§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 17 May,Official Report, column 273, which country initiated negotiations for the agreements of 1975 and 1979 with (a) Spain and (b) Portugal; what reasons were given for the initial approach; and what estimates he has of the current number of Spanish and Portuguese retired citizens in the United Kingdom whose pensions are paid by their Governments. [26373]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotAt the request of Her Majesty's Government, a Spanish delegation met UK officials in February 1956 with a view to negotiating a social security agreement between the two countries to protect the benefit rights of migrant workers moving from one country to the other and to ensure that they pay into only one country's social security scheme. Negotiations ceased in 1960 and subsequently resumed again in 1971. The agreement with the Spanish Government was signed on 13 September 1974. On 1 December 1976 the Portuguese Government requested the negotiation of a social security agreement along the lines of that between the UK and Spain. The number of retired Spanish and Portuguese citizens in the UK whose pensions are paid by their Governments is not known.
270Wimplications of this approach. The privatised generators will need to satisfy their auditors that sufficient cash is placed in these funds for each year. The precise level of the liabilities to be met will be a matter for the companies and their auditors in due course.