Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009 (Consequential Modifications) Order 2009

I thank noble Lords for their contributions. The only question I will not attempt to answer—it may have been an observation from the noble Lord—concerns the officials behind me. I think it comes fairly close to being sexist as a remark and is not one that I know my partner would appreciate, were it said about her. Comments about a Minister are matters of judgment and I am sure that in that sense he is perfectly correct. I shall attempt to deal with the questions in the order that they were asked. Why is the existing First Minister pension scheme now being closed? The Scottish parliamentary pension scheme committee concluded that the existing First Minister and Presiding Officer pension schemes should be closed to future members and that future holders of these offices should be subject to the same pension arrangements as those applicable to Scottish Ministers. This is consistent with the pension arrangements for similar officeholders in the Welsh Assembly and recommendations by the SSRB in its triennial review of parliamentary pay and pensions published in January 2008. Under the 2009 Act, the new rules of the Scottish parliamentary pension scheme make specific provision for a category of officeholder members of the scheme. These officeholders include persons who in future will hold the offices of Presiding Officer, Deputy Presiding Officer, Scottish Minister and junior Scottish Minister. Reference was made to the cost implications of the changes brought about by the Act. The Government Actuary’s Department has costed the revised parliamentary scheme in Scotland against the existing scheme. This review showed that the expected cost of the scheme under the new rules will not be materially different from that under the existing rules. The precise point of the question concerned the closure of the existing First Minister and Presiding Officer schemes to future officeholders. It is expected that this will result in a net saving in relation to the pension arrangements for these offices of about £850,000 every four years. As regards what is meant by unfunded schemes, the existing scheme is non-contributory. Pension payments under that scheme are paid from the Scottish Consolidated Fund on a pay-as-you-go basis. That scheme will be closed to new entrants from 1 September, leaving only those pensions in payment, or those due to existing officeholders, to be met under the scheme. There is provision in the new pension scheme rules for the Scottish parliamentary pension scheme for future holders of the offices to be officeholder members in the scheme. As such, they will make contributions under the new scheme rules. Reference was also made to taking forward the regulations. I suggest that will be done by the Department for Work and Pensions, although I cannot be precise about that. The point of the consultation is to find out the best way forward. Of the two sets one will be taken forward by the DWP and the other by the Treasury. They will make a number of consequential amendments to secondary legislation to ensure that the existing Scottish parliamentary pension scheme and First Minister and Presiding Officer pension schemes continue to be treated as public service pension schemes further to the changes to them brought about by the 2009 Act. It will be when those regulations are drawn up that the question of the parliamentary procedure to be adopted will be determined.