§ Ms Rosie WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the distribution of the National Bus Company Pension Fund settlement. [109056]
§ Mr. HillThe Government reached a settlement with the Trustees of the NBC Pension Fund in July last year. Responsibility for deciding on, and implementing, the distribution of the settlement now rests entirely with the NBC pension trustees who are independent of the Government. However, I have written to the Trustees to express my deep concern about the time it is taking to resolve this issue. I understand that the Trustees intend to make initial payments to some 8,000 older pensioners in March and April. They are urgently investigating the feasibility of making an initial payment to other pensioners as soon as possible.