§ Mr. Stottasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he has any further statement to make about the deficiency in the Post Office pension fund.
§ Mr. VarleyThe chairman of the Post Office announced earlier today that the Post Office had found a solution to the long-standing problem of funding that part of the deficiency attributed to the period before the Post Office was established as a public corporation. The proposal will involve the creation of an interest-bearing security financed from the reserves of the Post Office and held by
484WAt 1st April 1978 there were about 1,170 civil servants involved in collecting and processing the statistics, roughly the same number as in 1973. Their estimated annual total cost, including the cost of support services borne on the Votes of other Departments is £8.8 million.
the pension fund. The security will be structured so as to provide the same flow of money to the pension fund as currently derives from present arrangements. This proposal, which will involve no increase in public expenditure, is acceptable in principle to the Government.