Member

There have been coal miners who, through no fault of their own, had difficulties with parts of their pension. The Government, to their credit, have taken steps to help them and I pay tribute to that. But if it is right in principle for the miners to be so helped, then it is equally right for steelworkers and other similar pensioners. That is the objective of the amendments introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann. These amendments deal with the financial impact of the loss of the inflation protection for the pre-1997 pension benefits. I understand that there are adequate excess reserves in the Pension Protection Fund to meet such needs—to more than meet them; there is an abundance of resource there for that purpose.