Pensions Bill

I think that I should make some progress because we have been debating the group for 15 minutes. I am delighted that the Government have committed more money, as the Chancellor announced in the Budget on 21 March. The scheme was going to benefit 45,000 people; now it will benefit all 125,000 affected, in addition to members of the solvent schemes that I have just mentioned. The scheme was going to benefit people up to £12,000 per year, but it will now benefit people up to £26,000 a year. It was going to taper down to 50 per cent. and then to nothing for people who were not covered. Now it will be at 80 per cent. for everyone, and an extra 100,000 people will get more benefit. In all, we are allocating a further £5.6 billion in cash terms. The original amount committed to the FAS in 2004 was £400 million in cash. We then extended that figure to £2.3 billion. With this further extension, we have reached £8 billion in cash, or £1.9 billon in net present value. That represents a significant commitment to helping the people whom we are aiming to address through our measure, which I hope that the House will welcome.