§ Mr. DawsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action he is taking to ensure that the money paid to(a) Bus Employees Pension Trustees Ltd. to settle the action of the Bus Employees Superannuation Trust and (b) the National Bus Pension Fund Trust on 1 August 1999 is actually paid to pensioners. [114721]
§ Mr. Hill[holding answer 15 March 2000]: Responsibility for distribution of the settlement sum to pensioners rests entirely with the trustees of the two funds who are independent of the Government. We have however made clear to the trustees that we are very concerned about the time it is taking to resolve this matter. I met them in February to discuss progress and emphasised the need to take matters forward as swiftly as possible.
I was pleased to be able to say on 7 February 2000, Official Report, columns 17–18W, in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, Central (Ms Winterton), that the trustees intend to make initial payments to some 8,000 older pensioners in March and April and are urgently investigating the feasibility of making initial payments to other pensioners.