§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether, as a means of saving public expenditure, he will initiate an earnings rule applicable to the recipents of all Civil Service pensions, on a similar basis to that now applied to the State retirement pensions.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisNo. Occupational pensions are not treated in the same way as national insurance retirement pensions in the event of further employment with another employer, and there is no reason to single out Civil Service pensions for different treatment.
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§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service how many retired civil servants there were in total on a stated date in each of the years since 1974; and what was the total amount of pensions per week or per annum paid to these retired civil servants.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThe numbers of pensions for retired civil servants—i.e., excluding widows and other dependants—in payment on 30th September 1974 was 221,000, and on 30th September 1975 it was 235,000. The annual rates of those pensions on these dates were £119 million and £151 million respectively. The Civil Superannuation Vote Estimate for 1976–77 assumed that some 225,000 pensions for retired civil servants would be payable on 30th September 1976 and that the cost in 1976–77 would be £203 million. This last figure will be increased by £9 million as a result of the pensions increase payable from 1st December next.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service (1) whether, as a means of cutting Government expenditure, he will seek to reduce all pensions to retired civil servants in excess of £5,000 per annum to the figure which they would have received had these pensions not been recently indexed to the cost of living;
(2) if, in view of Her Majesty's Government's planned expenditure cuts, he will take steps to reduce the proposed increase of pensions of retired senior civil servants who obtain more than the average £17.50 a week public service pension.
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§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisNo. It would be unjustifiable to take legislation to withdraw the entitlement to pensions increase from a comparatively small number of retired civil servants among former public servants whilst also leaving untouched the often commensurately better benefits available to the private sector.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether, in view of the public expenditure cuts, he will cut the announced increases in the indexed pensions of civil servants which will involve a further expenditure of £31 million from public funds.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisNo. The Government's position on this was made quite clear in my answer of 19th July to my hon. Friend the Member for Thornaby (Mr. Wrigglesworth).