§ Mr. Leeasked the Minister of Overseas Development when that portion of the pensions of retired civil servants which Her Majesty's Government have promised to underwrite will be revised to provide for the rise in the cost of living; how frequently such pensions will be reviewed in the future; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe whole of every overseas pension for which Her Majesty's Government has assumed or is prepared to assume responsibility within the policy which was announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Lanark (Mrs. Hart), the then Minister of Overseas Development, on 11th March 1970 and which is now provided for in the Overseas Pensions Act 1973, has been brought within the scope of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971. These overseas pensions are therefore augmented under the 77W 1971 Act to restore their original purchasing power in a way comparable to and on the same annual review basis as that applicable to United Kingdom public service pensions to which that Act applies.—[Vol. 797, cc. 1344–49].