Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether direct ministerial appointments are eligible for the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

Direct ministerial appointments are not employees of their sponsor department, and therefore not members of the civil service.

It is only civil servants and persons serving in an office or employment listed in Schedule 1 to the Superannuation Act 1972 who are eligible for pension and other benefits which derive from schemes made under section 1 of the Act.

The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is a scheme made under section 1 of the Act.