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Opposition day on Tuesday, 16 March 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Mark Hoban. The answering member was Liam Byrne.

Equitable Life

Equitable Life. Sixth opposition day debate (part 1). (Relevant documents: Public Administration Select Committee, second report of session 2008-09 (HC 41); the Ombudsman's report on Equitable Life, HC 41, and the Government response, HC 953, and the the Public Administration Select Committee, sixth report of Session 2008-09, HC 219, and the Government response, HC 569). Motion negatived on division (291 to 236). Amendment agreed on question.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
507 c740-91 
Session
2009-10
Department
Treasury
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 507 c758 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), I had better advise the House that ...
Jim Cunningham | 507 c747 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Show all contributions (123)
Mark Hoban | 507 c747 (Link to this contribution) Let me just finish this point. How times change for the Prime Minister: where he would once have ur...
Kelvin Hopkins | 507 c746 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman just said that the Government—whichever Government—must take account of the impac...
Mark Hoban | 507 c746-7 (Link to this contribution) As I said earlier, we need to see what the bill is. There is a big difference between the Conservati...
Baroness Kramer | 507 c744-5 (Link to this contribution) I really appreciate the hon. Gentleman giving way again, as he has done so a great many times alread...
Mark Hoban | 507 c745-6 (Link to this contribution) The willingness to look beyond the words of his report will depend, of course, on who is in governme...
Tony Wright | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) Having read the motion, I am even less clear. When the ombudsman's report came out, it was widely es...
Mark Hoban | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman refers to the bill for compensation, but no one knows how big it will be. That fi...
Tony Wright | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman. As he says, I have been critical of the Government on this...
Daniel Kawczynski | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should read the motion.
Mark Hoban | 507 c749 (Link to this contribution) We are, as is often said in politics, where we are. The process could have been handled far more eff...
Barry Gardiner | 507 c749 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said that he would support the continuation of the Chadwick efforts. Would he add...
Mark Hoban | 507 c749-50 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the timetable. My right hon. Friend the Member for...
Mark Hoban | 507 c748 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the Chief Secretary in a moment. Labour Back-Benchers, who have been seduced by t...
Liam Byrne | 507 c748 (Link to this contribution) I will address that point in my own contribution, if that is okay with the hon. Gentleman. Before he...
Mark Hoban | 507 c748 (Link to this contribution) The risk of stopping the process undertaken by Sir John Chadwick is that we further delay the paymen...
Jim Cunningham | 507 c747 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to answer that question, but I will say that we have attended a number of debates on ...
Mark Hoban | 507 c747-8 (Link to this contribution) I think that many people, including some of the hon. Gentleman's Back-Bench colleagues, share his fr...
Mark Hoban | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) I did not make that sort of comment at all. I am not quite sure what the right hon. Gentleman is ref...
Liam Byrne | 507 c742 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who is being very generous, for giving way. I wanted to clarify...
Lembit Opik | 507 c741-2 (Link to this contribution) Stepping back from all this, does the hon. Gentleman agree that we all know what the common-sense an...
Mark Hoban | 507 c742 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that this process has dragged on for far too long. All groups of policyholders have l...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 507 c741 (Link to this contribution) I am following the hon. Gentleman's remarks closely. Does he agree that as a gesture of compassion, ...
Mark Hoban | 507 c741 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady raises the plight of a very important group of Equitable Life's policyholders. It was ...
Martin Horwood | 507 c742 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman rightly makes the point that time is ticking on. Some 2,500 policyholders might d...
Mark Hoban | 507 c742 (Link to this contribution) Of course, the truth is that we do not know how much compensation will be payable to policyholders. ...
Richard Ottaway | 507 c742 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend spoke about the good work done by the action group. Many of its key executives live i...
Mark Hoban | 507 c742 (Link to this contribution) I understand the frustration that EMAG's members feel about the process and the time that has been t...
Mark Hoban | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) In fact, I think that he is seeking to intervene on me at this moment.
Mark Hoban | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) As I said earlier, we will have to see what the outcome of Sir John's work is, and how his recommend...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend very much for giving way. Does he agree that the extent of the problem is eve...
Mark Hoban | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an important point. We need to think carefully about how we deal with the wido...
Robert Neill | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, as he has been most generous. Following on from...
Mike Weir | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I am listening very closely to his explanation of the pro...
Mark Hoban | 507 c744 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. There is a quite a lot of frustration across the House ...
William Cash | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) I agree with everything that my hon. Friend has said so far. Does he agree that this debate is rathe...
Mark Hoban | 507 c740-1 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes that the Ombudsman published her report on Equitable Life in Ju...
Brian Binley | 507 c741 (Link to this contribution) May I cite the case of a constituent of mine, Mr. David McKeever, who has been particularly critical...
Mark Hoban | 507 c741 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point, because there have been huge delays during this process—I s...
Liam Byrne | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) Before I finish, I will give way one final time.
Vincent Cable | 507 c758-60 (Link to this contribution) I will try to make your task a little easier, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I had the privilege of introducing...
Liam Byrne | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) As I said a moment ago, I cannot this afternoon set out when payments will start, nor when they will...
Rob Marris | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) Forgive me, because I may have missed it, but can my right hon. Friend say when he expects payments ...
Fabian Hamilton | 507 c761-2 (Link to this contribution) We now have a chance to put things right and do what we have not done so far. I think that that is f...
Martin Horwood | 507 c762 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has praises EMAG. Does he share its concern about the way in which the Chadwick p...
Fabian Hamilton | 507 c760-1 (Link to this contribution) We are here again to debate Equitable Life because we all have constituents who continue to suffer, ...
Graham Stuart | 507 c761 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but after 10 years of obfuscation and delay, whi...
Fabian Hamilton | 507 c762 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman is wrong, and I hope that EMAG is wrong. I was about to say that I di...
Fabian Hamilton | 507 c762 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. I am not suggesting for a moment that everything that the Chief Secretary has done...
Anne Main | 507 c762 (Link to this contribution) I asked the Chief Secretary why there was not a parallel process of cleaning up the data, but I did ...
Fabian Hamilton | 507 c763 (Link to this contribution) I apologise if the hon. Gentleman has misunderstood the point I was trying to make. I am very please...
Stephen Hammond | 507 c763 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that we do not know when the Chief Secretary will be able to give an answer,...
Speaker | 507 c763 (Link to this contribution) Order. I must interrupt the hon. Gentleman's speech now. He was, perhaps, a little too generous in a...
Lord Garnier | 507 c763-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall endeavour not to use up my nine minutes, but let us see how we go. First, may I declare an ...
Barry Gardiner | 507 c765-6 (Link to this contribution) This Government have done many, many things of which I am immensely proud. They have done nothing of...
Daniel Kawczynski | 507 c766-7 (Link to this contribution) Many of my constituents in Shrewsbury who are Equitable Life policyholders have come to see me in my...
Speaker | 507 c773 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman's time is up.
Tony Baldry | 507 c771-3 (Link to this contribution) I think that we should record the sadness of the occasion in debates such as this. This issue is sad...
David Drew | 507 c770 (Link to this contribution) That, of course, is why it is so important to get the Equitable Life payments out as soon as possibl...
Kelvin Hopkins | 507 c768-70 (Link to this contribution) May I, too, declare a modest interest in Equitable Life, having made some additional voluntary contr...
Daniel Kawczynski | 507 c767-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, absolutely. Far more transparency is needed throughout the process. We saw what happened when ...
Anne Milton | 507 c767 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that that only adds to the anger, frustration and increasing cynicism of m...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 507 c777 (Link to this contribution) Is it not doubly hard on Equitable Life to have seen the banks bailed out, the bonuses and the treat...
Mark Field | 507 c773-5 (Link to this contribution) I am waiting to hear the Latin tag, and I shall try to get hold of my hon. Friend the Member for Ban...
Mike Weir | 507 c775-7 (Link to this contribution) The Equitable Life debacle will go down as one of the great shames of this Parliament. It appears th...
John Pugh | 507 c780 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making dire predictions, but one feature of this case is that the pessimists have ...
Martin Horwood | 507 c779-80 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, and it is incumbent on whichever Government happen to be in o...
Greg Hands | 507 c781-2 (Link to this contribution) This has been a good debate, and I am delighted that we Conservatives tabled the motion for discussi...
Martin Horwood | 507 c780-1 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, that is absolutely true, but let us hope that it is not true on this final—or what we hope w...
Stephen Hammond | 507 c777-9 (Link to this contribution) This may be the last opportunity that I have to speak in this Parliament and it is an honour to foll...
Mike Weir | 507 c777 (Link to this contribution) It will stick in the throat of many Equitable Life policyholders to see how the Government have reac...
Mark Field | 507 c779 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that some matters have been in gestation for some time and, therefore, should not be su...
Martin Horwood | 507 c779 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to avoid the more party political comments made by some contributors to the debate, part...
Liam Byrne | 507 c782 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman spell out for the House whether he is going to accept the Sir John Chadwick ...
Greg Hands | 507 c782-4 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Chief Secretary for the intervention, but that is just not good enough. I will outline t...
Rob Marris | 507 c784 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Garnier | 507 c786 (Link to this contribution) In order for this process to be efficient and effective, I have absolutely no doubt—I am sure that t...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry | 507 c786 (Link to this contribution) The hon. and learned Gentleman will be aware that we have received interim reports from Sir John dur...
Greg Hands | 507 c784 (Link to this contribution) I will not; my hon. Friend the Member for Fareham gave way 27 times, and I have only one and a half ...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry | 507 c784-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank all Members for their interesting and passionate contributions to this debate. I think that ...
Lord Robathan | 507 c787 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Rob Marris | 507 c786 (Link to this contribution) Speaking of cynicism, does my hon. Friend share my view that the Conservatives are sitting on the fe...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry | 507 c786-7 (Link to this contribution) Exactly. As my hon. Friend suggests, Sir John's approach is already different from that of the ombud...
Liam Byrne | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) The answer is yes—Sir John Chadwick has tried to compare the relative losses of different classes of...
Liam Byrne | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) Before I conclude, I will give way one last time.
Liam Byrne | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) I am being a realist about it. Having contemplated what kind of administrative procedure would have ...
Liam Byrne | 507 c756 (Link to this contribution) Let me seek to provide an answer over the course of the debate. I want to turn to two important poi...
Sally Keeble | 507 c756 (Link to this contribution) Has the DWP talked to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which has enormous experience of d...
Liam Byrne | 507 c754 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a little more progress before I give way.
Liam Byrne | 507 c754 (Link to this contribution) Again, I shall come on to that point in a moment.
Rob Marris | 507 c754 (Link to this contribution) I had two policies with Equitable Life, and I am dismayed at the delay by the slothful ombudsman and...
Liam Byrne | 507 c753 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. and learned Gentleman's point. I have not approached the question with cynicis...
Lord Garnier | 507 c753 (Link to this contribution) I understand all that, but the Government stand charged with cynicism over the whole Equitable Life ...
Liam Byrne | 507 c753 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that I accept that there is confusion after an election, but the hon. and learned Gent...
Lord Garnier | 507 c753 (Link to this contribution) The Government's amendment states that""Sir John expects to produce his final advice in May"." When...
Liam Byrne | 507 c752-3 (Link to this contribution) There is a principle, long accepted and indeed long debated in the House, that there is not an autom...
Mike Weir | 507 c752 (Link to this contribution) If the Government accept that there has been maladministration, surely the victims of that maladmini...
Bob Spink | 507 c752 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for reiterating his apology and it is accepted in the spirit that it i...
Liam Byrne | 507 c751-2 (Link to this contribution) I will come to that point directly slightly later in my remarks. First, I want to repeat the apolog...
Liam Byrne | 507 c752 (Link to this contribution) Again, if the hon. Gentleman bears with me I will come to that point directly.
Crispin Blunt | 507 c751 (Link to this contribution) I think I have an interest to declare as a former Equitable Life policyholder. How can the Chief Sec...
Liam Byrne | 507 c750-1 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from "House" to the end of the question and add:""recognise...
Paul Beresford | 507 c751 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for the letter that he sent to each member of the all-party group, which I foun...
Liam Byrne | 507 c751 (Link to this contribution) The ombudsman's report is pretty substantial. It involved four years of work, and it was right that ...
Baroness Kramer | 507 c755 (Link to this contribution) Is not the Minister himself making the argument for an interim scheme, at least as soon as Sir John ...
Liam Byrne | 507 c755 (Link to this contribution) Let me come directly to that point. I do not think that we can estimate when the first payments will...
Anne Main | 507 c756 (Link to this contribution) I was pleased that when the Minister came to see the all-party Equitable Life policy holders group, ...
Liam Byrne | 507 c755-6 (Link to this contribution) As I promised, I asked Sir John Chadwick's advice on interim payments following our October debate. ...
Robert Neill | 507 c754 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way on the question of the method adopted?
Liam Byrne | 507 c754 (Link to this contribution) I shall come on to the question of speed and say a few things that will provoke a few more—
Robert Neill | 507 c754 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, because the right hon. Gentleman said that he had decided to adopt a different route ...
Barry Gardiner | 507 c755 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend has estimated that the ombudsman's report would have taken two and a half years...
Liam Byrne | 507 c754-5 (Link to this contribution) Of course. Along with his third interim report, Sir John has published some detailed actuarial studi...
Lord Garnier | 507 c749 (Link to this contribution) Just because it is no longer practicable to bring the Chadwick procedure to an end, which is what th...
Mark Hoban | 507 c743 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point about the transparency of the process. We must make sure tha...
Robert Neill | 507 c756-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for having gone as far as he has. However, given that the Public Accou...
Speaker | 507 c740 (Link to this contribution) I inform the House that I have selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister.
Kelvin Hopkins | 507 c770-1 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful intervention. There is a lesson for us all to learn....
Liam Byrne | 507 c756 (Link to this contribution) That is an excellent point, and I will try to ensure that we respond to it over the course of the de...
Paul Beresford | 507 c757 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has nicely said, as far as I can tell, that he is not interested in means-testing. Howe...
Subjects
Equitable Life Assurance Society
Link
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