内容摘要：People swimming off the west coast of the UK and Ireland may notice the warmer temperatures, although the waters are still cooler than at their peak in late summer.

People swimming off the west coast of the UK and Ireland may notice the warmer temperatures, although the waters are still cooler than at their peak in late summer.

But she added: "Increased consolidation has the potential to improve retirement outcomes through improved governance, wider investment diversification and improved bargaining power."Miles Celic, chief executive of The City UK, representing the financial services industry, backed the chancellor's assertion that the move could "help drive economic growth".

A former Liberal Democrat pensions minister, Sir Steve Webb, who is now a partner at consultants LCP, described the news as "truly a red letter day for pension schemes, their members and the companies who stand behind them"."The government has clearly been bold in this area and this opens up the potential for this surplus money to be used more productively to benefit scheme members, firms and the wider economy," he added.One of Labour's first moves after taking office last year was the announcement of a pension review.

In November the chancellor floated her "megafunds" plan, which covers retirement savings for the majority of UK workers in two ways.Firstly, there are the 86 different local authority pension schemes, which provide for more than six million people in their retirement, the majority low-paid women. The £392bn in these defined benefit schemes will be merged in just six asset pools by March next year.

In a defined benefit scheme a worker pays into their pension and is paid a pre-determined amount based on their salary and length of service.

Local investment targets will be agreed for local authority pension schemes for the first time, the Treasury said.She added that she tried to make a new topper every month, and in the 18 months she has been doing it, this was the first time one had been damaged.

Ms Prendergast, however, said Smithy and Nessa would be back on back on top of the post box next week.She also revealed that Smithy's head had been based on one previously used for Queen Camilla "with a bit of stubble" added.

One member of the public, Katie Packman, said: "I'm horrified. I can't believe anybody would steal Gavin & Stacey [characters]."Hay-on-Wye, which sits on the Powys-Herefordshire border, has become synonymous with books and its literary festival has been running since 1988.