asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that the profits that accumulate in a pension fund, held for the benefit of employees, can only be used for the direct benefit of those employees, and not appropriated for other uses by the company or by the trustees in charge of the pension scheme.

Trust law already requires the trustees of pension schemes to act in the members' best interests. The powers to tax pension fund surpluses which last year's Finance Act gives to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer provides a powerful incentive for schemes to use surpluses to reduce contributions or enhance benefits.