Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing pre-1997 indexation protections for individuals in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Government has no plans to change the way pre-1997 indexation is applied to defined benefit occupational pension schemes.

The minimum legal requirements for indexation must be appropriate across all defined benefit schemes. Changing these minimum requirements would increase the liabilities and costs for all schemes.

The reforms in our Pension Schemes Bill give trustees more flexibility to share surplus with sponsoring employers, and better negotiate benefits for members, including discretionary increases.