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Equitable Life

I am sure that the debate will provide the Government with an opportunity to respond not only to that question but to questions on what has led to the delay in compensation to Equitable Life's policyholders. It will be important for the Government to set out their case on how they have sought to deal with the matter. A number of Members referred to the statement made in January by the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and the mismatch between that statement and the Command Paper published shortly thereafter. The matter has not been properly debated on the Floor of the House in Government time in a way that would allow us to address that inconsistency of approach. It is time for the Government voluntarily to make themselves accountable, rather than us having to raise the matter in Westminster Hall in order to maintain pressure on them. The hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne) said that he rather hoped that the Economic Secretary to the Treasury would respond to the debate. Although there may be virtue in continuity, continuing to do the wrong thing is not virtuous. I appreciate that the Exchequer Secretary has been in post only for a few days, and that she has been on a rollercoaster, but I hope that she will not box herself in when responding to the debate. I hope that she leaves herself enough wiggle room to look afresh at how the Government have handled the matter and to see whether anything can be done to speed up the resolution of the issue. Each day longer means fewer policyholders receiving justice. Several Members spoke of their constituents' concerns. They are not alone; constituents have been writing to me since I was elected in 2001, setting out their problems in coping with the financial problems that have arisen as a consequence of what happened at Equitable Life. They want to see justice. Like the hon. Member for Brent, North (Barry Gardiner), they cited the Prime Minister's statement on Barlow Clowes. The Prime Minister was as tenacious then in fighting for justice as he is tenacious now in trying to avoid giving justice to Equitable Life's policyholders. That attitude needs to change. The disparity in his approach is clear to all. A point needs to be made about confidence in the pensions system. People entrust their money to pension companies. They want to make provision for their retirement. They want to ensure that they have a reasonable income in retirement. However, they expect the regulator to perform its duty by regulating those pension companies. What we have had, of course, is a decade of failure. The hon. Member for Taunton was right that the problem lay not only with the Labour Government from 1997; the regulatory issues started under the preceding Conservative Government. At each stage, whether the regulator was the Department of Trade and Industry, the Treasury or the Financial Services Authority, those policyholders were let down. The ombudsman seeks to address that in her report—to recognise that there was maladministration, that the maladministration led to injustice, and that payment must be made to reflect that injustice. It undermines people's confidence in the entire regulatory system that, where there is evidence of maladministration and injustice, payments to policyholders do not seem to flow from that. It leads people to question whether their money is safe, and to ask whether those institutions are well regulated. That important point needs to be resolved. Mention has been made of Sir John Chadwick. I believe that Sir John has been dealt a difficult hand. He was given terms of reference with a narrow focus, which restricted his ability to consider various issues. The Government have clearly set out the findings. However, Sir John produced his first issues paper last week. He hopes to receive conclusions in mid-July and to produce a further report in August. My understanding of what Sir John said in his report is that there will be many stages to the process before policyholders receive the justice that they deserve. I wish to ask the Minister some questions about progress. During our last debate, it was suggested that Sir John was in the process of recruiting an actuarial adviser. Has that been completed? Is an actuarial adviser in place? If so, who is it? In the statement made by the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury in January, she suggested that Sir John's work would go in tandem with work that the Treasury had undertaken. Will the Minister outline what the Treasury has been doing since January? At the time of the previous debate, Sir John had had one brief meeting with Equitable Life. Will the Minister tell us how many more meetings Sir John has had with Equitable Life since then? Based on the work done by Sir John and the Treasury to date, does the Minister have a better estimate of how long it will take before the first policyholder receives the first compensation cheque? It is nearly a year after the ombudsman published her report, and still there is no sense of who will receive compensation, how much they will receive and when they will receive it. Will the Minister confirm Sir John's comments on means-testing? When the then Chief Secretary said in January that the Government were seeking to compensate people on whom Equitable Life had had a disproportionate impact, it was suggested that that meant means-testing. Sir John said in paragraph 3.10 of his report:""I am satisfied that the Terms of Reference do not require me to engage in any form of means-testing in relation to individual policyholders."" Will the Minister confirm that means-testing is no longer on the agenda? In recent weeks, the Government have been clear in their use of language about policies to help with the recession. They talk about "real help now". That rings hollow for Equitable Life policyholders. They have been awaiting justice, have suffered a decline in their income and have been struggling to make ends meet. I believe that they deserve real help now.