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Equitable Life

We now have a chance to put things right and do what we have not done so far. I think that that is finally happening on this side of the House, and that is why I want to see the Chadwick process completed. The question about timing that my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris)—who has now left the Chamber—put to the Chief Secretary is critical. I thank the hon. Member for Fareham for his kind remarks about the work that the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham and I have been doing in the all-party group. I also commend the Chief Secretary on his openness. I think all Members will agree that he tried hard when he attended a meeting of the group. He listened to what we had to say, but it was clear that he was also attempting to make up for the years in which nothing had been done—although we should bear in mind that it took the ombudsman four years to complete her report. I strongly support what the amendment says about compensation. It states that""there is a strong case for policyholders who have passed away to be included in the scheme"." That point also arose when the Chief Secretary addressed the all-party group. However, one word is missing from the amendment. It ends with the words""and recognises the impact and significant distress that maladministration and injustice have caused in respect of Equitable Life"." The missing word is "policyholders". We seem to be forgetting that individuals are involved, and we should not do so. I thank EMAG because although—as the hon. Member for Twickenham reminded us—it has pulled away from the process following Sir John Chadwick's third interim report, it has constantly reminded every single Member that this is an issue for his or her constituents and is crucial to many of them. As I said during my Adjournment debate, EMAG told the Public Administration Committee that""the majority of Equitable Life's policyholders had modest sized pensions and were not 'fat cats' who 'risked their money to get above average returns'. In particular, the average investment of the half million individual policyholders amounted to £45,000 each, which in today's money would buy a pension paying around £75 per week"." That is why it is so important that EMAG continues to support, lobby, push and, ultimately, try to obtain justice.