Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the cost of making the necessary financial arrangements to enable the government of Zimbabwe to pay the pension arrears owing to those former members of HM Overseas Service who responded to the British Government's request that they remain in their posts after Southern Rhodesia became independent.

The Government understands the hardship that lack of pension payments causes to former service-people and their families. The British Ambassador to Zimbabwe raises pensions frequently with the Zimbabwean Government and has secured written confirmation that it will resume payments when the economic situation improves. However, we have not made an estimate of the cost as these payments are the responsibility of the Government of Zimbabwe as set out in the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979.