§ Richard BurdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what inquiries he has made about the wind-up of the Warwick and Debenholt pension schemes since 19 April 2002; and if he will make a statement. [176532]
§ Malcolm WicksThe Government are aware of these three pension schemes. The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority investigated these schemes and published a report with their findings. Opra found that there were breaches of the Pensions Act 1995. The two trustees of the schemes were disqualified from acting as trustees of any occupational pension scheme and were fined.
One of the schemes has been wound up and Opra has continued to monitor the other two schemes as they are being wound up by the independent trustee. There have also been complaints made to the Pensions Ombudsman regarding these two schemes, which the Ombudsman is considering.
The Government are sympathetic to all members of final salary occupational pension schemes that will not receive the pensions they worked to build up for their future retirement.
It is because of these situations that the Government are introducing, from April 2005, the Pension Protection Fund which will mean that members of final salary schemes based in the UK can rest assured that they will always receive a meaningful pension in future, even if their employer goes bust and leaves the pension scheme underfunded.
§ Richard BurdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what inquiries he has made about the wind-up of the Cheney pension schemes since 19 April 2002; and if he will make a statement. [176533]
§ Malcolm WicksWe continue to take an interest in the Cheney pension scheme. However, as this case is still subject to ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to comment further at this time.
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§ Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the pension schemes which have come forward so far to claim compensation under the proposed fund to compensate people who have lost their pensions through pension wind-ups. [175900]
§ Malcolm WicksNo schemes or members have been invited to claim assistance from the financial assistance scheme proposed in the Pensions Bill. As explained at Report stage of the Bill on 19 May, we are currently working on the detail of the scheme.
In the meantime, we have been collecting data on schemes that are winding up, or that have wound up, to establish firm estimates of the numbers affected and the extent of the problem. We shall lay a report on the results of this exercise by the end of June. As this exercise was conducted in confidence, the data published will be collated and not identified with any individual scheme.