Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the Government's financial liability for public sector defined benefit pensions in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The total liability for public service pensions stands at around £3 trillion, as per HM Treasury’s most recent Whole of Government Accounts report of 2021-22.
This includes the unfunded public service pension liabilities of £2.6 trillion and the liabilities of the funded schemes, such as the Local Government Pension Scheme, of £449 billion.
The Office for Budget Responsibility publishes forecasts of the cashflows of unfunded public service pension schemes and changes in public sector pension liabilities in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) reports and supporting documents
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding she has budgeted (a) overall and (b) for each Department to reimburse them for the increased costs they incur from the rise in employers national insurance contributions.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance Contributions costs only. This funding will be allocated to departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way.
This is in line with the approach taken under the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.
As set out in the Autumn Budget, the Government has set aside £4.7 billion in 2025-26 and plans to update Parliament on allocations by department in the usual way as soon as possible.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of public sector pensions in each of the next 20 years.
Answered by John Glen
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report forecasts expenditure on unfunded public service pensions is expected to fall from around 2% of GDP in 2021/22 to 1.8% of GDP in 2041/42.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are enrolled in a public sector pension scheme but do not yet receive a pension under that scheme; and if he will publish a breakdown of those figures by (a) employer and (b) age.
Answered by John Glen
Membership data as of the last quadrennial valuation reports for each scheme is available on gov.uk. The Treasury does not hold age data or a breakdown by individual employer for each public sector pension scheme centrally and does not plan to collate or publish such data.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many high street commercial properties are owned within self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs); and how many empty high street commercial properties are owned within SIPPs.
Answered by John Glen
The Treasury does not hold the information requested.
At Budget 2018, the Government announced an action plan to support the sustainable transformation of high streets, including the piloting of a register of empty commercial properties to support the wider regeneration of high streets and town centres.