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Occupational Pensions

I thank my right hon. Friend for that. When things that are said to be impossible suddenly become possible, I get very interested. It is right to think about which people should have first claim on such moneys and I believe that the people we are talking about today should have that first claim. I conclude by emphasising again what I view as the fundamental point. Whatever we say about this whole story, when we have traced all the events, read all the reports and expressed our sympathies, the fact remains that only the Government can organise a remedy. It is not a blank cheque argument. Whatever else we say, the truth is that only the Government can organise a remedy and only the Government can put together the package that we need. That is the argument: it is what the ombudsman told the Government and what the Select Committee told the Government. As I said earlier, both parties who have been in government and who have had a role in this should accept that they have an obligation to take the necessary action together. I end by taking us back to where I started, which is what the ombudsman herself told us about the constitutional significance of the issue. After the ombudsman read the Government response to her findings and recommendations, she told us that she saw a"““worrying trend—that the Department for Work and Pensions, the body whose actions were under investigation, considers that it is appropriate for it to decide whether to accept the findings of the Ombudsman, which Parliament has decided should on its behalf investigate and adjudge the administrative actions of government bodies…It is one thing for the Department for Work and Pensions or another government body to reject recommendations that I may make, after proper consideration of the public interest, and other calls on the public purse, and any other relevant matters. That is a decision that it is entitled to take, was one envisaged by Parliament when it decided that I would ""not have powers to make binding recommendations, and would be one for which the relevant Department would have to account to Parliament…However, it is entirely inappropriate, within a system of scrutiny of the way in which public bodies deal with citizens, for those whose actions are subject to such scrutiny to seek to over-ride the judgment of the independent arbiter established by Parliament to act on its behalf—and for the Department for Work and Pensions’ response to be merely to say that it does not accept that judgment””." She concluded:"““This goes to the heart of the Ombudsman system—and of parliamentary scrutiny of the executive—and is a matter on which the Committee may wish to reflect.””" The Committee has reflected and has reported to the House. I hope that the House will reflect on the importance of the issue and that the Government will reflect further and respond appropriately. We responded to Maxwell’s fraud. We responded to the pensions mis-selling scandal. We now have an obligation to respond to a failure of regulatory protection that has deprived tens of thousands of people of the pensions to which they were properly entitled.