HC Deb 06 February 2002 vol 379 cc1028-9W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the retirement ages that apply to the employees of the Lord Chancellor's Department and its agencies, including how many and which categories of employees are affected by each; and if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on flexible retirement. [32819]

Ms Rosie Winterton

The normal retirement ages for the Lord Chancellor's Department and its executive agencies are as follows.

Retirement age
HEO equivalent and above1 60
EO equivalent 62
AO equivalent and below 65
1Including Senior Civil Service

However, staff can stay on above the normal retirement ages at management discretion, subject to business needs.

The table shows the numbers of staff affected.

Age of retirement
Business area 65 62 60 Grand total
Court service 6,774 2,083 1,591 10,448
LCD HQ 248 263 759 1,270
Public G'ship Office 165 50 107 322
Grand total 7,187 2,396 2,457 12,040

Flexible retirement policy

Our Corporate Board will shortly be considering proposals to create greater flexibility in our retirement policy, in line with the recommendations set out in the Performance and Innovation report entitled "Winning the Generation Game". The new retirement policy will allow the retention of staff who are performing to the required

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01
Reports issued by the LSO containing recommendations/orders/ criticisms1 54 226 241 260 260 399 464 542 557 659
Number of complaints which the LSO has declined to investigate2 122 106 107 157 135 156 117 157 107 77
Number of cases where the LSO was satisfied with the professional body's investigation 116 535 339 579 781 989 1,055 1,116 965 1,019
1 Reports may contain more than one recommendation
1 Figures relate to complaints received where the professional body has completed its investigation

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