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Equitable Life

There are significant questions about whether it is possible to set up the kind of scheme that the ombudsman recommended within a six-month period. The Select Committee on Public Administration did not feel able to assess whether that was a sensible or plausible time scale. My right hon. Friend is right to say that we need to do this as speedily as possible, but I hope that the House also accepts that these are complex issues. The ombudsman herself has said that people with different circumstances have been affected in different ways. We need to look at the information about the policyholders and their position to take this forward.