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Equitable Life

I can only agree with the hon. Gentleman. On the ombudsman’s timetable, the Government’s response to the ombudsman’s recommendations, published in January 2009, states:""The Ombudsman has said that the scheme"—" the compensation scheme—""should be established within six months of any decision being taken to set it up"—" the ombudsman would have assumed that that meant summer 2008—""and that its work should be completed"—" completed means all payments made—""within two years of its being established."" We would have been almost through the entire process had the ombudsman’s ideas and structure, which came out of the detail of four years’ work—they were not off the cuff or the back of an envelope—been accepted. Today, once again, the Government and Treasury have suggested something very different from the ombudsman’s position.