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Pensions Bill

I, too, thank the officials at the DWP, who have supplied us with a lot of helpful information. I should like to concentrate on three aspects of the amendments. We welcome amendments Nos. 194, 195, 196, 197 and 217, which bring schemes that fall outside the financial assistance scheme and the pension compensation scheme into the FAS. There are probably only a small number of people who were employees where an employer was experiencing insolvency after 6 April 2005 but delayed winding up. We are glad that that provision has been inserted into the Bill. We welcome the amendment that allows payments to people who are terminally ill—that is very sensible. We welcome the series of amendments that deal with divorce where one party is a member of more than one scheme, which mean that the courts will be able to make share orders relating to each individual scheme. Those are sensible provisions. As the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) said, no doubt Ros Altmann will continue to have a lot more to say about this. Like the hon. Gentleman, we are disappointed with the Government's stance on annuitisation. That will be a debate for another day, because the issue is not going to go away.