§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish a summary of the responses to the consultation on the minimum funding requirement; and when he plans to reform the minimum funding requirement. [26800]
§ Mr. McCartneyOn 7 March 2001 the Government announced proposals to replace the minimum funding requirement (MFR) with a long-term scheme specific standard in the context of a regime of transparency and disclosure, with additional measures to strengthen protection further.
Implementing these proposals in full will require primary legislation. In the meantime we are working with the pensions industry and other interested parties to develop proposals for legislation as soon as parliamentary time becomes available.
43WOn 18 September 2001, we published "The Minimum Funding Requirement: The next stage of reform" which set out our plans for the next stage of reform of the MFR, including consultation on draft regulations to introduce interim changes to the current MFR. The consultation period on the draft regulations ended on 10 December, and we are currently considering the responses. We plan to make a summary of the responses publicly available, and introduce the regulations, before April this year.