Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to apply the effective pension age reduction to Ministry of Defence Police officers pensions.

Treasury and Cabinet Office Ministers have given thorough consideration to the merits of introducing an enhanced effective pension age of 60 years for Ministry of Defence Police Officers, but have not been minded to make such a change on the grounds that this would conflict with a key principle of the Government pension reforms that increased longevity requires longer working lives.

The Ministry of Defence is working with the Cabinet Office to reduce the Ministry of Defence Police Officers pension age to state pension age minus three years for alpha pension scheme members (with a minimum pensionable age of 65), to be funded by the Ministry of Defence. We are currently working with the Defence Police Federation on implementation.