Occupational Pensions

Mr. David Heathcoat-Amory (Wells) (Con)
9. What recent estimate he has made of the number of defined-benefit occupational pension schemes in which the liabilities exceed the assets.

The Minister for Pensions Reform (Mr. Mike O'Brien)
On the Pension Protection Fund’s assessment basis, 5,000 schemes.

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
The final salary schemes in the private sector have been shutting for many years as unaffordable. The decline in the investment market has made many more extremely vulnerable. Does the Minister believe that the Pension Protection Fund, which he has just mentioned, to which vulnerable schemes have to contribute, is adequate to fund possible insolvencies in the years ahead?

Mr. O'Brien
The Pension Protection Fund is best placed to make an assessment of the adequacy of the amounts that it needs, and it has done so and levied accordingly.