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Equitable Life

Other right hon. and hon. Members have rightly raised the issue of the proper standing and treatment of the parliamentary ombudsman by the House and by Government. At a time when the House’s reputation has taken all sorts of damage over expenses, we need to remind ourselves that people have a more fundamental question about not the expense but the worth of the House. When Equitable Life policyholders see the clear findings of the ombudsman evaded and dismissed, and the work and worth of the ombudsman’s report denigrated by Government, that raises questions about the credibility of the parliamentary apparatus. Given the number of Members who have signed early-day motions and written replies to Equitable Life policyholders, those policyholders know that a clear majority in the House wish to see proper remedy for their injustice. But when we allow ourselves to be frustrated by procedural chicanery, they question the worth, relevance and responsiveness of the House. If even a Select Committee being clear in its findings and conclusions on the issues can count for little, we should join the public in being worried about the role and relevance of the House. It has taken a court case to bring acknowledgement of the kind that we have seen from the Government this week, in accepting findings of the ombudsman that they had previously resisted and rejected. I say to hon. Friends who approve of the terms of the Government’s amendment that we should remind ourselves that those terms would probably be different had last week’s court case not taken place, and the Government not moved to accept the findings in the way that they did. I am also a little perturbed that the Government have sought to downplay the scale and nature of some of those findings, and to minimise the court’s findings and the way in which it came down heavily against the position taken persistently by the Treasury. For the Government to say, "It was only on this thing that the court came down against us, and they were for us on something else," is like trying to pretend that a tyre is only flat at the bottom. It is simply not a credible position. Thankfully, the House has the benefit of that important judgment, and the Government are now showing the wisdom and responsiveness at least to accept key aspects of the judgment, which I welcome. However, we know from the written ministerial statement and some of what was said today that serious questions still arise. I listened to the Chief Secretary tell us that the Government’s ex gratia payment scheme, based on Sir John Chadwick’s proposals, will be up and running by spring. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: what exactly does "up and running" mean? Does it mean that the scheme is coming soon, or will be open for business soon? I hope the Exchequer Secretary will tell us later.