§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether, pursuant to his reply of 15 April, Official Report, column 66, to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North, he will list the individual clerical errors which resulted in £188,372 being returned to service pensioners as arrears of pensions previously underpaid, indicating in each case the nature of the clerical error.
§ Mr. LeeFurther checking has shown the estimate of £188,372 to be overstated. It should be revised to £187,091. The individual errors that gave rise to this total of arrears being returned to service pensioners are:
Category of error Number of errors in the category Arrears returned £ (a) Simple arithmetical error 59 37,853 (b) Oversight of further action 32 30,135 (c) Incorrect input to computer 25 21,573 (d) Incorrect interpretation of regulations 18 86,191 (e) Incorrect information passed to Paymaster General's Office 13 11,339 TOTALS 147 187,091
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether, following the letter of the head of Man. S (Org) of his Department to Mr. T. G. Robson. Secretary of his Departments Council of Civil Service Unions of 2 April on the Rayner review of pensions, he will list what steps have been taken to check the state of affairs and put the matter right, where necessary, following the errors which have arisen in the course of the transfer of the original documentation on Royal Navy/Royal Marine pensions to the Paymaster-General's office.
§ Mr. LeeA check of every RN ratings and RM other ranks pension will be carried out and the necessary corrections made.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will list all pensionable allowances in all three services apart from basic pay.
§ Mr. LeeThere are no allowances received by service men that are relevant to the calculation of a service pension.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence what rank categories were included in the 383W transcription from manual records to computers of the three services for the purpose of the computerisation of service pension records.
§ Mr. LeeIn the computerisation of pension payment records the ranks affected were those of warrant officer class I and equivalent and below.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence on what date the computer storing Royal Air Force airmen's pension records closed down; what was the reason for the closure; and why manually recorded records are now being used to calculate airmen's pensions and to answer inquiries.
§ Mr. LeeRoyal Air Force airmen's pensions are maintained on either the Paymaster General's computer system at Crawley or the Director General of Defence Accounts computer system at Bath, neither of which has been closed down.
Royal Air Force airmen's pensions are awarded by the Director General of Defence Accounts staff at Worcester. The calculation of these pensions has always been undertaken manually on the basis of information provided from Royal Air Force pay and personnel records. Manually recorded records have always been referred to by the accounts staff at Worcester prior to answering inquiries.
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Below Higher Executive and equivalent 13 6 27 37 84 Higher Executive Officer and equivalent 14 17 32 44 67 Senior Executive Officer and equivalent 11 24 33 53 74 Principal and equivalent 21 28 19 44 89 Senior Principal and equivalent 6 7 9 23 32 Assistant Secretary and equivalent 5 7 8 13 22 Under Secretary 4 6 7 7 8 Deputy Secretary — 2 2 3 4 Second Permanent/Permanent Secretary — 1 — — 1 TOTAL 74 98 137 224 381 Lists of the areas within the Ministry of Defence in which the individuals concerned were employed are not readily available.
§ Mr. Boyesasked the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to establish the companies subsequently employing civil servants who have resigned from his Department in each of the years from 1980 to 1984; and if he will list each of the subsequent employers concerned.
§ Mr. ButlerCivil servants resigning from the Ministry of Defence to take up alternative employment are required to notify details of their prospective employer(s) where the company concerned is in a contractual or other special relationship with the Department. Certain more senior grades, of the rank of under secretary and above, are required to notify any intended employment. No comprehensive list of companies or bodies employing former civil servants is available.