§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to the letter to him from the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham dated 18 February on sewerage agency agreements, if he will ensure that regulations are introduced to preserve local authority employees' pension entitlements; and if he will make a statement. [115730]
§ Ms Beverley HughesUnder the provisions of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997, local authority employees who are members may already preserve their pension entitlements, indexed in line with inflation, on leaving. Alternatively, the regulations also allow for suitable actuarial transfers to be arranged to provide an equitable service award in any new scheme.
The extent to which employees in local authorities work on the delivery of privatised water company services through agency agreements, and the availability of alternative broadly comparable pension arrangements to those employed under them, is currently being established with the co-operation of the United Kingdom Steering Committee on local government pensions. The results of that survey will be considered carefully.