HC Deb 25 May 2004 vol 421 cc1511-3W
Chris Ruane

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of mis-sold pensions in each of the last 25 years. [175071]

Ruth Kelly

Neither we nor the Financial Services Authority (the FSA) hold data in this form. The FSA do hold data on the Pensions Review, which covers pensions that were sold between 29 April 1988 and 30 June 1994.

1,618,686 cases of mis-selling were identified under

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Chris Ruane, dated 25 May 2004: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about lone parents in employment. (175129) The attached table gives the estimates of the number of lone parents in employment for each region covering the three months ending May each year from 1992 to 2003. Comparable information is not available for earlier or later years. The LFS sample size is too small to give reliable information in each Parliamentary Constituency. Estimates are taken from the Office for National Statistics's Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability.

the review, of which 1,118,885 cases involved consumers suffering loss as a result.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (the FSCS) have informed the FSA that they have, in addition, offered compensation in 18,746 further cases. The FSCS has also rejected 10,117 claims.

These rejections may include cases where pensions were mis-sold but where claims for compensation were rejected on the grounds that an advisor was solvent and able to meet a claim directly. Some, but very few, of these rejections will be included already in the figures above.

Mr. Willetts

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the value of the Exchequer's liabilities to(a) the basic state pension, (b) SERPS and (c) the state second pension; and if he will make a statement. [171583]

Malcolm Wicks

I have been asked to reply.

The future cost of basic state pensions and SERFS/State Second Pension over the next 50 years, as a proportion of GDP, is published on the DWP website at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/Table3_Long_Term_Projections.xls and shows that expenditure in the United Kingdom on these elements of pension provision is expected to remain in the range 4.1 per cent. to 4.5 per cent. of GDP during the period.