Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the £100 million contingency for Equitable Life With-Profits Annuitants has been drawn on to date.

The Liberal Democrat Conservative coalition government chose to allocate £1.5 billion to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme, which included a contingency of £100 million.

Significant efforts were made to identify and trace eligible policyholders and payments to them began in June 2011.

At 30 September, the total value of payments stood at £1.3957 bn, and the Scheme is on track to pay out the remainder.