MINERS PENSION FUND SURPLUSES

Motion Text

That this House welcomes the Coalfield Communities Campaign supplementary report on the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme Fund; notes that the Treasury is set to take yet another £525 million windfall under the arrangements which were put in place by the Tory Government when the coal industry was privatised in 1994; and, in view of the modest risk now involved, asks Her Majesty's Government to seriously consider the latest valuation and the view of the Trustees that the 50-50 split should be looked at again and adjust the division in a fairer way, leaving more for the 300,000 pensioners, including 28,000 of the oldest and longest serving miners who receive less than £10 per week and also to plough back a larger proportion of the surplus received into the regeneration of coalfield communities.