VISCOUNT HOODasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they hope to introduce the changes in the Civil Service pension scheme which have been recently proposed.
THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (EARL JELLICOE)My Lords, the Report of the Civil Service Joint Superannuation Review Committee, a Whitley Committee representing both management and staff, was published in February. The Government welcomed the Report and the National Staff Side endorsed it on June 1. It will now be put into effect. The necessary amending scheme will be laid before Parliament in accordance with Section 2(11) of the Superannuation Act 1972 as soon as posible. In general the operative date for the new scheme will be June 1 1972, though, as earlier agreed with the National Staff Side, certain changes will benefit those whose pensions began on or after March 1, 1972, the date on which the Superannuation Act received the Royal Assent. Full details will be available in all Government Departments.
For administrative reasons it will be several months before certain aspects of the new scheme, particularly those involving options open to the staff, can be brought fully into operation, but when introduced they will be applied to staff who may have retired in the interim.
House adjourned at nine minutes past ten o'clock.