§ Mrs. LaitTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress is being made on closing the Civil Service Pension Fund to new entrants; and if she will make a statement. [148902]
§ Mr. StringerPlans are progressing for the introduction of new pension arrangements for the Civil Service. Our intention is for new entrants to be given a choice between new defined benefit pension arrangements, and defined contribution arrangements whereby the employer will make contributions to a stakeholder pension selected by the employee from a panel of providers. Existing members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme will be given the choice of remaining with their current benefit structure or of paying the higher contributions associated with the new defined benefit arrangement. Our working assumption is for the new arrangements to be introduced from 1 October 2002.