Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has had discussions with the Fire Brigades Union on calculating pension entitlement for firefighters using length of service rather than age in the last six months.

The transitional protection arrangements for the firefighters' pension schemes are set out in the Proposed Final Agreement which was published in May 2012. The transitional protections use age to calculate a member's entitlement to protection.

There has been recent correspondence with the Fire Brigades Union on the scope and timing of discussions on this issue. Copies of this correspondence can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms.