Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Whitfield Excerpts

Tuesday 12th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Richard Harrington]

As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the system of CfD auctions is very efficient in allocating money, and I have every reason to believe that the north Wales coast will be a major beneficiary of it.

[Martin Whitfield (East Lothian) (Lab)]

17. What assessment he has made of the potential merits of serving officers in the Civil Nuclear Police Authority being exempted from the planned increase in the state pension age for public servants in April 2019.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Richard Harrington)]

The pension age for civil nuclear constabulary officers was agreed by Parliament in 2013. I have met both the chief constable and the chair of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority to hear their concerns about the planned increase to the pension age. After listening to their concerns, my officials are preparing an equality impact assessment. Additionally, I have arranged to meet the Civil Nuclear Police Federation early in the new year.

[Martin Whitfield]

Stuart, a firearms officer in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary who works in Torness in my constituency, asks, like many such officers, why he is any different from the police who protect us from terrorists on the street when he is protecting a cornerstone of our power industry.

[Richard Harrington]

I have heard the hon. Gentleman’s point before. It is a valid one and, as I said, I am looking into it.