§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of persons in Government service, of all kinds, national and local who will be eligible for index linked pensions; how many such persons have already left government service and received index linked pensions; and how much these pensions cost for 1975, 1979, 1984 and 1988.
§ Mr. BrookeUnder the Social Security Provisions Act 1975 public service pensions are uprated in line with state earnings-related pensions. Total numbers in public service schemes covered by these arrangements amount to 3.9 million, including the Civil Service, armed forces, NHS, teachers, police, fire and local government.
For the centrally administered schemes the numbers in receipt of such pensions and their total cost in 1984 and 1988 were as follows:
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Number of Pensioners Cost £ At 5 April 1988 Civil Service 375,981 1,063,798,810 National Health 264,939 680,418,359
Number of Pensioners Cost £ Teachers 223,473 997,361,797 Armed Forces 156,939 572,473,764 At 5 April 1984 Civil Service 338,245 801,344,916 National Health 225,353 490,094,220 Teachers 190,011 715,141,627 Armed Forces 161,549 453,081,016 No information is available before 1980.
For the devolved schemes—police, fire and local authority—information on those in receipt of pensions is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the tax yield from taxing(a) the income of pension funds at the basic rate of tax and (b) the employee's pension contributions at a rate equal to the difference between the employee's marginal rate and the standard rate in respect of that part of the contribution which exceeds the threshold for higher rate tax when it is aggregated with the contributors' income for tax purposes.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe estimated direct revenue cost of relief on the investment income of occupational pension funds in 1988–89, assuming relief at the basic rate of tax is £4,400 million. The information requested in part(b) is not available.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of(a) the value of actual and notional pension contributions in the current financial year of the state and other kinds of pensions schemes detailed in paragraph 5 of the Inland Revenue consultative document issued in September 1983 (b) the value of the pensions paid under such schemes and (c) the amount of tax payable in each case assuming, in the case of disbursements, that the pensioner has no other income.
§ Mr. Norman LamontInformation for the current financial year in the detail requested is not available. Table 4.10 of the United Kingdom national accounts gives information on contributions to funded, notionally funded and unfunded pension schemes andBusiness Monitor MQ5 for Quarter 2 1987 provides information on self-administered pension funds.
Distributional data on which to estimate the figure requested in part (c) are not available.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in theOfficial Report a table bringing up to date for the current financial year the calculations in appendix B to the paper by the Inland Revenue on the cost of tax reliefs for pension schemes issued in September 1983.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answer 3 November 1988]: The available information is as follows:
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£ million Estimated direct revenue cost 1988–89 Funded Nationally funded or unfunded All schemes Employees' contribution to occupational pension schemes allowed as a deduction for income tax purposes 1,300 400 1,700 Basic rate tax relief on occupation pension funds' investment income 4,400 — 4,400 Exemption of lump sum (assuming relief at the basic rate) n/a n/a 1,100 Income tax paid on occupational pensions in payment n/a n/a 2,400 n/a = not available.
The information will enable the costs of approaches I, III and IV in the paper to be derived. The remaining information required for approach II and the 1983 "existing method" is not readily available.