To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what monitoring of the levels of employer provision for occupational pension funds takes place by Her Majesty's Government; and if he will make a statement on the current trends in provision.

The monitoring of pension funds is a function of the Occupational Pensions Board—OPB—

Asbestos related diseases
	References Prescribed disease					Postive diagnosis Prescribed disease
Medical Boarding Centre	D1	D3	D8	D9	Total	D1	D3	D8	D9	Total
1988
Cardiff	65	35	32	42	174	22	32	7	17	78
Glasgow	154	77	26	13	270	42	73	11	5	131
London	118	178	41	63	400	46	162	10	20	238
Manchester	131	71	32	27	261	30	61	9	10	110
Newcastle	121	77	49	31	278	17	74	13	22	126
Sheffield	62	51	15	41	169	25	49	4	32	110
Stoke	29	19	12	9	69	17	19	4	4	44
Swansea	8	10	7	8	33	3	9	1	4	17
ALL CENTRES	688	518	214	234	1,654	202	479	59	114	854
1989
Cardiff	67	55	24	39	185	36	51	8	20	115
Glasgow	167	57	26	30	280	75	55	11	21	162
London	114	148	34	43	339	48	134	7	17	206

an independent statutory body, and the Inland Revenue. The OPB monitoring is focused on the ability of a fund which is used for contracting out of state earnings-related pensions to meet its liability for guaranteed minimum pensions, and not on the level of the employer's provision. The Inland Revenue monitors occupational pension funds which are tax approved and have 12 or more members by requiring an actuarial valuation every 3.5 years.