Pensions (Hansard, 16 January 1990)

§ Mr. Andrew Bowden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has any plans to uprate the pensions paid to former local government officers overseas to bring them into line with pensions paid to former overseas civil servants.

§ Mrs. Chalker
The British Government are not responsible for the pensions of officers who served overseas in the local authorities of our former colonies, and have no plans to uprate them.

§ Mr. Andrew Bowden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the average pension of(a) retired local government officers in overseas service and (b) retired civil servants in overseas service.

§ Mrs. Chalker
We do not hold details of the pensions of officers who served overseas in the local authorities of our 177W former colonies, nor generally about the pensions of colonial civil servants. The average pension in respect of overseas service paid to some 39,000 former colonial civil servants and their widows, for whom the British Government accept a responsibility, is about £3,800 a year.

§ Mr. Andrew Bowden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the average pension paid to local government officers retired from service with Nairobi city council; and what are the highest and lowest pensions received by former officers with the council.

§ Mrs. Chalker
My Department has no responsibility for the pensions paid to retired Kenya local government officers. Information about Nairobi city council pensions is held by the Public Trust Office which is the trustee of the Kenya local authorities superannuation fund.

§ Mr. Barry Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many pensions are in payment for the Palestine police force; what is the average pension in payment; when the pensions were last increased; and by how much.

§ Mrs. Chalker
There are 557 expatriate officers and 613 local officers receiving a pension from HM Government for their Palestine public service. The number of these who served in the police force could be identified separately only at disproportionate cost. The average pension paid to local officers is at present £1,180 a year. Many expatriate officers have pensions for service in several territories, which are treated together for calculating increases. The present value of the pension deriving specifically from Palestine service in these cases can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The average pension paid to the 235 expatriates who served only in Palestine is £2,240 a year. The pensions attract increases under the United Kingdom pensions increase legislation, and are uprated annually in line with inflation. They were last increased with effect from 10 April 1989 by 5.9 per cent.