amendment is the equivalent to Amendments 15 and 19 for occupational pension schemes in Northern Ireland. Amendment 24, page 18, line 2, leave out from second "a" to end of line 3 and insert— "communication that is made for the purposes of complying with the duty in subsection (3)". —(John Glen.) This amendment is the equivalent to Amendments 16 and 20 for occupational pension schemes in Northern Ireland. Ordered, That Clause 22 be transferred to the beginning of line 1 on page 21.—(John Glen.) This is a drafting change to reorder some of the existing clauses in the Bill to provide a more logical order following the insertion of NC3 and NC4. Clause 25 Interpretation of Part 1 Amendments made: 25, page 21, line 2, at end insert— "the ‘consumer protection function’ has the meaning given in section 3(7);" This amendment inserts a definition of "the consumer protection function" into the interpretation clause, which will be necessary following the amendment to Clause 18 made by Amendment 12, which refers to the consumer protection function. Amendment 44, page 21, line 2, at end insert— "the ‘data protection legislation’ has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);" This amendment inserts a definition of the "data protection legislation" which is a term now used in Clause 18 (see Amendment 43) and the new clause inserted by NC9, to reflect the changes to be made to the law in this area by the Data Protection Bill. Amendment 26, page 21, line 7, at end insert— "‘direct marketing’ means the communication (by whatever means) of advertising or marketing material which is directed to particular individuals;" .—(John Glen.) This amendment inserts a definition of "direct marketing" into the interpretation clause (using the definition in data protection legislation), which is a term used in the consumer protection function (see Amendment 10) and in NC3 and NC4. Clause 36 Commencement Amendments made: 45, page 35, line 6, at end insert— "() section (Unsolicited direct marketing: pensions);" This amendment amends the commencement clause so that the new clause on unsolicited direct marketing relating to pensions (inserted by NC9) would come into force on Royal Assent. Amendment 46, page 35, line 25, after "Sections" insert— "(Unsolicited direct marketing: other consumer financial products etc) and".—(John Glen.) This amendment amends the commencement clause so that the new clause on unsolicited direct marketing relating to consumer financial products other than pensions would come into force automatically two months after Royal Assent. Schedule 4 regulation of Claims Management Services: Transfer Schemes Amendments made: 47, page 47, line 17, at end insert— "‘the data protection legislation’ has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);" This amendment inserts a definition of "the data protection legislation", which is a term now used in paragraph 19 of this Schedule (as amended by Amendment 48) to reflect the changes made by the Data Protection Bill. Amendment 48, page 49, line 32, leave out "Data Protection Act 1998" and insert "data protection legislation".—(John Glen.) This amendment changes the reference to the Data Protection Act 1998 to a reference to the "data protection legislation" to reflect the changes to data protection legislation that are to be made by the Data Protection Bill. Title Amendments made: 28, line 2 leave out "cold-calling and" This amendment, together with Amendment 29, amends the long title in consequence of NC3 and NC4. Amendment 29, line 3 at end insert— "to provide a power to make regulations prohibiting unsolicited direct marketing in relation to pensions and other consumer financial products and services;".—(John Glen.) See explanatory statement for amendment 28.