Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the pensions of Gurkha veterans are equivalent to those offered to other armed service personnel.

The Gurkha Pension Scheme closed to new applicants in 2007 and those serving from that date, or those who chose to transfer to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, receive the same pension rates as all other armed forces service personnel.

For veterans who chose to remain on the Gurkha Pension Scheme it represents a very fair scheme ensuring that Gurkha veterans are provided with a good standard of living. For most Gurkha veterans the Gurkha Pension Scheme provides a pension at least as good, and in many cases better, than that given to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme members with identical periods of service.