§ Mr. Frank CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) retired officers and (b) retired civil servants have been re-employed by his Department (i) directly and (ii) as consultants in each of the past five years; what are the arrangements for their remuneration and for treatment of their pension; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AitkenThe number of retired civil servants directly re-employed and that of ex-service personnel recruited to the civil service as retired officers in each of the past five years is:
1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 Civil Servants 282 288 415 550 552 Retired Officers 250 205 187 189 160 There are no centrally maintained records for either retired service personnel or civil servants engaged as consultants and this information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Retired officers and re-employed civil servants are paid in accordance with nationally negotiated and agreed pay scales for the grade to which they are appointed.
In accordance with the principle that civil servants, when re-employed should not receive more, by way of salary and pension together, than was being paid in salary immediately prior to retirement, the civil service pension may be subject to abatement. Pensions received by service personnel under the armed forces pension scheme are not subject to abatement on re-employment, unless retirement was under one of the early release schemes.
The level of remuneration for conslutants is determined either by a set fee for employees of consultancy companies or by the personal worth of an individual consultant. This is constrained, overall, by the sponsors' available funds.