Speaking in a Parliamentary debate on the AEA Technology pension scheme and the information which members were given when they transferred their entitlements, Alok Sharma calls for compensation for scheme members who have lost out.

Alok Sharma (Reading West) (Con): My hon. Friend has come quickly to the nub of the matter. People made the transfer because they believed that the terms would be no less favourable than those they were enjoying before they did so. Does he agree that the key question is who will compensate those who have lost out? I know that it happened many years ago under a previous Minister, but perhaps the Minister will address that point as well when he makes his remarks.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: My hon. Friend has made his point cogently. I will return to the matter of compensation later in my speech.

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Alok Sharma: I wanted to make the point that people affected by the scheme will be listening to the debate, and the bottom line for them is that what the Minister is saying—perhaps he will correct me, if I am wrong—is that no compensation or redress will be forthcoming from the Government.

Steve Webb: Clearly, Government have set up the Pension Protection Fund. As I have said, more than about 10 years ago, people in the situation we are talking about might have received a tiny fraction of the pension they had been going to get. In the present case, the base calculation for those over scheme pension age is 100%. I take the point about indexation, but it is 100%. It is 90% for those under scheme pension age. That is obviously still a significant part of their pension rights. Clearly, the reduction in indexation is important. I would not play that down.

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