§ Mr. BiffenTo ask the Lord President of the Council how many Members who retired at the 1979, 1983, and 1987 general elections respectively were aged 65 and over, and what in each case was their period of service in the House.
§ Mr. WakehamThe information is as follows:
510W
Completed Years of Actual Service Number of Members aged over 65 years leaving the House at the General Election held in 1987 (47) 1983 (38) 1979 (40) 4 — 1 — 5 — — 1 8 2 — 1 9 — 1 1 10 — — 1 12 1 1 — 13 4 — — 14 — — 7 15 — — 1 16 7 — — 17 — 1 2 18 — 5 1 19 — — 4 21 3 — 1 22 10 — — 23 1 4 3 24 — 2 — 26 2 — — 27 4 5 3 28 1 — 3 29 — 2 — 31 5 2 1 32 — 5 1 33 2 — 8
Completed Years of Actual Service Number of Members aged over 65 years leaving the House at the General Election held in 1987 (47) 1983 (38) 1979 (40) 34 1 — — 35 — 1 — 36 3 1 — 37 — 6 — 41 1 — — 46 — — 1 47 — 1 —
§ Mr. BiffenTo ask the Lord President of the Council what is the estimated annual cost of making severance payments to Members aged 65 and over based upon experience of the last three general elections; what would be the effect of such a figure upon the total Members' contribution to the pension fund; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WakehamThe circumstances in which a severance payment is payable to a Member who leaves the House at a general election have changed between each of the elections of 1979, 1983 and 1987. The payment (now known as the resettlemant grant) is currently payable to any Member who ceases to be a Member at a general election while aged under 65 years. Expenditure arising from the payment of each grant, which is charged to the House of Commons Vote (Class XX Vote 21), only occurs in a year in which a general election takes place, and, therefore, no annual cost arises.
The amount of the grant paid to a Member depends on his age and length of service and since it is not known which Members are likely to leave the House at the next election it is not possible to predict what costs would arise if Members aged 65 and over were entitled to the grant. However, having regard to the number and length of service of Members aged 65 or over who left the House at the last three general elections, the cost of resettlement grants, based on the current salary level and on the assumption that the percentage of yearly salary payable is equal to the rate currently applicable to those aged 55 to 64 years, would amount to an average cost of £897,560 in a general election year.
As the payment of resettlement grants is a direct charge on the Vote of the House no costs fall on the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund and, therefore, Members' contributions to that fund are not affected.