§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to rescind regulation C5 of the Police Pensions Regulations 1987; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggNo. Regulation C5 provides for the payment of modified pension benefits to the widow of a police officer who marries in retirement, on the basis of service after 6 April 1978. To extend the provisions to cover service before that date would breach the important principle that improvements in public service pension entitlements are not made retrospectively.