Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I fully understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern about delays. He knows as well as I do where a lot of the blame for that lies. I made the point earlier that dependants of deceased policyholders should be included in the scheme. As for a specific date, the only thing I can say is that we are clearly making much more progress than the previous Government did.

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

Bearing in mind the fact that many of the policyholders are getting older—[Interruption]—surely it is vital that we get money into their hands as quickly as possible.

[Mr Gauke]

I do not want to be pedantic, but all of them are getting older. The hon. Gentleman rightly says that there is a need to move quickly. I think that we all feel that. I am pleased that the Government have already announced in the Queen’s Speech that there will be a Bill on this subject. We have already announced a date for the establishment of the scheme. We are making progress. That is a very welcome change from what we have seen in the previous 10 years.