Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications of the company Hewden going into administration for the security of pensions for employees of that company.

This is a matter for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). The PPF is an independent body established to pay compensation to members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes where the sponsoring employer becomes insolvent and the scheme is unable to cover the accrued pension liabilities. The three sections of the Hewden pension scheme entered the PPF assessment period on 23 November and there is no further detail available at this early stage of the process.