House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Q
Asked by Kirsten Oswald
(East Renfrewshire)
Asked on: 13 December 2016
Ministry of Defence
Defence Fire and Rescue Service: Pay
57349
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department allows for differences in member pension contribution rates but not member pension benefits in calculating the net pay deduction from the salaries of Ministry of Defence fire fighters and fire officers.
A
Answered by: Mark Lancaster
Answered on: 20 December 2016
Ministry of Defence (MOD) Fire-fighters and Fire Officers are not eligible to join the Local Authority (LA) Fire Pension Schemes (FPS) and instead are members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS). LA Fire-fighters had a contributory pension scheme whereas until 2012 the PCSPS was non-contributory – except for a 1.5% contribution for the widows and orphans scheme. An abatement was therefore applied to the salaries of MOD Fire-fighters and Fire Officers as a fair and consistent method of bringing ‘take home’ pay into line with their outside comparators in the LA Fire Rescue Service.
The abatement has no relationship with pension entitlement and was negotiated with the appropriate Trade Unions at the time. This arrangement remains in place today although the abatement level has changed over the intervening years to take account of changes to pension contributions introduced in the LA FPS. Changes have also been made for Fire-fighters to take account of Public Sector Pension reform changes introduced from 2012 which have seen increases to the rate of contributions made by public servants (including PCSPS members) to their pension. In 2015 the MOD commissioned the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) to review the level of the Fire Officer NPD and is currently negotiating with the Trades Union on the findings of the 2016 GAD report as part of the review.
Q
Asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Asked on: 14 December 2016
Ministry of Defence
Maritime Patrol Aircraft
HL4158
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the proposed purchase by Norway of Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, whether they intend to increase co-operation with Norway in maritime patrol operations.
A
Answered by: Earl Howe
Answered on: 20 December 2016
The UK works extremely closely with our Norwegian allies in maritime patrol operations. On a visit to Norway on 9-10 November 2016, the Secretary of State for Defence and the Norwegian Defence Minister agreed to deepen our bilateral co-operation on Maritime Patrol Aircraft. Plans for Norway to purchase the P-8 Poseidon aircraft offers the opportunity for refined interoperability in areas including; training, maintenance and logistics, as well as exercises and operations.