Pension Reform

Answer: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has been chairing the tripartite forum to endeavour to find a solution that meets the statutory requirements to balance the books and deals with the separate issue of how this equates to public service pensions more generally, which is being dealt with by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. It is important that people have choices about their retirement. It is also important that they are aware of the consequences of the particular age at which they retire and the longevity that they can expect. All of us, whether in the public or private sector, have to take that on board personally.

This is an answer to the Oral question asked on Monday, 31 October 2005 by Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative).

Question: On pensions reform, is it the Government's view that the regime for local government employees should be broadly the same as that for civil servants?

Secondary information