MAXWELL COMMUNICATIONS PENSION FUND

That this House notes the increasing concern of members of occupational pension funds about the level of protection in law for their pensions to which they have contributed whilst in employment; further notes the observation of the Parliamentary Ombudsman in her recent report, Trusting the Pensions Promise, that Government information on occupational pensions has been `inaccurate, incomplete and inconsistent'; recalls that 1,400 members of the Maxwell Communications Pension Fund have still not been adequately compensated for the theft of their pension fund; further recalls that of the £276 million raised by Lord Cuckney to overcome the shortfalls in the various Maxwell Group pension funds some £30 million was unallocated and was appropriated by the Treasury; recognises that the Maxwell Communications Pension Plan, unlike the other funds in this Group, was never sufficiently funded; and calls upon the Government to apply this surplus to alleviate the hardship still suffered by members of the Maxwell Communications Pension Fund.