§ Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotsasked Her Majesty's Government:
When a definite announcement will be made as to the date for introducing the proposed changes to the minimum funding requirement for occupational pension schemes. [HL2566]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)On 7 March 2001 the Government announced proposals to replace the minimum funding requirement (MFR) with a long-term scheme specific funding standard in the context of a regime of transparency and disclosure, with additional measures to strengthen protection. Implementing these proposals in full will require primary legislation, and we are working with the pensions industry, consumer organisations, employers and trade unions to develop proposals for legislation as soon as parliamentary time becomes available.
We published The Minimum Funding Requirement: The next stage of reform on 18 September 2001. This document set out our plans for the next stage of reform of the MFR and launched a consultation on draft regulations introducing interim changes to the MFR in advance of its replacement. The consultation period ended on 10 December and we plan to announce the results shortly and to introduce the changes before April this year.