Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the share of the miners' pension scheme’s surplus that goes to former miners.

The Government does not intend to change the current surplus-sharing arrangements that have worked well for all parties. Instead, we are considering the Trustees’ proposals for changes to the scheme that include protection of bonuses already accrued and hope to reach agreement shortly. We will update the House in due course.