Extract from committee stage (Lords) (day 4) of the Energy Bill - Dec 14

Baroness Worthington (CB):...I echo the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, that simply calling it independent does not mean that it necessarily will be independent, unless provisions are put into the governance and appointment of the body that make it independent. With my amendment, I sought to come up with a version of independence—I am sure the Government could do a much better job, if they put their mind to it—which I borrowed from the model of the National Employment Savings Trust  The NEST is set up by government but is fully independent of government, and it overseas a pension fund for 10 million workers. There are similar potential conflicts in that it could be directed by government, or government could simply pack it with appointees. That is why I have adopted the wording of the amendment: to ensure that the process of creating the independent body is truly independent. That is where it came from, but if there are other versions that do a similar job, I would happily support those too...

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