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Cabinet Office

Answer

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the proportion of the rise in Government liabilities resulting from unfunded parts of the civil service pension scheme in the last five years due to (a) wage inflation, (b) longevity, (c) extension of the rights of part-time workers and (d) other factors; and if he will make a statement. [67022] Mr. Alexander: The principal civil service pension scheme (PCSPS)--the occupational pension arrangement for civil servants--is an underfunded pension scheme made under the Superannuation Act 1972. All payments of pension and related benefits to former members of the PCSPS or their dependants are made from the civil superannuation vote, for which the Cabinet Office is accountable. The PCSPS is subject to regular actuarial review by the Government Actuary. Intermediate valuations are produced for resource accounting purposes which provide updated liability figures. The actuarial reviews include full allowance for the effects on the liabilities of the PCSPS of such factors as price inflation, salary growth, membership changes and pensioner mortality assumptions. The liabilities of the PCSPS at the earliest review during the last five years were calculated to be £45.4 billion as at 30 September 1966. They were estimated at £58.6 billion as at 31 March 2000 in the latest resource accounts (HC 554). The increase over the period is in line with that expected by the actuary. Information in the form requested is not readily available. However, allowance for the continuing improvement in pensioner longevity, price inflation and real wage growth are in order of importance the main factors behind the increase in liabilities. Extension of the pension rights of part-time workers is not a significant factor.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

67022; 388 c1027-8W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Civil servants Civil service Inflation Workplace pensions Part-time employment Pension funds

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk