HC Deb 20 December 1991 vol 201 cc386-7W
Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether officers and men discharged from the Army as a result of "Options for Change" outside the United Kingdom will be required to be responsible for the costs of their own furniture and movements expenses.

Mr. Archie Hamilton

When United Kingdom based service personnel and their families return from an overseas station on discharge they will do so at public expense. Their personal possessions will also be conveyed at public expense within the same limits as those returning on normal posting.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the final civilian establishment of his Department once the proposals contained in "Options for Change" have been fully implemented.

Mr. Alan Clark

By 1997, the number of United Kingdom-based and locally entered civilians will be about 134,000.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the differences in the terms of redundancy offered to civilians as a result of the implementation of "Options for Change" from those that are offered to officers and men of the Army.

Mr. Alan Clark

Redundancy payments to civil servants and military personnel are made under two quite separate arrangements, the principal civil service pension scheme and the armed forces pension scheme. With both schemes, the benefit varies according to pay and length of service.

The two schemes are different and, within each, different criteria apply. A direct comparison cannot, therefore, be made. The principal differences affecting benefits relate to the entitlement qualifications, the age at which pensions benefits come into payment and the relationship between benefits and earnings.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the costs of redundancy as a result of the reduction in the civilian establishment of his Department once the proposals contained in "Options for Change" are fully implemented.

Mr. Alan Clark

It is too early to say what the scale, and therefore the costs, of redundancy arising from our plans to reduce civilian numbers will be.