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Postal Services Bill [HL]

I am happy to try to place as much on the record as I can to give my noble friend the quite reasonable assurances he seeks in a number of areas. As we touched on during the last Committee day, at the moment there are effectively three schemes: the RMPP scheme, the executive scheme and the new DC scheme into which all new entrants are directed. The DC scheme will continue to operate for new entrants. No proposals in this Bill impact on those arrangements, and neither do they impact on the current executive scheme. That will stand and fall going forward on the same basis as it does at the moment. The provisions in relation to the RMPP, as we discussed on the last occasion, are meant to apply to qualifying members as defined. We have tried to make it clear that, subject to all the issues around state aid, it is meant to apply to all the existing members of the scheme at the relevant date.