Economy: Government Policies

Lord Newby Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

On that exact point, my Lords, the IFS says that the £20 billion of additional funds from the pension funds looks to be,

“more of an ambition than a done deal”.

It adds that they,

“have little clarity as to what the nature of this potential additional spending might be”.

Is the Minister able to tell us, first, what priorities the Government have assigned to that potential additional expenditure; and secondly, when he hopes the benefits of that additional funding might come through?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, to repeat, the pension funds and also the insurance companies have come to Government and asked for our help. We have signed a memorandum of understanding to help them set up their vehicle as quickly as possible, because clearly they want to find an investment home for their money.