HC Deb 25 October 2001 vol 373 c319W
Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what abatement is made in respect of pay levels in the armed forces to take account of the benefits from the non-contributory pension scheme. [9392]

Mr. Ingram

It is the remit of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB) to consider broad pay comparability, and this includes taking account of the deferred pay represented by pension provision. The AFPRB currently applies an abatement to comparators' earnings to account for the early and fast accrual of benefits under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) compared with those available in the civilian sector. The level of abatement set in the AFPRB's 30th Report (2001) is 7 per cent.

Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate has been made of the costs of increasing death-in-service benefits of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [8739]

Mr. Ingram

Within the current Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS), the death-in-service gratuity for non-attributable deaths is significantly lower than in most other comparable pension schemes. The recent consultation document setting out our initial findings from the review of the AFPS therefore recommended that the death-in-service gratuity should be increased to three times pensionable salary. Overall, the changes would represent a substantial improvement in terms for family and dependants. The additional cost of this enhancement has been estimated at some £9 million per annum.

Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the review of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme will report. [8742]

Mr. Ingram

The period of public consultation was due to end formally on 31 July but was extended informally to admit some late replies. The Ministry of Defence is now undertaking an analysis of the responses with a view to identifying significant issues and recommending how it might move ahead on these. This will require detailed discussions to agree responses that meet our recruitment and retention needs, but which are also consistent with wider public sector pensions policy. In addition, we intend to engage in further discussions with the ex-service community during this process, both to discuss their particular concerns and inform them of our thinking. This approach means that it is not possible to set a definitive time scale but our current plan is that we should seek to report on the review by the late spring of next year.