Conduct of this inquiry
3. We have held in all 13 oral evidence sessions,
with 17 different groups of witnesses. These have included individual
experts, consumer groups and representative bodies from across
the industry, but also the chief executives of five major life
assurance companies, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Financial
Services Authority, and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury
(Ruth Kelly MP).[6] The
Committee has also received over 300 written submissions or letters
from representative organisations, official bodies and individuals.[7]
We are most grateful to all those who have assisted the Committee
during this inquiry.
4. At an early stage in the inquiry, we decided that
it would be useful to produce a separate report, in advance of
the wider report, into the situation relating to endowment mortgages.
This was both because the situation facing many hundreds of thousands
of holders of endowment mortgages was particularly pressing and
because it seemed to us that a number of the issues raised provided
useful pointers to those we wished to discuss further in this
wider report. We published the report on Endowment Mortgages on
11 March,[8] and the Government
and FSA responses to the Report were published on 17 June.[9]
5. The Report by Lord Penrose into the events at
Equitable Life[10] was
published in March. The evidence we took on that report, from
Lord Penrose and from the Financial Secretary, forms part of the
oral evidence for this inquiry.[11]
This evidence contributed to the ongoing debate about a resolution
of the problems relating to Equitable and also to the discussion
in this report (particularly in relation to with-profits funds).
The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ms Ann Abraham, has now indicated
she will be conducting further investigations into the regulation
of Equitable Life.[12]
1 
