§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the proportion of the rise in Government liabilities resulting from unfunded teacher pension schemes in England and Wales in the last five years owing to(a) wage inflation, (b) longevity, (c) extension of the rights of part-time workers and (d) other factors; and if she will make a statement. [67024]
§ Mr. MilibandThe Teachers' Pension Scheme is subject to regular actuarial reviews by the Government Actuary. A review of the position as at 31 March 2001 is underway and the report is due to be published at the end of the year. Actuarial reviews include full allowance for the effects on the scheme liabilities of such factors as price inflation, salary growth, membership changes and pensioner mortality. Intermediate valuations are produced to provide updated liability figures for the purposes of Resource Accounting, and are generally based on the assumptions adopted for the latest full review.
Information is not readily available in the form requested. The liabilities of the scheme were calculated to be £76 billion for the actuarial review as at 31 March 1996, and were estimated to be £98 billion for the Resource Accounts as at 31 March 2001. Changes in price inflation, real wage inflation and in the membership are the main factors underlying the higher liabilities. The increase in liabilities caused by the extension of the rights of part-time workers was not significant over the period.