§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the transfer arrangements for the pensions of officers in the Royal Parks Constabulary when they join the Metropolitan Police will ensure that no officer receives a lower level of(a) pension and (b) lump sum than they would have received had they remained in the RPC under the current arrangements until retirement age. [160348]
§ Mr. CabornOfficers in the Royal Parks Constabulary are covered by the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme; officers in the Metropolitan Police Service are covered by the Police Pension Scheme. While the PCSPS provides a pension and lump sum payment on retirement, the PPS provides a pension at retirement710W with an option to commute up to a quarter for a lump sum. How much pension and lump sum officers in the PPS receive therefore depends on their own decisions. The Government Actuary's Department has confirmed that the PPS is generally more valuable for members than the PCSPS. Officers in the RPC will have the option of transferring their accrued pension rights from the PCSPS on special terms so that they will have a package of benefits which is overall at least as valuable as that they would have received from the RPC.