§ Mr. William Wellsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in view of recent reductions in the contributions payable by education authorities to teachers' superannuation, she will give sympathetic consideration through her Department's representatives on the teachers' superannuation working party to the teachers' request for reductions in their contributions to the level obtaining before April 1972.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasAt the meeting of the working party on 8th October, representatives of the local authorities and of the Government offered a small reduction from the present level of teachers' contributions in England and Wales. Negotiations are still continuing.
§ Mrs. Shirley Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the employers' contribution to the teachers' superannuation scheme, expressed in percentage terms, in each of the last four years.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasThe figures for England and Wales were: 1969–70, 1970–71, and 1971–72 8.5 per cent. 1972–73, 9.95 per cent.
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§ Mrs. Shirley Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is her Department's estimate of the surplus in 1972–73 on the teachers' superannuation scheme fund.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasThe contributions of teachers in England and Wales and of their employers in 1971–72, the last year for which firm figures are available, exceeded expenditure on pensions and other benefits, including pensions increase, by £38 million. The account was, however, in actuarial deficit as at 31st March 1971 in that the value of benefits in respect of teachers in service at that date or who had left service before then was £334 million greater than the value of future contributions in respect of them and the balance in the account, after allowing for the revised method of crediting interest on money previously credited with 3½ per cent.