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

To ask Her Majesty's Government which of the deficiencies in insurance company accounting that were identified by the Penrose Inquiry into Equitable Life have been dealt with by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation; how they were dealt with; and if they were not dealt with, why not.

The Penrose Inquiry into Equitable Life focussed on UK financial and regulatory reporting in the years leading up to 2001, and how they related to the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

The Inquiry identified that life insurance company accounts needed a consistent and realistic accounting basis for the preparation of accounts. They recommended the creation of consistent standards for the preparation and presentation of accounts for long term business. The IFRS Foundation has stated that this was a key aim when developing and publishing IFRS17. In order to make insurers’ financial statements more useful for users of financial statements.