In the light of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s recent announcement that she will reopen her investigation into the regulation of Equitable Life I am writing to update you on the situation.

You will know from my previous letters that there is no doubt that the Penrose Report found evidence of operational regulatory failure throughout the last decade, in particular, by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD), the report specifically states that “There was a general failure on the part of the regulators and the Government Actuary’s Department.”

In the light of Lord Penrose’s findings, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, invited views on whether she should reopen her inquiry into the regulation of Equitable Life. I pressed for her inquiry to be  reopened, as she is able to make findings of maladministration and recommendations for compensation.  In the event she received more than two hundred submissions from Members of Parliament, of which 134 were from Conservative MPs.

In her announcement, she stated that “I am sympathetic to the view put to me that any further investigation by me would be meaningless without jurisdiction to investigate the actions of GAD.” The Government subsequently acceded to her request to be allowed to investigate the GAD, reversing three and a half unacceptable years of prevarication and delay.

My colleague, Andrew Tyrie, the Shadow Financial Secretary, has now written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure the Treasury  provide the Ombudsman with the resources to carry out a full and thorough investigation, this is not guaranteed, as the Government has been desperate to kick the Equitable issue into the longest grass possible.

Having forced the Government to capitulate we must make sure they do not put other obstacles in the Ombudsman’s way to deny justice to the hundreds of thousands of policyholders and annuitants affected by this matter.

Personally I will continue to press for justice.

Yours sincerely,

Crispin Blunt