Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the efficiency of the National Consumer Council pension scheme in discharging its duty to ensure payment to new pensioners on attainment of scheme payment eligibility.
Answered by Nick Boles
The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP's performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.
Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the transparency of contact details for the National Consumer Council pension scheme.
Answered by Nick Boles
The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP's performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.
Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will investigate the fitness for purpose of the members' payments division of the National Consumer Council pension scheme.
Answered by Nick Boles
The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP's performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.
Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what arrangements are in place to ensure that the pension schemes of abolished non-departmental public bodies which lay within his Department's remit efficiently discharge their liabilities to pensioners.
Answered by Nick Boles
The majority of the Department’s non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) contribute into existing multi-employer schemes, these include the PCSPS and Research Council Pension Scheme. Individuals also have the option to contribute to a partnership pension scheme operated by selected pension companies. In both these cases the responsibility to make payments to pensioners lies with the scheme, and not with the individual employer.
Where an individual NDPB operating its own scheme was to be abolished, as part of that process a decision would be made whether it was appropriate to transfer the liability to the Department or to transfer that scheme to the management of the Cabinet Office.