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Postal Services Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. It is unfair to ask me a question and then deny me the chance to answer it. He referred to FRS 17. I should make it clear that actuarial valuations are made on what is broadly known as a technical provisions basis, and that was the basis of the 2006 valuation updated to 2008. It uses broadly the same criterion basis that is reflected in the numbers produced for the March 2010 figures set out in the various reports. When the triennial valuation is undertaken it will be for the trustees, in discussion with their professional advisers, to look at the factors deployed and to produce the figures on that basis. FRS 17 is in this context a bit of a separate issue in that the bases of producing the provisions are not the same; there is divergence between the two. However, in the current climate it is generally seen as being particularly important to commercial transactions, so the technical provisions basis is the appropriate one to adopt. I am not sure whether that has helped or enlightened the noble Lord, and I am willing to write to him once he has looked at the record. Perhaps I may also say, in relation to the fairly complex issues we have been going through, that if any noble Lord thinks it would be beneficial to have a session before the Report stage, I am happy to accommodate that as well.