Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Gurkha veterans receive a pension through the Armed Forces Pension Scheme after transferring on the Gurkha Offer to Transfer.

The information is not held in the format requested.

The population who elected to transfer to the Armed Forces Pension Schemes (AFPS) under the terms of the Gurkha Offer to Transfer fall into three distinct categories; those at transfer who received an immediate AFPS pension, those who were serving at the time of the Offer to Transfer who subsequently left service as an AFPS member with accrued rights and those who remain as Gurkha Pension Scheme members who will transfer across to AFPS at age 60.

Those members who did not receive an immediate AFPS pension become members of their elected scheme at retirement and are not specifically identified as Gurkhas nor is there a centralised data base where the records can be accurately identified to show how many of these have now left with pension benefits.