Mr. Ted Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, in view of the delay in the payment of arrears of teachers' pensions and of the fact that some teachers have been informed that it may take a year or more before they receive their arrears of pension, if he will recruit extra staff at the superannuation branch, Darlington, in order to enable the work to be finished earlier.
§ Dr. BoysonNo. My right hon. and learned Friend considered this possibility last autumn when the need to recalculate the pension of teachers who retired after 1 April 1979 became known. He decided that the recruitment of extra staff would not be consistent with the Government's commitment to continued economy in public spending. But extra staff from within the Department were trained and are now working on the recalculations.