Mr. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the rights of employees whose jobs have been compulsorily transferred from local government to other service providers as a result of the Local Government Pension Scheme Amendment Regulations. [125746]
§ Ms Beverley HughesAny compulsory transfer of staff, which occurs as part of the delivery of Best Value, involves local authorities having to consider the question of future pension rights as part of their contract specification and subsequent negotiations. The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment etc.) Regulations 1999 provide private sector employers, bidding for a contract to deliver local government services, with an option of access to the Local Government Pension Scheme for those staff who transfer under the contract and who remain engaged in the delivery of those services. Alternatively, private sector employers can choose to provide broadly comparable pension arrangements and, within the statutory framework of the Local Government Pension Scheme, can negotiate the fair transfer of the accrued pension rights of the staff involved in the contract who decide not to leave their pension rights in the local authority scheme.
Other transfers which do not come within the prescribed ambit of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment etc.) Regulations 1999 can be dealt with in a similar way so as to ensure that in all cases transferring staff are treated equitably and fairly.